DREW DIR is a writer, director, and puppet designer. Previously, he served as the Resident Dramaturg of Court Theatre and a lecturer in theater and performance studies at the University of Chicago. He holds a master’s degree in Text and Performance Studies from King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

SARAH FORNACE is a director, puppeteer, choreographer, and narrative designer based in Chicago. She is a co-Artistic Director of Manual Cinema. Outside of Manual Cinema, Sarah has worked as a performer or choreographer with Redmoon Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Steppenwolf Garage, and Blair Thomas and Co. Most recently, Sarah wrote the story mode for the video game Rivals of Aether. In 2017, she directed and edited the first episode of the web series, The Doula is IN. In 2016, she directed and devised an “animotion” production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet with Rokoko Studios for HamletScen at Kromborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark.

BEN KAUFFMAN is a composer, director and interactive media artist. His most recent work has been exhibited at The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, CUNY’s Baruch College, and he has lectured and given workshops at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York University, Baruch College, and Parsons the New School of Design. He holds a Master’s degree from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

JULIA MILLER is a director, puppeteer, and puppet designer. With Manual Cinema she has directed Mementos Mori and The End of TV as well as created original roles in Ada/Ava (Ada), Lula del Ray (Lula’s Mother), The Magic City (Helen), Hansel und Gretel (Hansel), Frankenstein (The Creature/Elizabeth) and Leonardo! (Sam). In Chicago she has worked as a performer and puppeteer with Redmoon Theatre and Blair Thomas and Co. She spent several years training in devised theatre, clown and mask with Double Edge Theatre, Carlos García Estevez and at the Academia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy and holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University. She is a co-producer/director/editor of the web series The Doula is IN.

KYLE VEGTER is a composer, producer, sound designer, and Managing Artistic Director of Manual Cinema. As a composer he’s been commissioned by such groups as TIGUE, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW series, the Chicago Composer’s Orchestra, the New York Times, and NPR’s Invisibilia. His production credits span genres, and include recent releases by Thin Hymns, Spektral Quartet, Tim Munro (of eighth blackbird), and Color Card. His past Composer/ Sound Designer credits with Manual Cinema include Lula Del Ray, Ada/ Ava, FJORDS, The End of TV and various other performance and video projects. He has been an artist in residence at High Concept Laboratories, and co-founded Chicago’s only contemporary classical music cassette label Parlour Tapes+.