MANUAL'S CINEMA CHRISTMAS CAROL To Debut December 3-20

Tickets are now on sale for the world premiere of Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol, a live streaming adaption of Charles Dickens's holiday classic created specifically for the 2020 holiday season.

Manual Cinema, the Chicago-based interdisciplinary performance collective, will present the most famous holiday tale of all time December 3-20, 2020.

Each show will be performed live in Manual Cinema's Chicago studio in a socially distanced manner, and live streamed directly to audiences at home by Marquee TV (marquee.tv) - the foremost digital deliverer for performing arts content.
In signature Manual Cinema style, hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes and a live original score come together for an imaginative reincarnation of Dickens's holiday classic.

Aunt Trudy, an avowed holiday skeptic, has been recruited to channel her late husband Joe's famous Christmas cheer. From the isolation of her studio apartment, Trudy reconstructs Joe's annual Christmas Carol puppet show over Zoom while the family celebrates Christmas Eve under lockdown. But as Trudy becomes more absorbed in her own version of the story, the puppets take on a life of their own, and the family's call transforms into a stunning cinematic retelling of Dickens's classic ghost story.

Tickets to live streamed performances of Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol are on sale now at manualcinema.com. Regular ticket prices are $15-$50: $15 (individual), $30 (duo or trio, 2-3 viewers) and $50 (family and friends, 4+ viewers). $100 tickets are also on sale for patrons who wish to support Manual Cinema. Closed-caption (for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing) and audio-described (for patrons who are blind or have low vision) tickets will be available December 9-20 for $10.

Since each show is performed live, patrons pick a show date and time and purchase a ticket, same as always.

Show times are Thursday and Friday, December 3 and 4 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, December 5 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday, December 6 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.; Wednesday, December 9 at 10 a.m.; Thursday, December 10 at 7 p.m., Friday, December 11 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.; Saturday, December 12 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday, December 13 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.; Wednesday, December 16, matinee at 10 a.m.; Thursday, December 17 at 7 p.m.; Friday, December 18 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.; Saturday, September 19 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday, December 20 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. (all times CT).

Before each show, all audience members will receive an email with a private URL to access and stream their chosen performance. After each performance, audiences will have the opportunity to ask Manual Cinema's artists questions live and in real time via a post-show "Puppet Time" live chat.

To create their adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Manual Cinema has been actively seeking commissioning and presenting venues around the country. The idea is to help replenish Manual Cinema's primary source of income - touring - while also offering a prescient work created for the times to its presenting partners and their audiences during this unprecedented time.

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