Manual Cinema's THE MAGIC CITY Returns To Chicago Children's Theatre in January

Encouraging children to build bridges rather than walls is the timely theme of Manual Cinema's The Magic City, returning to Chicago Children's Theatre, 100 S. Racine in Chicago's West Loop, with its magical fusion of actors, puppets, miniatures, multimedia and live music. Performances are January 25-February 16, 2025.

Step inside The Magic City, where Philomena and her big sister, Helen, love to build miniature cities out of books, toys and household objects. But when Helen starts seeing a new boyfriend, Brandon, Philomena's world falls apart. Even worse, Philomena is expected to make friends with Brandon's son, Lucas, the most annoying boy in the world. Forced to share her perfect life with Helen, Philomena retreats into building the biggest tiny city ever: a magic city only for her. Until one night, Philomena's city of found objects comes to life, and she finds herself trapped inside. Will Philomena find her way out—and will she let her new family in?

Manual Cinema's contemporary adaptation of Edith Nesbit's 1910 novel “The Magic City" was the company's first all-ages show and the highly acclaimed inaugural production when Chicago Children's Theatre opened its forever home in Chicago's West Loop in 2017.

Access performances for The Magic City

Sensory Friendly

Saturday, February 1 at 9:30 a.m. 

Audio Description and Touch Tour

Saturday, February 9 at 2 p.m.

*Tickets must be purchased two weeks prior to performance

ASL and Open Captions

Saturday, February 15 at 9:30 a.m.

For more, go to chicagochildrenstheatre.org/access_performances or email access@chicagochildrenstheatre.org. For more, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org

The Magic City, a Manual Cinema production, is based on the novel by Edith Nesbit. It was devised by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman and Julia Miller. Screenplay and storyboards are by Drew Dir and Sarah Fornace. Music and sound design are by Ben Kauffman and Kyle Vegter. Art Direction and puppets are by Drew Dir. Music and lyrics are by Ben Kauffman.Lighting design is by David Goodman-Edberg, and wig and costume design are by Mieka van der Ploeg. Stage manager is Ryn Hardiman.

The cast features Brandon Boler (Brandon, puppeteer), Ellie Duffey (Philomena, puppeteer January 25 - February 9), Sarah Fornace (Philomena, puppeteer February 9-16), Julia Miller (Helen, puppeteer), Kasey Foster (puppeteer understudy, week of January 27-February 1), Jeffrey Paschal (Lucas, puppeteer) and Alicia Walter (narrator, vocals, keyboard).

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 a live music ensemble, 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. In 2020 they were included in 50 of Chicago theater "Rising Stars and Storefront Stalwarts" (Newcity). 

The world premiere of The Magic City, Manual Cinema's first production for children, was also the inaugural production at Chicago Children's Theatre's new West Loop home in 2017. The company's shadow puppet animations were later featured in the 2021 film remake of Candyman, directed by Nia DaCosta and produced by Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions. In 2022 they premiered Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster, an adaptation of two books by celebrated children's author Mo Willems, since presented at both Chicago Children's Theatre and as part of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. In 2023 Manual Cinema released their first self produced short film, Future Feeling, toured with folk rock band Iron & Wine in 2024 creating live visuals on stage, and most recently, performed successful fall and holiday runs of Frankenstein and A Christmas Carol at downtown Chicago's Studebaker Theater.

For more, visit manualcinema.com.

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