Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol at Writers Theatre

Adapted by Manual Cinema from the original by Charles Dickens, co-commissioned by Writers Theatre

DECEMBER 3-13, 2020

In this world premiere online event created for audiences of all ages, interdisciplinary performance collective Manual Cinema takes on Charles Dickens' holiday classic with a visually inventive adaptation made to broadcast live at every performance, directly to your home. An avowed holiday skeptic, Aunt Trudy has been recruited to channel her late husband Joes' famous Christmas cheer. From the isolation of her Chicago apartment, she reconstructs his annual Christmas Carol puppet show-over a Zoom call while the family celebrates Christmas Eve under the 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 adaptation of Dickens' classic ghost story.

Each performance of Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol will be performed live in Manual Cinema's Chicago studio in a socially distanced manner, and live streamed to audiences at home. In signature Manual Cinema fashion, hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes and a live original score will come together to tell an imaginative reinvention of this cherished holiday story.

The artistic team for Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol includes: Lizi Breit (puppeteer) Sarah Fornace (puppeteer), Ben Kauffman (guitar, piano, lead vocals), N. LaQuis Harkin (Aunt Trudy, puppeteer), Julia Miller (puppeteer) and Kyle Vegter (cello, keys, vocals).

Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol is written by the Manual Cinema Artistic Directors, including Drew Dir (Storyboards), Ben Kauffman, Kyle Vegter (Original Music and Sound Design), Drew Dir, with Lizi Breit (Puppet Design), Sarah Fornace, Julia Miller (Puppet Build Assistants), Julia Miller, Kyle Vegter (Set Design), Julia Miller (Costume Design), Mike Usrey (Technical Director and Sound Engineer), Shelby Sparkles (Stage Manager) and Ben Kauffman (Streaming and UX).

Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol was made possible