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. Manual Cinema 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 live music, Manual Cinema transforms the experience of attending the cinema and imbues it with liveness, ingenuity, and theatricality. The company was awarded an Emmy in 2017 for "The Forger," a video created for The New York Times and named Chicago Artists of the Year in 2018 by the Chicago Tribune. Their shadow puppet animations are featured in the film remake of Candyman, directed by Nia DaCosta and produced by Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions. Recent productions include Leonardo! A Wonderful Show about a Terrible Monster, based on books by Mo Willems, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and a revamped production of The Magic City, based on Edith Nesbit's 1910 novel. In 2023, Manual Cinema completed production on their first self-produced short film, Future Feeling, and toured with folk rock band Iron & Wine the following year. Manual Cinema's newest production, The 4th Witch, is an inversion of Shakespeare's Macbeth and premiered at the Spoleto festival in June, 2025.

Manual Cinema has toured throughout North America and to four continents. Highlights include: Under The Radar/The Public Theater (NYC), Adelaide Festival (AUS), Santiago a mil (Chile), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Singapore International Festival of the Arts, and the Tehran International Puppet Festival (Iran). The company has received commissioning for new performance works from Cal Performances (Berkeley), Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), The Kennedy Center, ArtsEmerson (Boston), Spoleto Festival (USA), The Poetry Foundation, and La Monnaie de Munt (Belgium). They have received grant support from the National Theater Project, US Artists International, and ArtsCONNECT.

We'd love to hear from you! Follow us at @manual_cinema; join our newsletter via our website: www.manualcinema.com; and support us via Patreon.

LIZI BREIT (Mother, Witch, Girl, Puppeteer) is a Chicago-based artist. She has been performing and designing with Manual Cinema since 2011.

LEAH CASEY (Father, Witch, Girl, Puppeteer) is a Chicago-based actress, dancer, and writer. When not on stage, she can be found lending her voice to all manner of audiobooks, or with the cast of Project STELLAR, a science fiction podcast about a group of crazy kids who have close encounters of the awesome kind. Chicago credits: Murder on the Orient Express, Grease, Cinderella (Drury Lane), A Christmas Carol (Writers Theatre/Manual Cinema), Leonardo and Sam (Chicago Children's Theatre/Manual Cinema), Frankenstein (Court Theatre/Manual Cinema), For Colored Girls... (Court Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Teatro Vista), STORM (Walkabout/Moonfool). Leah is represented by the dedicated team at Shirley Hamilton.

SARAH FORNACE (Girl, Puppeteer, Co-Deviser, Co-Artistic Director) is a director, puppeteer, choreographer, and narrative designer based in Chicago. She is a co-Artistic Director of Manual Cinema. Outside of Manual Cinema, Sarah has worked as a performer or choreographer with Redmoon Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Steppenwolf Garage, and Blair Thomas and Co. Most recently, Sarah wrote the story mode for the video game Rivals of Aether. In 2017, she 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.

JEFFREY PASCHAL (Soldier, Macbeth, Puppeteer) is a Chicago-based actor and filmmaker. Chicago credits: The Bottle Tree (Theater Wit), The Magic City (Chicago Children's Theatre/Manual Cinema), The End of TV (Chopin Theater/ Manual Cinema), Solar Storm (Akvavit Theater), No Blue Memories (Studebaker Theater/ Manual Cinema), A Christmas Carol (Writers Theatre/ Manual Cinema). Touring credits: Lula del Rey (Manual Cinema), Ada/Ava (Manual Cinema), The 4th Witch (Manual Cinema). Directing credits: Life of Harold (available on Youtube) and Broadcast. He is represented by BMG Talent.

MYRA SU (Lead Witch, Puppeteer) is a puppetry and multimedia artist. Her work is often interested in combining analog forms of puppetry with digital technology. Her current project, STRIPES, is an exploration on sensing in puppets, integrating barcode scanners and light sensors in an interactive stage world. She has been a featured artist at the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Baltimore Crankie Festival, the National Puppet Slam, and with Handmade Puppet Dreams. In addition to her independent work, she is grateful for 10+ years as a touring performer and builder with Manual Cinema. She is also a co-curator for NASTY, BRUTISH & SHORT, a Chicago-based puppet slam. For more: http://www.myrasu.com.

ERICA KREMER (Cello, Vocals) is a cellist, pianist, and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York. Having recently received her Master's degree under cellist Edward Arron, she is building a music career tailored to her interests of democratizing classical music, blurring genre and cultural lines, and making music on her own terms. Refusing to be put in a box, she has performed and toured as a former member of the Carriola String Quartet, holding a residency with Sinfonia Gulf Coast; as a rock and roll cellist, across the country, in the Black Jacket Symphony; and as a folk musician featured in the Ocrafolk Festival, as a part of Saltare Sounds.

LUCY LITTLE (Violin, Vocals) is a musician, improvisor, composer, and audio producer currently based in NYC, but with deep and loving roots in Chicago, where she lived for 10 years. As a composer, Lucy has written and recorded scores for theatrical productions and podcasts, including for the Audible Original plays Daddies (2022) and Marrow (2023). As a performer, Lucy plays violin with the Chicago-based indie rock and folk project Half Gringa, has an electroacoustic solo project, and has performed with musicians from around the world, including with singer/songwriters Aisha Burns, Dani Larkin, MICHA Música, Afarin Nazarijou, and more. Lucy holds a Master's degree from the New England Conservatory, a Bachelor's from the University of Chicago, is an U.S. Fulbright alum and a 2022 OneBeat Fellow.

ALICIA WALTER (Piano, Keys, Lead Vocals) is a singer, composer, and musician from Chicago. Known for her "near-cosmic voice" (WIRED) and "stratosphere of songwriting all her own" (Consequence of Sound), Walter has released two celebrated albums under her own name: Right Noise (BIG EGO Records 2023) and I Am Alicia (Sooper Records 2021). She's performed in venues across the US and Europe, most recently alongside artists Veronica Swift and Danielle Ponder. Her music has been featured in nationally syndicated TV shows, including the NBC hit drama, "This Is Us," and "All Rise." Walter rose to acclaim as bandleader of beloved Chicago-based art rock group, Oshwa.

MIKE USREY (Audio 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

RYN HARDIMAN (Stage Manager and Board Operator) is a Chicago-based artist, technician, designer, and stage manager. In addition to touring as a Stage Manager with Manual Cinema, Ryn also works as an AV Technician at The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Humanities Festival, Blue Man Group Chicago, The Second City, and is currently the Technical Director at The Neo-Futurists.

LAURA COLBY (Creative Producer) Recipient of NAPAMA's 2016 Liz Silverstein Award, Colby secures funds to create new work via Elsie Management (which she founded in 1995). In 2020, Colby served as Creative Producer in the creation and delivery of Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol—a show that was live-streamed for 24 performances in December 2020, during the height of the pandemic closures. She served as Managing Producer for LaTasha Barnes' The Jazz Continuum and Monique Martin's Minty Fresh Circus. Colby's podcast, The Middle Woman, a roadmap to managing the performing arts, is available on all podcast platforms. www.elsieman.org

DREW DIR (Concept, Director, Storyboards and Puppet Design, Co-Deviser, Co-Artistic Director) is a writer, director, and puppet designer. Previously, he served as the Resident Dramaturg of Court Theatre and a lecturer in theater and performance studies at the University of Chicago. He holds a master's degree in Text and Performance Studies from King's College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

GRIFFIN DISTASI (Costume Assistant) (they/he) is an illustrator, maker, voice actor, and circus artist who has been spending the years since graduating University of Illinois with a degree in mechanical engineering working to marry engineering and art any way they can. Their work spans from poster design and comic illustration to rigging and puppet design, and they are thrilled to be working with Manual Cinema for the first time.

DAVID GOODMAN-EDBERG (Lighting Design) is a Chicago based lighting designer working in the realms of dance, theatrical, and architectural design. He has designed and toured with such companies as Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Eisenhower Dance Detroit, Visceral Dance Chicago, and Water Street Dance Milwaukee, and lit works set on companies such as Chicago Repertory Ballet, Chicago Tap Theater, Joel Hall Dancers, and Thodos Dance Chicago. Theatrically, he has designed with puppet & object oriented companies such as Rough House and Cabinet of Curiosity as well as with such companies as Adventure Stage, Akvavit Theatre, Factory Theater, The Gift Theater, Organic Theater, Red Tape Theater, The Syndicate, and Trap Door Theatre. Architecturally, he has lit pieces at the art space 6018|North and worked as an assistant/associate designer for projects at various Universal Studios theme parks (in Beijing, Hollywood, Orlando, and Osaka), Disney Shanghai, and several Margaritaville restaurants. http://www.dglxdesign.com

BEN KAUFFMAN (Original Score and Sound Design, Co-Artistic Director) is a composer, director, interactive media artist and co-Artistic Director of Manual Cinema. His film and interactive work has been shown at The Jay Pritzker Pavilion (Chicago), The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (Chicago), and CUNY's Baruch College (NYC). He has lectured and given workshops at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York University and Parsons the New School of Design. His past Composer/ Sound Designer credits with Manual Cinema include Ada/Ava, The End of TV, and the New York Times documentary The Forger. He holds a Master's degree from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

CAITLIN MCLEOD (Puppet Build Assistant) is a Chicago based costume, scenic, and puppet designer. Recent design credits include: Romeo and Zooliet (St. Louis Shakespeare); Fat Ham (Virginia Stage Co); The Little Mermaid (Drury Lane); Lavender Men (About Face); Blues for an Alabama Sky (Virginia Stage Co); The Dream King (Teatro Vista); Trouble in Mind (Timeline); The Seagull (Steppenwolf); Exquisite Corpse (Rough House). Craftwork credits include The Goodman, The Kennedy Center, Lookingglass, and Northlight. Caitlin is a co-curator of NBS: Chicago's Puppet Slam, company member of Rough House, and project manager of the Chicago Puppet Studio. Instagram @CaitlinMcLeodDesign

JULIA MILLER (Co-Deviser, Silhouette Masks, Co-Artistic Director) is a director, puppeteer, and designer. With Manual Cinema she has directed Mementos Mori and The End of TV as well as created original roles in Frankenstein (The Creature/Elizabeth), Ada/Ava (Ada), Lula del Ray (Lula's Mother), The Magic City (Helen), Hansel und Gretel (Hansel), and Leonardo! (Sam). In Chicago, she has worked as a performer and puppeteer with Redmoon Theatre and Blair Thomas and Co. She spent several years training in devised theatre, clown and mask with Double Edge Theatre, Carlos García Estevez and at the Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy.

SULLY RATKE (Costume and Wig Design) is a multi-disciplinary visual story-telling artist with an appetite for compelling language, mystery, whimsy, and spiritual philosophy.