A performance collective from Chicago is coming to Wilmington this week to perform an intricate shadow show featuring paper puppets, live actors, and live music. The group is called Manual Cinema-an apt title for a shadow show that is like a movie made by hand in front of the audience in real time. We heard from one of the founders of Manual Cinema, Drew Dir, about the show, called Ada|Ava. The performance was not made specifically for children, but Dir says it is not inappropriate for children either-the themes are in line with a Pixar movie. Ada|Ava is onstage at Kenan Auditorium on Friday, November 11 at 7:30pm.
Here is a description of the story from Manual Cinema: Bereaved of her twin sister Ava, septuagenarian Ada solitarily marks time in the patterns of a life built for two. However, a traveling carnival and a trip to a mirror maze plunges her into a journey across the threshholds of life and death. Set in a landscape of the New England gothic, Ada|Ava uses a story of the fantastic and supernatural to explore mourning and melancholy, self and other.
This presentation is part of the Cucalorus Film Festival, running November 9th - 13th in Wilmington. A Shadow Workshop with Manual Cinema is Thursday night at 7:00 at Ironclad Brewery.