Lynn Manning delivers a passionate
performance in “Weights,” now showing at The
Actors’ Gang in Hollywood.
By Ruvin Spivak
Daily Bruin Contributor
An open heart and mind is more important than the use of eyes
and ears in “Weights,” a show about the triumph of joy
in spite of blindness.
Lynn Manning is a one-man star who captures the roles of family,
friends, police, gangsters, beautiful women and himself in a fluid
and uplifting theatrical performance. On stage until April 15 at
The Actors’ Gang, “Weights” is optimistic,
covering sociological, gender, racial, familial and philosophical
issues with help from acclaimed sound designers, DJ Al Jackson and
Karl Fredrik Lundeberg.
Manning plays himself ““ a blind artist, poet, painter,
playwright and former Blind Judo World Champ, by telling his unique
life story from childhood to adulthood through a series of
flashbacks and forward speculations. By showing how he overcame
poverty and blindness, Manning makes this show not only a delight,
but also a lesson about life and the human spirit.
The performance begins with Manning’s delivery of both a
poetic monologue and a complicated martial arts series to the cool
tunes of Jill Scott. He looks at the audience, piercing the crowd
with his eyes as if he could see them, as he transitions into a
prophetic dream about body surfing and young gang-bangers.
Through dreams, reality and spiritual discovery, Manning’s
words create vivid images without the use of elaborate backdrops or
props. A true storyteller, he captures audience members at the
beginning and takes them through the journey of his life without
sparing the important lessons along the way.
 Photos from Mark Taper Forum Press
“Weights,” a one-man show starring Lynn Manning,
will be playing until April 15. Tickets are still available
online.
In just under two hours, “Weights” establishes deep
commentary about the nature of the human experience. Through his
story of poverty and abuse, Manning does not merely gain sympathy
““ he lures his crowd into respect and determination. Manning
is a modern hero who creates on stage what paintings, movies and
literature can only strive to convey.
With style, grace and rhythm, the true color and radiance of
Manning’s blind world transcends eyesight, penetrating the
imagination and more importantly, the human will to live. Though
his story is full of criticism, it amazingly critiques the world
without judgment. Manning proves that responsibility is the most
important way to overcome any trying circumstance from human
relationships to physical handicap.
The turning point of the show is when Manning is given a cane
for the blind from the Braille Institute. He says, “I went
from a black man to a blind man with the flick of my
wrist.”
Didactic phrases like this convey the sagacious wisdom of
“Weights.” Manning’s is a story of adversity and
the undying spirit that actually challenges hurdles, finding new
ways to clear them and rendering them ineffective, even without
sight.
Sociological hurdles of class distinction are ignored. Racially,
Manning is beyond skin color and background. His blindness turns
him from an over-confident young adult to a compassionate human
being. He learns to love without sight while hearing beauty and
feeling energy that most people tend to overlook. Sometimes it
feels like Manning actually prefers blindness to the use of sight,
but he clearly prefers compassion over judgment, and love over
hate.
“Weights” is as brilliant on the surface as it is
beneath, and reading between the lines only makes this play a work
of staggering brilliance. Connecting the relationships between
rebellious siblings, drunken parents and adolescent gang-bangers
might suggest helplessness and waste to an audience member, but for
Manning it could only lead to righteousness.
A spectator may reexamine the trivial moments in their life
after seeing how triumphant Manning is in the simplest pleasures,
such as the ability to walk alone, do chores and even urinate while
standing. The message of “Weights” undermines the
complications of life, reserving space for only the most fulfilling
functions. In his message, Manning is promoting the arts, and
embracing the bohemian lifestyle he was destined to encounter
through his blindness.
Giving up the medium of painting for that of writing and
performing, Manning is able to tell the world that a disability
cannot stop the will to create.
THEATER: “Weights” plays through
April 15. It is part of the Mark Taper Forum and the performance is
at The Actors’ Gang located at 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in
Hollywood. Tickets are $20. Call (213) 628-2772 for more
information. Tickets are also available online at www.TaperAhmanson.com.