30th Anniversary Returning Artist | Back by popular demand after their 2018 performances of The Magic City, Education for the Arts is delighted for the return of Manual Cinema.
Manual Cinema of Chicago has adapted Edith Nesbit’s 1910 novel The Magic City for a live, cinematic shadow puppet show. Using overhead projectors, paper shadow puppets, actors on camera, and live music, Manual Cinema’s adaptation of The Magic City updates the novel with a modern retelling.
The Magic City tells the story of nine-year-old Philomena, whose great love is building miniature structures out of books, toys, and other found objects from around her house. One day, her older sister (and only legal guardian) Helen announces that she is engaged to marry, and the two go to live at the mansion of Helen’s fiancé, Brandon. Left alone in her vast new home, forced to make friends with her annoying stepbrother Lucas, Philomena secludes herself in the attic where she builds the biggest miniature city she’s ever made. Later that night, Philomena wakes up to discover that her city has come alive. As she steps through the city gates, her adventure begins.
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.
Making the usually hidden visual tricks visible… is a brilliant way of awakening interest in theatre, puppetry, and storytelling for the next generation. – Barry Lenny, Broadway World
Thank You!
This activity is supported in part by an award from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council.
