National Orders 2011.indd 1 4/21/11 2:00:52 PM - The Presidency

Mannie Manim (1941 – )
THE ORDER OF IKHAMANGA IN SILVER
For his excellent skills in theatre lighting design and administration, and his practical and
technical contribution to theatre in South Africa and the field of arts.
Mr Mannie Manim was born in July 1941, in Cape Town. With more than 50 years’ involvement in theatre, Mr Manim has indelible
imprints in the arts and entertainment industry in South Africa and globally. His involvement in the arts industry began as an usher
at the Brook Theatre in 1955, where he left five years after rising through several ranks to become company manager, and joined
Leonard Schach Productions.
He worked for two years as a technical director of the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg from its opening, moved to Theatre International
for some years and joined the Performing Arts Company of the Transvaal (PACT) Drama Theatre in 1967, where he was an
administrative head.
In 1973, he left PACT to start The Company with Mr Barney Simon and a group of actors. The Company was an independent outfit
committed to non-racial theatre. He was a co-founder of the Market Theatre in 1976 and became the trend-setting theatre’s managing
director. The Market Theatre was home to international playwrights who wanted to have their plays presented there because of
the commitment to non-racialism and their opposition to segregation in both society and on stage.
As the work of the Market Theatre Company became known internationally, he was also co-producer in various productions, visiting
Europe, the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Australia, the United States of America and Japan, where he was the lighting designer on
many of these tours. The Market Theatre Company achieved the feat of 33 international tours since its inception until 1991.
As managing director and producer of Mannie Manim Productions from 1991 he has been presenter, co-presenter, executive producer
and lighting designer for many plays in various theatres locally and abroad. He worked with the inimitable Mr Athol Fugard in
his international tours to London, Toronto, Australia and Singapore. He also worked with the doyen of township theatre, Mr Mbongeni
Ngema, in Mama as a co-producer and lighting designer for its Australia and New Zealand tour.
Among the many highlights of his lighting designer career is the Cape Town Opera’s Show Boat in Sweden; Noah of Cape Town and
the acclaimed I Am My Own Wife and The Tempest at the Baxter Theatre Centre; the RSC’s Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
and in five other cities in the UK; and Sheila’s Day and John Kani’s Nothing but the Truth at the Market Theatre.
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