Maydi Díaz (she/her) is a Chicago based stage manager. Since completing a BA in Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago and a MA in Theatre Production from the National University of Ireland Galway, Maydi has worked on multiple areas of technical theater. Her stage management credits include Caucasian Chalk Circle (Mick Lally Theatre), Back In The Day (UrbanTheater Company), The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon and La Peor de Todas (Water People Theater), Kiev (Aguijón Theater Co), and various shows with PlayMaker's Laboratory. When she's not at the theater, you can find Maydi folk dancing or doing calligraphy.

Ethan Swim (he/him): Previous credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Taproot Theatre); Grease, Les Misérables School Edition, A Wrinkle in Time, and Brigadoon (Village Theatre).

Megan Alrutz (she/her) is an artist, educator, and scholar with over 20 years of experience in theatre, media, and interdisciplinary performance for youth and families. Megan is a long-time collaborator of author/illustrator Mo Willems, working as producer, dramaturg, and/or director on his musicals, interactive engagements, and other live and televised performance work. She is professor and associate chair of Theatre & Dance at the University of Texas at Austin.

Trey Brazeal (he/him) is happy to be working with Manual Cinema on Leonardo! A Wonderful Show about a Terrible Monster, and thanks Drew and Sarah for this wonderful opportunity! Some of his credits include: The Illusion, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Sweat, and Guys and Doll (Illinois State University); This Wide Night (Shattered Globe Theatre and Interrobang Theatre Project); Little Shop of Horrors (Metropolis Performing Arts Center).

Lizi Breit (she/her) is a Chicago-based artist. She has been performing and designing with Manual Cinema since 2011.

Nick Chamernik (he/him) is a Chicago-based lighting designer, production electrician, and theatre technician, and is thrilled to be working with Manual Cinema on their incredible production of Leonardo! A Wonderful Show about a Terrible Monster. He has also worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Porchlight Music Theatre, Apollo Theater Chicago, The Marriott Theatre, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Drew Dir (he/him) 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 (she/her) 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) 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).

Mieka Van Der Ploeg (she/her): Theatre credits include designs with Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Soho Playhouse, Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, American Players Theatre, Court Theater, People’s Light, Writers Theatre, Lyric Opera Unlimited, Lookingglass Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Florentine Opera, Remy Bumppo, Second City, Chicago Children’s Theater, Redmoon, The Hypocrites, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, About Face Theatre, Steep Theatre, Theater Wit, Theatre Squared, Albany Park Theater Project, Manual Cinema, and the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theatre. She won a Joseph Jefferson award in 2020 for First Love is the Revolution at Steep Theatre. She is a proud union member of both USA829 and IATSE Local 764.

Kyle Vegter (he/him) 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+."

Mo Willems (he/him) is an author, illustrator, animator, playwright, and the inaugural Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence, where he collaborates in creating fun new stuff involving classical music, opera, comedy concerts, dance, painting, and digital works with the National Symphony Orchestra, Ben Folds, Yo-Yo Ma, and others. Willems is best known for his #1 New York Times bestselling picture books, which have been awarded three Caldecott Honors (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too), two Theodor Geisel Medals, and five Geisel Honors (The Elephant & Piggie series). Mo’s art has been exhibited around the world, including major solo retrospectives at the High Museum (Atlanta) and the New-York Historical Society (NYC). Over the last decade, Willems has become the most produced playwright of Theatre for Young Audiences in America, having written or co-written four musicals based on his books. He began his career as a writer and animator on PBS’ "Sesame Street," where he garnered six Emmy Awards (writing). Other television work includes two series on Cartoon Network: "Sheep in the Big City" (creator + head writer) and "Codename: Kids Next Door" (head writer). Mo is creating new TV projects for HBOMax, where his live action-comedy special "Don’t Let the Pigeon Do Storytime!" currently streams. His papers reside at Yale University’s Beinecke Library.