Career
Lynn Manning"s life was turned upside down when he was left blind after being shot in the face in a Hollywood bar in 1978, when he was 23 years old. He made a name for himself as a playwright and actor. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical work Weights, which premiered in Los Angeles in 2001.
Manning"s last play, Up From The Downs had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Design Center on May 7, 2005.
Manning was born in Fresno, California and raised in Los Angeles, and had eight siblings. Aged 23, he lost his eyesight after suffering a gunshot to the face in a Hollywood Barometer
Lynn also took Silver at the 1991 Tokyo International Invitational Foreign Blind Judo and Bronzes at The International Blind Sports Association World Championships at Colorado Springs (1995) and Madrid, Spain (1998) Weights is Manning"s first story winning three theatre awards, one being for best actor, and has had 19 of his original plays produced to date. Along with Quentin Drew, he co-founded and served as Artistic Director for Watts Village Theater Company which brings theater to the under served community of Watts.
His poem "The Magic Wand" speaks to the intersectionality of disability and race.
His poetry has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Staring Back: the Disability Experience from the Inside Out and Grand Passion. Manning"s play “Weights” was first performed in the year 2000. The play illustrates his life story from a young child in poverty to today, as a blind man writing poetry, plays, appearing in television and commercials, and the suffering and hard times he had encountered throughout his years.
Manning appeared in "Weights" at the Millfield Theatre in London in July 2008.
