Two performers, one wearing a blue shirt and black vest and the other wearing a red shirt, overalls, red glasses and a blue hat, make silly faces on stage and appear on a large screen above the stage.
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The Magic City

Manual Cinema
from Chicago, Illinois

March 27 – April 4, 2025
Recommended Grades
Grades 1 – 4
Price
Students: $2
Chaperones: $5
What Kind of Show?
Puppetry with live music and projections; poignant and inventive
Content Considerations
Widowed parents
Running Time
65 minutes with no intermission
Venue
The New Victory Theater 209 W 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
schools public

School-time tickets may only be booked by Partner organizations.

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About the Show

Nine-year-old Philomena loves building miniature cities with her big sister, Helen. But when Helen gets engaged, what will become of their world? And who wants a weird new stepbrother? So Philomena fashions herself a new world from books, toys and found objects that come alive when she falls asleep. Will she retreat into her imagination, or can she open up to her newly blended family? Brought to adventurous life through Manual Cinema’s (Leonardo!, 2022) signature fusion of actors, puppets, live music and miniatures, The Magic City encourages us to build bridges rather than walls.

The Magic City lets everyone in.

—Chicago Tribune

Things to Know

  1. Manual Cinema was last at the New Victory in 2022 with Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster.
  2. As cinematic as the world of The Magic City is, everything on stage will be performed live—including the music!
  3. The Magic City is based on Edith Nesbit’s 1910 novel of the same name.

 

About the Artists

A performance troupe, design studio and production company, Manual Cinema tells visually exciting stories that redefine the term “multimedia.” Vintage overhead projectors, puppets, actors and live feed cameras cross moviegoing with theatergoing, remaking the cinema experience with liveness and theatricality for the stage. Their ingenuity won them an Emmy in 2017 for The Forger, a documentary short made in collaboration with The New York Times.

Photos

A woman holds up an image of a girl with bright red hair and glasses reading in a windowsill while the image is projected largely onto a screen above her.
Two lamps shine on a boy who plays with miniatures of a city on a table. To the left, a girl watches and moves the miniatures around too.
On the left, a person talks in a microphone, and behind them, two people look at large shadow puppets on the right of a girl talking to a big head on a white and pink screen.
A behind-the-scenes look at the factors that go into the production: a stage manager reads cues into a microphone while three cast members create shadows for a projection screen and one actor interacts with the shadows on the screen.
A girl wearing red glasses and a blue hat plays with a miniature city on a table with three lamps shining on it. On the left, a boy wearing a blue shirt plays along, and on the right, another person watches them.
A woman holds up an image of a girl with bright red hair and glasses reading in a windowsill while the image is projected largely onto a screen above her.
Photo: Chuck Osgood
Two lamps shine on a boy who plays with miniatures of a city on a table. To the left, a girl watches and moves the miniatures around too.
Photo: Katie Doyle
On the left, a person talks in a microphone, and behind them, two people look at large shadow puppets on the right of a girl talking to a big head on a white and pink screen.
Photo: Katie Doyle
A behind-the-scenes look at the factors that go into the production: a stage manager reads cues into a microphone while three cast members create shadows for a projection screen and one actor interacts with the shadows on the screen.
Photo: Chuck Osgood
A girl wearing red glasses and a blue hat plays with a miniature city on a table with three lamps shining on it. On the left, a boy wearing a blue shirt plays along, and on the right, another person watches them.
Photo: Katie Doyle

Creative Team

Cast
Brandon Boler, Sarah Fornace, Kasey Foster, Jeffrey Paschal and Alicia Walter

Devisers
Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman and Julia Miller

Writers
Drew Dir and Sarah Fornace

Music, Lyrics & Sound Designer
Ben Kauffman

Art Direction & Puppets
Drew Dir

Costume & Wig Designer
Mieka van der Ploeg

Lighting Designer
David Goodman-Edberg

Additional Sound Designer
Kyle Vegter

Stage Manager & Board Operator
Ryn Hardiman

Accessibility

On the left, a paper puppet of a woman with curly brown hair holds a smaller kid with red glasses and a blue hat in her backpack, and on the right, an ASL interpreter signs against a gray background.
Watch The Magic City's ASL-interpreted trailer!
Watch Trailer

For every performance at the New Victory Theater…

  • You can request to borrow supports like fidgets, earplugs, assisted listening devices, wheelchairs and more.
  • Our quiet Cozy Zone and a live feed of the performance are available in the lower lobby at all times for those with sensory sensitivities or anyone who needs a break from the theater.
  • Wheelchair-accessible seats and Companion seat tickets are available (see more details when buying tickets).

 
Get additional accessibility details, and prepare for your visit with our New Victory Social Narrative.

Curriculum & Trip Planning

A stack of four New Victory School Tool Resource Guide handouts

Access Resource Unit

Curriculum and activities!

Inspire creative thinking with ready-to-implement, grade-appropriate activities.

Inside a classroom, a Teaching Artists, instructs a group of kids

Book a Workshop

Led by New Victory Teaching Artists!

Explore art forms and themes in the show in a pre- or post-show workshop.

The box office and lobby entrance of the New Victory Theater.

Field Trip Guide

Plan your visit!

Review field trip information and ticketing policies.