Ned Manning
Ned Manning is an actor and a writer. He also teaches playwriting and works as a script consultant. Ned has directed and devised many pieces of theatre for young people.
Ned's first play, Us or Them, broke box office records for the Griffin Theatre Company. Us or Them has been performed throughout Australia and was published by Currency Press. Kenny's Coming Home, was performed at the Q Theatre and was subsequently recorded for radio on the ABC’s Radio National. Kenny’s Coming Home included music and lyrics by Shane McNamara.
Close to the Bone was written in collaboration with Indigenous students at the EORA Centre for Performing and Visual Arts in Redfern. It toured NSW Country, played at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Q Theatre. It has been published by Currency Press and has been performed and studied widely in Australia and overseas including in Botswana and at Oxford University.
Milo premiered at the STC’s Wharf 2 Theatre before productions at the Q Theatre, Theatre Up North and Theatre South. Milo was also recorded for Radio National and published by Currency Press.
Luck of the Draw was first produced by the Darwin Theatre Company and was one of the few plays written by a non Indigenous writer to be produced by Kooemba Jdarra in Brisbane. Luck of the Draw has also received wide International exposure.
Ned produced, wrote and acted in Last One Standing. The play had a season at the Old Fitzroy Hotel following a workshop at the Australian National Playwright’s Conference.
He has written ten plays for The Bell Shakespeare Company’s Actors at Work program. These works were seen by upwards of 70,000 school students yearly throughout the length and breadth of Australia.
He was nominated for an AWGIE Award in 2011 for his script Rome and Juliet Intensive.
Ned’s latest play for young people, Alice Dreaming has been performed by many schools throughout Australia and is published by Cambridge University Press. Alice Dreaming breaks new ground as a published work as it combines the playtext with comprehensive teachers notes.
As an actor Ned has appeared in many film, television and theatrical productions. His films include the lead role in the cult classic Dead End Drive In and an appearance in the teen hit, Looking for Alibrandi. He has appeared in many Australian TV classics such as Bodyline and The Shiralee.
Ned is also a member of 7ON and is working with the group on a number of site specific projects as well as a response to Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra. The 7-ON blog can be found here.