Holiday magic fills Chicago’s historic Fine Arts Building and Studebaker Theater this December with the return of Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol to the Studebaker for a limited run, December 12–28, 2025.
Featuring hundreds of handmade puppets, immersive sound design and a stunning live score, Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol is a holiday show unlike any other. Every ticket comes with a special interactive post-show experience on the Studebaker stage, where audiences are invited to step into the magic of the show—including hands-on puppetry demos, conversations with the cast, set tours and festive photo ops.
Tickets for Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol are now on sale starting at $45, with student discounts available with proof of ID. Performances are on Fridays, Dec. 12, 19 and 26 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, Dec. 13, 20 and 27 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, Dec. 14, 21 and 28 at 2 p.m.; Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m.; and Wednesday, Dec. 24 at 3 p.m.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit fineartsbuilding.com/christmascarol.
In Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol, avowed holiday skeptic Aunt Trudy has been reluctantly recruited to carry on her late husband Joe’s tradition of spreading Christmas cheer. Alone in her Chicago home on Christmas Eve, she reconstructs his annual Christmas Carol puppet show over a Zoom call, while the family celebrates from afar. But as Trudy dives deeper into the story, the puppets take on a life of their own and the family call transforms into a breathtaking, one-of-a-kind cinematic reimagining of Dickens’s classic ghost story.
This beloved one-of-a-kind rendition of Charles Dickens’ classic story is co-produced by the Studebaker Theater and Manual Cinema.
“We are delighted to welcome Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol back to the Studebaker,” says Jacob Harvey, Managing Artistic Director of the Fine Arts Building and Studebaker Theater. “Manual Cinema’s uniquely imaginative adaptation has become the perfect holiday tradition for the Fine Arts Building, which has been Chicago's cultural hub for 127 years. This Christmas Carol is a truly magical experience and we look forward to sharing it with audiences of all ages!”
Casting for Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol includes LaKecia Harris as Aunt Trudy; puppeteers Lizi Breit (December 12-21), Felix Mayes, Jeffrey Paschal and Kevin Michael Wesson (December 21-28); and musicians Nora Barton (Cello, Keys, Bass), Lucy Little (Violin, Vocals) and Alicia Walter (Lead Vocals, Keys, Piano).
Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol is adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens and devised by Manual Cinema, with additional writing by Nate Marshall. Storyboards and puppet design are by Drew Dir, with original score and sound design by Ben Kauffman and Kyle Vegter, and lighting design by Trey Brazeal.
"We're so excited to be returning to the Studebaker Theater with Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol and continuing this new Chicago holiday tradition!” says Drew Dir, Co-Artistic Director of Manual Cinema. “As Manual Cinema celebrates its fifteenth year making interdisciplinary puppetry, theater, and music, we're thrilled to share our genre-bending take on Charles Dickens's classic ghost story with Chicago audiences once more."
Artist Bios
Nora Barton (Cello, Keys, Bass) is a cellist and educator based in northern Kentucky. She has been performing with Manual Cinema since 2018. Nora recently made the move to the Cincinnati region from Chicago, where she performed in symphonies, rock bands, avante-garde ensembles, theater productions, and more, for 15 years. Currently she works with the Arts in Healing team, playing for patients and their families at Hospice of Cincinnati and UC Medical center. Nora also regularly accompanies yoga classes, hosts ambient noise jams, and performs out as Planchette, an experimental solo project that enriches spaces with ethereal cello energy.
Lizi Breit (Puppeteer, December 12-21) is a Chicago-based artist. She has been performing and designing with Manual Cinema since 2011.
LaKecia Harris (Aunt Trudy, Puppeteer) is so excited to return for Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol and to be at the Studebaker again. She is a native of Chicago’s Southside and attended Ball State University for her BFA in Acting. After leaving Ball State she returned to her hometown; most recent credits include Hurricane Diane (Theatre Wit) From the Mississippi Delta (Lifeline Theatre), The Secretaries: A Parable (First Floor Theater). You can also hear her in the drama podcast On the Night Train as Lucy produced by The Merry Beggars. LaKecia is also an ensemble member of Midsommer Flight.
Felix Mayes (Puppeteer) is a Chicago-based artist, game-master, and puppeteer. Credits include: House of the Exquisite Corpse (Rough House), The Old Country (Steppenwolf), No Blue Memories (Manual Cinema), Nevermind It’s Nothing (Chicago Slam Works), and too much Shakespeare to list.
Jeffrey Paschal (Puppeteer) is originally from Corning in Upstate New York. In 2012, Jeff moved to Chicago to attend Northwestern University, where he majored in Theatre. Jeff was involved with several theatre productions at Northwestern including Fabulation directed by Jerrell Henderson and Anna in the Tropics directed by Henry Godinez, as well as directing and producing several short films through the school's RTVF program. Jeff graduated from Northwestern with a B.S. in Theatre in 2016. He currently lives in Chicago and is represented by Gray Talent Group.
Lucy Little (Violin, Vocals) is a musician, improvisor, composer, and audio producer currently based in NYC, but with deep and loving roots in Chicago, where she lived for 10 years. As a composer, Lucy has written and recorded scores for theatrical productions and podcasts, including for the Audible Original plays Daddies (2022) and Marrow (2023). As a performer, Lucy plays violin with the Chicago-based indie rock and folk project Half Gringa, has an electroacoustic solo project, and has performed with musicians from around the world, including with singer/songwriters Aisha Burns, Dani Larkin, MICHA Música, Afarin Nazarijou, and more. Lucy holds a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory, a Bachelor’s from the University of Chicago, is an U.S. Fulbright alum and a 2022 OneBeat Fellow.
Alicia Walter (Lead Vocals, Keys, Piano) is a singer-songwriter, composer, and pianist from Chicago. Known for her “near-cosmic voice” (WIRED) and “stratosphere of songwriting all her own” (Consequence of Sound), Walter has released two celebrated albums under her own name: Right Noise (BIG EGO Records 2023) and I Am Alicia (Sooper Records 2021). In 2024, she performed in venues across the US and Europe, most recently alongside artists Veronica Swift and Danielle Ponder. Her music has been featured in nationally syndicated TV shows, including NBC hit drama This Is Us and All Rise. Walter rose to acclaim as bandleader of beloved Chicago-based art rock group, Oshwa.
Kevin Michael Wesson (Puppeteer, December 21-28) (he/they) is a proudly unrepresented puppeteer/playwright based in Chicago; originally from Tampa, FL, he received a B.A. in theatre arts from the University of South Florida. Recent credits include: "Where we go together" or The Flashlight Play (Theatre Nobody), Dog or Cats; Augmented Body (Steppenwolf LOOKOUT), House of the Exquisite Corpse I-III (Rough House Theater), All is Blue & Yellow (Collective Summ), CHRISTMAS PAGEANT (Hot Kitchen Collective), Elements of Style (The Neo-Futurists), & The Dr. Seuss Experience (Kilburn Live). Currently, he's an ensemble member with Stop Motion Plant, Theatre Nobody, & Theater Unspeakable.
About the Fine Arts Building
The Fine Arts Building is a home for art in all forms: from pioneers like Poetry magazine’s founding publisher Harriet Monroe, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz illustrator W. W. Denslow, sculptor Lorado Taft and the Chicago Little Theatre, to the ongoing legacies of painters, musicians, booksellers, puppeteers, dancers, photographers and craftspeople who inhabit the building today, the Fine Arts Building is buzzing with more than a century of Chicago creativity and innovation. A Chicago Landmark since 1978, the building features original manually-operated elevators, Art Nouveau murals from the late 19th century and the recently renovated Studebaker Theater, one of the city’s most historic performance venues. The Studebaker has been graced by performances from luminaries such as Bob Hope, Peter O’Toole, Mae West, Ethel Barrymore, Geraldine Page, Vincent Price, and many more. Today, it hosts performances of musicals, opera, puppetry, comedy, dance and more from a wide variety of organizations. Since its curtain first rose, the Studebaker Theater has been recognized as an architectural gem and one of the most important live theatrical venues in Chicago. For more information, visit fineartsbuilding.com.
About Manual Cinema
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’s "Rising Stars and Storefront Stalwarts" (Newcity). Their shadow puppet animations were 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, and a live adaptation of their 2020 streaming hit A Christmas Carol. In 2023, Manual Cinema completed production on their first self-produced short film, Future Feeling, and toured with folk rock band Iron & Wine the following year. This summer Manual Cinema premiered their latest feature production, The 4th Witch—a bold and imaginative inversion of Macbeth that is touring nationally this fall.