For the past few weeks, I’ve been in rehearsals full-time for Manual Cinema’s FRANKENSTEIN at Court Theatre. The show combines shadow puppetry, live camera work, crankie, and tabletop. Using these different styles of puppetry, the production in turn interweaves Mary Shelley’s personal narrative with FRANKENSTEIN’s multiple frames of perspective: Captain Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and finally, the Creature.

This is by far Manual Cinema’s most ambitious production yet, in terms of length and the intermixing of technology and puppetry styles. This is also my first Manual Cinema production where I will be both puppeteering and doing live-action work. I feel very lucky to be part of this project. Having worked many backstage jobs at Court Theatre, it also feels very surreal to be on the other side of things.

November 1 – December 2
Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave
Tickets here

UPDATE (10/25/18): Check out our feature in the New York Times!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/theater/frankenstein-manual-cinema.html

From left, the puppeteers Sarah Fornace, Leah Casey, Myra Su and Sara Sawicki, adjusting puppets on the projectors.

The technology of this “Frankenstein,” which involves puppets placed on overhead projectors, is deliberately backward looking.

The puppetry and magic lanterns used in the show would have been familiar to Shelley.

Sarah Fornace plays both the author Mary Shelley and her creation Victor Frankenstein in Manual Cinema’s “Frankenstein.”

This production of “Frankenstein” is a nearly wordless hybrid of theater and film.

↑Photo credit to Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times↑