Wood Dale native has a hand in Minneapolis children’s theater production
Leah Casey never imagined she’d be using her theater degree to bring life to a puppet.
Born and raised in Wood Dale, the 30-year-old will be a puppeteer in Manual Cinema’s production of “Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster” for the Children’s Theatre Company. The show will run in Minneapolis from Jan. 8 to March 9.
After graduating from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2017, Casey got herself an agent and, in 2018, auditioned at Manual Cinema for a production of “Frankenstein.” The audition included acting in silhouette, moving puppets around and singing. She had no prior experience with puppetry before this, Casey said.
“I went home and I didn’t really think much of it until … my agent said ‘hey, they want you to do this,’” Casey said. “I had no idea what I was getting into — I had no idea what company they were.”
Manual Cinema is an Emmy Award-winning performance collective, design studio, and film/video production company founded in 2010. It combines handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to create immersive stories for stage and screen.
Through Manual Cinema, Casey got the opportunity to work with companies such as Children’s Theatre Company and Drury Lane Theatre.
“It’s been fun,” Casey said. “I’ve gotten to try a lot of different things.”
When Manual Cinema puts on a production, they are quick to whisk it away on tour, according to Casey. This has allowed her to travel extensively, performing in other countries including Canada and South America. Casey also traveled to Scotland, attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
“I was exposed to so much international theater and Scotland is just … gorgeous,” Casey said. “That was definitely the most memorable one.”
Casey will be playing and operating the puppet Kerry in Manual Cinema’s latest 45-minute production, as she has many times before.
“This is an old hat,” Casey said. “It’s in our bodies at this point.”
The show is an adaptation by Sarah Fornace and Drew Dir of the books “Leonardo, The Terrible Monster” and “Sam, The Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World” by Mo Willems.
“It tells an important story about empathy and choosing unexpected friendships,” playwright and director Fornace said in a news release. “We use paper puppets, fuzzy Muppet-style puppets, live music, and video cameras to bring Mo’s books to life in front of the audience’s eyes.”
Casey admires Manual Cinema’s ability to rework stories until they’re perfect. Since the scripts are their original work, those in charge are able to change as much as they want.
“You make cuts and edits, and they’re really good at creating this material and then saying ‘this isn’t working with the story, we need to cut this,’” Casey said. “And then, they’ll come up with something else that fits even better. It’s amazing.”
In addition to puppetry, Casey stays busy through acting, dancing and writing. She also voices audiobooks, and works on the science fiction podcast “Project STELLAR.”
Casey says she would’ve been happy with a career in any type of theater, but she simply never imagined puppetry would be her future.
Tickets to “Leonardo! A Wonderful Show about a Terrible Monster” may be purchased online at childrenstheatre.org/Leonardo or by calling the ticket office at (612) 874-0400. Ticket prices start at $15.