TREY BRAZEAL he/him (Lighting Designer) is excited that Manuel Cinema's Christmas Carol gets to see another year at Writer's Theater! Some of his recent credits include: Percy jackson and the Lightning Thief (Millikin University); Addams family The Musical (Ohio Northern University); Much Ado About Nothing & Fences (The Olney Theatre Center); The Last 5 Years (Third Avenue Playworks); Moulin Rouge! The Musical American Tour (2nd Ass't); Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster Tour (Manual Cinema);

NATALIE COHEN (Stage Manager) is thrilled to return to Writers Theatre and Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol! Select credits include Once, Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol,  Athena (Writers Theatre); The Gospel at Colonus (Court Theatre); Clyde’s (Goodman Theatre); Love Actually? The Unauthorized Musical Parody, Bachelor: The Unauthorized Parody Musical (Right Angle Entertainment); Kinky Boots (Paramount). She is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.

DREW DIR he/him (Storyboards and Puppet Design) 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 FORNANCE she/her (Co-Deviser) 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 he/him (Original Score and Sound Designer) is a Chicago-based composer, director, interactive media artist and co-Artistic Director of Manual Cinema. His film and interactive work has been shown at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion (Chicago), the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (Chicago), the University of Wisconsin and CUNY’s Baruch College (NYC). He has lectured at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's MediaLab, New York University and Parsons the New School of Design. His past composer credits with Manual Cinema include Ada/Ava, The End of TV and the New York Times documentary The Forger. He holds a Master’s degree from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

NATE MARSHALL he/him (Writer) Nate Marshall is an award-winning writer, editor, educator, and MC. His most recent book, Finna, was recognized as one of the best books of 2020 by NPR and The New York Public Library. His first book, Wild Hundreds, was honored with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s award for Poetry Book of the Year and The Great Lakes College Association’s New Writer Award. He was also an editor of The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. Marshall co-wrote the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks with Eve Ewing. He also wrote the audio drama Bruh Rabbit & The Fantastic Telling of Remington Ellis, Esq., which was produced by Make-Believe Association. Marshall records hip-hop as a solo artist and with the group Daily Lyrical Product.

JULIA MILLER she/her (Costume Designer) 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 Frankenstein (The Creature/Elizabeth), Ada/Ava (Ada), Lula del Ray (Lula's Mother), The Magic City (Helen), and Hansel und Gretel (Hansel). 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 Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy.

KYLE VEGTER he/him (Original Score and Sound Designer) is a composer, producer, sound designer, and Managing Artistic Director of Manual Cinema. As a composer of concert music he’s been commissioned by such groups as The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW series, The Pacific Northwest Ballet, and TIGUE. His music and sound design for theater and film has been performed worldwide and commissioned by the New York Times, NPR’s Invisibilia, Topic (First Look Media), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, StoryCorps, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Poetry Foundation, Hubbard Street Dance, the O, Miami Poetry Festival, and others. His past Composer/ Sound Designer credits with Manual Cinema include Lula Del Ray, Ada/ Ava, FJORDS, Mementos Mori, 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+.

RAE WATSON (Properties Designer) has been a props maker in the Chicago area and beyond for the past 13 years, the last four of which have been with Writers Theatre. Other companies she has worked with include Wildclaw Theatre, Promethean Theatre Ensemble, Shattered Globe Theatre, Collaboraction, The House Theatre of Chicago and many others. She has also worked in film and television for companies such as the Jim Henson Company and Noah’s Park. 

CHICAGO PUPPET STUDIO (Additional Puppet Design and Fabrication) is the design and manufacturing arm of The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival organization creating original puppetry elements for theaters and theater artists nationally. Under the leadership of studio co-founders Blair Thomas and Tom Lee, a small team of highly-skilled builders and designers create, manufacture and implement puppetry designs into productions for theater, opera, tv, film, and beyond. The Chicago Puppet Studio works in a variety of puppetry styles (shadow, bunraku, marionette, plush, large scale spectacle, etc.) and materials (latex, foam, wood, metal, etc.) to bring artists’ ideas into full creative fruition.