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.
The Magic City (credit Charles Osgood)
The Magic City (credit Charles Osgood)
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, follow the company on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to its YouTube channel, CCTv: Virtual Theatre and Learning from Chicago Children’s Theatre.
About The Magic City and Manual Cinema
The Magic City (credit Charles Osgood)
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 or follow the company on Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo and Bandcamp.
Bilingual Go Dog Go! Ve Perro ¡Ve!, to close Chicago Children’s Theatre’s 19th season
Looking ahead to spring 2025, one of the most beloved children’s books of all time, Go Dog Go! is soon to be a joyous, inventive, bilingual musical romp, debuting at Chicago Children’s Theatre as the company’s 19th season finale!
Strap in for Go Dog Go! Ve Perro ¡Ve!, a wildly fun, world premiere ride, adapted from P.D. Eastman’s classic children’s book by Steven Dietz and Allison Gregory. Come along with these delightful dogs as they drive, swim, play baseball and make their way to the big dog party — all in a lively blend of English and Spanish. Like a pop-up book that comes to life, Go Dog Go! Ve Perro ¡Ve! is a heart-warming spectacle of music, color, language and delight, appealing to all ages.
Nationally acclaimed playwright and director Steven Dietz will direct. Compositions are by Michael Koerner with Spanish translations by Ana Maria Campoy. Performances are March 15-May 18, 2025. Press openings are Sunday, March 16 at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.
About Chicago Children’s Theatre
“The Chicago theater scene is legendarily vibrant, so naturally a number of companies tailor productions to younger audiences. The cream of the crop is Chicago Children’s Theatre.” – Chicago Tribune
Chicago Children’s Theatre, 100 S. Racine St. in Chicago’s West Loop, is Chicago’s destination for the best plays, musicals, classes and performing arts camps for young audiences, students and families.
The company was founded in 2005 with a big idea: Chicago is the greatest theater city in the world, and it deserves a great children’s theater. Nineteen years later, Chicago Children’s Theatre is the city’s largest professional theater company devoted exclusively to children and young families.
In 2017, following 11 years of itinerancy, Chicago Children’s Theatre opened its forever home in Chicago’s West Loop community. Formerly the 12th District Chicago Police Station, the building was repurposed into a LEED Gold-certified, mixed-use performing arts, education and community engagement facility. For children, parents, caregivers and teachers, CCT is now a convenient, welcoming community hub, centrally located in the city, with free, onsite parking.
Chicago Children’s Theatre has established a national reputation for the production of first-rate children’s theater with professional writing, performing, and directorial talent and high-quality design and production expertise. In 2019, the company won the National TYA Artistic Innovation Award from Theatre for Young Audiences/USA. Chicago Children’s Theatre has also garnered six NEA Art Works grants, and in 2017, was the first theater for young audiences to win a National Theatre Award from the American Theatre Wing, creators of the Tony Awards.
In tandem with its live productions, Chicago Children’s Theatre offers a full slate of Access services for patrons with disabilities, including ASL interpretation, open captioning, touch tours and sensory friendly performances. Chicago Children’s Theatre provides live theater experiences, classes and camps for children with autism and other special needs via its Red Kite Project. CCT also provides thousands of free and reduced-price tickets to weekday student matinees to under-resourced schools in partnership with Chicago Public Schools.
In addition to shows, CCT offers a full, year-round roster of performing arts education programs for ages 0 to 14. Visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org/family-programs for information on classes, workshops, winter, spring break and “school’s out” camps, and summer camps. Due to popular demand, in addition to its home in the West Loop, CCT camps and classes have expanded to new locations including Menomonee Club Drucker Center in Lincoln Park.
Chicago Children’s Theatre is supported by Goldman Sachs Gives, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, The Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts, Polk Bros Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts, Bayless Family Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Camp Out for Kids, Crown Family Philanthropies, PwC, Rivers Gives, US Bank, Thomabravo, Illinois Arts Council Agency, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Arctos Foundation, the Leland Family, Nancy and Erwin Aulis, the Gaito Family, Meridith and Ron Kaminski, the Knowles/ Wortendyke Family, Michael and Barbara Kraetsch, the Melendes Family, the Neveux Family, Erin and Jason, Ben, Bici and David Pritzker, Abigail and Jason Sussman, Susan M. Venturi Fund in memory of James and Roslyn Marks and the Waller Family.
Chicago Children’s Theatre is led by Co-Founders, Artistic Director Jacqueline Russell and Board Chair Todd Leland, with Board President Armando Chacon.
For more, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org.