LYNN MANNING - Writer & performer

Lynn Manning is an award winning poet, playwright, actor, and former Blind Judo Champion of the World. He achieved these accomplishments after being shot and blinded in a bar fight at age twenty-three. Lynn’s original plays have included Private Battle, Shoot (also adapted to film - 2001 Sundance Film Festival and HBO), Up From The Downs, The Last Outpost, and Central Ave. Chalk Circle. His television appearances have included 8 Simple Rules, Popular, Seinfeld, The Sinbad Show and Dream On. Lynn is the co-founder of Watts Village Theatre Company and is currently the company's Literary Manager. He is also President of The Firehouse Theatre Company and is on the Board of Trustees of the National Non-Profit Network of Ensemble Theatres. His autobiographical play Weights has received three NAACP Theatre Awards, including Best actor for Lynn. Weights has been performed in New York, Washington D.C., Winston-Salem NC, Croatia, London and Edinburgh. Lynn's 'world class' status in competitive judo led him to the 1988 Paralympic Games (Seoul, South Korea) where he represented the United States. He went on to become the U.S. Olympic Committee's "Blind Male Athlete Of The Year" after winning the Blind Judo World Championship at the 1990 World Victory Games (Holland). Lynn also won the first World Cup for Blind Judo in Sassarre, Sardinia (Italy) in 1991. Lynn took silver at the 1992 Paralympics (Barcelona) and at the 1991 Tokyo International Invitational for Blind Judo. He won bronze medals at the International Blind Sports Association World Championships (Colorado Springs, 1995, and Madrid, 1998). Now retired from competition, Lynn is a volunteer judo instructor at the Braille Institute of America (Los Angeles). Lynn's poetry has been published in numerous magazines and literary anthologies, including Voices From Leimert Park: An Anthology, Staring Back (The Disability Experience From The Inside Out) and Grand Passion. This is Lynn’s second appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

ROBERT EGAN - Director

Robert Egan is a director, producer and dramaturge. He was the Producing Artistic Director of the Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum for 19 seasons and was the Founding Producing Artistic Director of its internationally acclaimed New York Festival for 15 seasons. Robert's directing credits include: Arcadia, Aristocrats, Closer, Dealer's Choice, Death and the Maiden, Hedda Gabler, Made in Bangkok; Measure for Measure, The Poison Tree, Richard II, Sansei, Skylight, Ten Unknowns, Widows, Flight, Distant Shores, Taper, Too: Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Dream Coast, The Thrill, Weights, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Chinese Friends, Savages, Translations, The Ballad of Soapy Smith, Buying Time, Salvation Now, The Grass Widow, Between East and West, Julian Fleisher and Martha Plimpton Live!, Declare Yourself Poets, Norman Lear Presents Steve Connell and Sekou (tha misfit), The Ballad of Soapy Smith, Coq Au Vin, Night and Day, St. Joan and Idomineo, They Shoot Horses Don't They? (Direction and Adaptation), The Merchant of Venice. For television Robert has directed episodes of Frasier and Stark Raving Mad. He is the former Associate Artistic Director of the Seattle Repertory Theatre and is the Artistic Director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. Robert has his own company called RHEgan Productions which produces films for major benefit events and has worked in conjunction with Homeboy Industries, Global Green USA, Cure Autism Now and many other organisations.