Program Notes
Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol

Manual Cinema is an Emmy Award-winning performance collective, design studio, and film/video pro­duction company founded in 2010 by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman, Julia Miller, and Kyle Vegter. The company combines hand­made shadow puppetry, cinematic tech­niques, and innovative sound and music to create immersive stories for stage and screen. Using vintage overhead projectors, multiple screens, puppets, actors, live feed cameras, multi-channel sound design, and a live music ensemble, Manual Cinema transforms the experience of attending the cinema and imbues it with live­ness, ingenuity, and theatricality. The company received an Emmy Award in 2017 for The Forger, a video created for the New York Times, and was named Chicago Artists of the Year in 2018 by the Chicago Tribune.

Manual Cinema has been presented by, worked in collaboration with, or brought its work to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Under the Radar Festival (New York City); the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia); the O, Miami Poetry Festival; Arts Emerson (Boston); the Yale Rep­er­­­tory Theatre; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Kennedy Cen­ter (Washington, DC); the Ace Hotel Theater (Los Angeles), La Monnaie–DeMunt (Brus­sels); the Noorderzon Festival (Netherlands); the Tehran International Puppet Festival (Iran); the King Abdulaziz Cen­ter for World Culture (Saudi Arabia), the Hakawy International Arts Festival (Cairo), the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and elsewhere around the world. The company has also colla­borated with the three-time Grammy Award-winning Eighth Blackbird and Hub­bard Street Dance (Chi­cago); the New York Times and Story­Corps (New York City); Pop-Up Maga­zine (San Francisco); Nu Deco Ensemble (Miami); the New York Times best-selling author Reif Larsen; NPR’s Invisibilia; Topic magazine; the Grammy Award-winning Esperanza Spalding; Erratica (Lon­don); and the Belgian Royal Opera (Brussels).

For more, visit manualcinema.com.

Lizi Breit (puppeteer, puppet design) is a Chicago-based artist working pri­marily in illustration, animation, sculpture, and per­formance. She has been working with Manual Cinema since 2011 and is currently serving as associate designer. Breit is an artistic associate with the Neo-Futurists and a former member of Blair Thomas & Co. Her internet self lives at www.lizibreit.com.

Drew Dir (co-artistic director) is a writer, direc­tor, and puppet designer. Previously, he served as Resident Dra­ma­turg of Court Theatre and as a lecturer in theater and performance studies at the Univer­sity of Chicago. Dir holds a master’s degree in text and performance studies from King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Sarah Fornace (co-artistic director) is a director, pup­peteer, choreographer, and narrative designer based in Chicago, and a co-artistic director of Manual Cinema. Outside of Manual Cinema, Fornace has worked as a performer and/or choreographer with Redmoon Theatre, Look­ingglass Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Steppenwolf Garage, and Blair Thomas and Co. Most recently, she wrote the story mode for the video game Rivals of Aether. In 2017, For­nace directed and edited the first episode of the web series The Doula is IN. In 2016, she directed and devised an “animotion” pro­duction of Shake­speare’s Hamlet with Rokoko Studios for Ham­letScen at Kromborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark.

N. LaQuis Harkins (Aunt Trudy) was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and is a graduate of Howard University. Since her initial work in Rhyme Deferred with Hip-Hop Theatre Junc­tion, Harkins has been involved in Chicago productions including Repairing a Nation, How We Got On, and Blues for an Alabama Sky; in Manual Cinema’s own No Blue Memories; and in various commercials and independent films. She recently produced her first short film, Kayla’s Light, about a family in Chicago dealing with tragic loss. Harkins is grateful and honored to return to work with the magical Manual Cinema for such a delightful and modern twist on a classic.

Ben Kauffman (co-artistic director) is a composer, director, and inter­active media artist, and a co-artistic director of Manual Cinema. His film and inter­active work has been shown at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Mu­seum in Chicago, and at CUNY’s Baruch Col­lege in New York City. Kauffman has lectured and given workshops at the Metropolitan Mu­seum of Art, New York University, and the Parsons School of Design/The New School. His past composer/sound designer credits with Manual Cinema include Ada/Ava, The End of TV, and the New York Times documentary The Forger. Kauffman holds a master’s degree from New York Uni­ver­sity’s Interactive Telecom­muni­­ca­tions Program (ITP).

Maddy Lowe (costume designer) is a costume designer, puppeteer, and performer from Illinois. Past costume work includes Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein, Rough House Theater’s Cicada Summer, The Skin of Our Teeth, and Bloomsday at Remy Bumppo; The Secretaries with About Face; and several productions at Lookingglass Theatre. When not sewing and gluing things together, Lowe co-curates Nasty, Brutish & Short, the quarterly puppet slam at Links Hall. Her original performance work has been seen around Chicago in living rooms, bars, DIY spaces, and various theaters. Lowe is a graduate of Northwestern University and the School at Steppenwolf.

Julia Miller (co-artistic director) is a director, pup­peteer, and puppet designer. With Manual Cinema, she has directed Mementos Mori and The End of TV and created original roles in Frankenstein (The Creature/Elizabeth), Ada/Ava (Ada), Lula del Ray (Lula’s Mother), The Magic City (Helen), and Hansel und Gretel (Hansel). In Chicago, she has worked as a per­former and puppeteer with Redmoon Thea­tre and Blair Thomas and Co. Miller spent several years training in devised theater, clown, and mask with Double Edge Theatre and Carlos García Estevez, as well as at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. She is a co-producer and direc­tor of several episodes of the new web series The Doula is IN.

Andrew Morgan (Aunt Trudy lighting design) has been working professionally as a director, cinematographer, and editor since graduating from Columbia College Chicago in 2008. In 2009, he formed Little Cabin Films with friend and business partner Nick Nummerdor. As co-director and producer of Vannin’ (2013), Morgan saw his first feature film go from conception to successful distribution via streaming services such as Amazon Prime. Morgan has also acted as a producer, director, and cinematographer on two short documentaries—North Branch (2018) and Hill Climb (2017)—that both focus on unique aspects of Americana. His mosts recent documentary, Sleeze Lake: Vanlife at its Lowest & Best, will screen at CUFF & SFDOCS. Most recently, Morgan found himself as director of photography for Manual Cinema’s shadow puppetry material to be included in the 2021 release of Monkey Paw Productions’ Candy­man, directed by Nia DaCosta.

Shelby Sparkle (stage manager) is grateful to have the opportunity to work on this gorgeous production with these amazing humans during these uncertain times. Sparkle has been with Manual Cinema for four years, stage managing several touring productions that have taken her across the United States and around the world, while also overseeing these touring operations as company manager. Before joining Manual Cinema, Sparkle stage-managed plays all over Chicago with companies including Sideshow Theatre Company, Lifeline Theatre, and the Strange Tree Group. She then went on to stage manage all over the country, including for various experimental theater projects with graduate students at the A.R.T. Institute, school touring productions with ArtsPower, and an opera with Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. But nothing has brought her as much joy as working and traveling with the incredibly talented artists, puppeteers, and musicians of Manual Cinema.

Mike Usrey (technical director and sound engineer). “That may be the most important thing to understand about humans. It is the unknown that defines our existence. We are constantly searching, not just for answers to our questions, but for new questions. We are explorers. We explore our lives day by day, and we explore the galaxy trying to expand the boundaries of our knowledge. And that is why I am here: not to conquer you with weapons or ideas, but to co­exist and learn” (Benjamin Lafayette Sisko).

Kyle Vegter (co-artistic director) is a composer, producer, and sound designer, and the managing artistic director of Manual Cinema. As a composer of concert music, he has been commissioned by groups including the Chicago Symphony Orches­tra’s MusicNOW series, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Tigue. Vegter’s music and sound design for theater and film has been seen worldwide and commissioned by the New York Times, NPR’s Invisibilia, Topic (First Look Media), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chi­cago, StoryCorps, the Art Institute of Chi­cago, the Poetry Foundation, Hubbard Street Dance, the O, Miami Poetry Festival, and others. His past composer/sound designer credits with Manual Cinema include Lula del Ray, Ada/Ava, Fjords, Mementos Mori, The End of TV, and various other performance and video projects. Vegter has been an artist-in-residence at High Concept Laboratories and co-founded Chicago’s only contemporary classical music cassette label, Parlour Tapes+.

CREDITS

Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol was made possible by the contributions of co-commissioners: Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley; COCA – Center of Creative Arts; College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University; Kahilu Theatre; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Millersville University – The Ware and Winter Centers; Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech; Stanford Live; Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Arts & Issues; Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts at California State University, Northridge; Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College; and Writers Theatre, with substantial in-kind commissioning support from Marquee TV; additional commissioning support from South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, and support from the Newman Center for the Performing Arts at University of Denver.

Presenting Partners
Arizona Arts Live; Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College; Chico Performances at Cali­fornia State University, Chico; Clovis Com­munity College Cultural Arts Series; Des Moines Per­forming Arts; Hult Center for the Performing Arts; Irvine Barclay Theatre; Maui Arts & Cultural Cen­ter; OzArts; Purdue Con­vocations; Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts; Santiago a Mil; Seattle Theatre Group; Society for the Performing Arts; Texas Performing Arts; Warren Miller Performing Arts Center; and the Weis Center for the Per­form­ing Arts at Bucknell University.

Video Stream delivered by Marquee.

For all North, Central, and South American booking enquiries, please contact:
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laurac@elsieman.org
Tel: 1 718 797 4577
www.elsieman.org

Exclusive Asian Touring representation:
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info@broadwayasia.com
Tel: 1 212 203 9986
www.broadwayasia.com
manualcinema.com

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STAGE CREW
Charles Clear, Senior Scene Technician
David Ambrose, Senior Scene Technician
Jacob Heule, Senior Scene Technician
Jorg Peter “Winter” Sichelschmidt, Senior Scene Technician
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Opening fanfare used by permission from Jordi Savall from his 2015 recording of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo on Alia Vox.

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