We invite students to participate in the TAPS Spring Pro Show - MANUEL CINEMA's Dream Delivery Service. This unique opportunity allows students to be a part of a brand-new creation by Manuel Cinema (founded and led by UChicago alumni). Dream Delivery Service is a triptych about attention, distraction, time, language, and technology. First, we visit a monastery in the 10th century. While copying an ancient manuscript by hand, a monk discovers a funny doodle of a strange creature in the margins. To the monk's horror, the drawing comes to life as a mischievous demon. Then, in a present-day city, a woman wakes up and looks at her phone. As she proceeds through her daily routine, she periodically looks down at her phone unleashing a new and confusing relationship with time. Third, we find ourselves with a woman who battles a machine in a dystopian future.
Manual Cinema is an Emmy Award-winning performance collective, design studio, and film/video production company who combines handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to create immersive stories for stage and screen. Using vintage overhead projectors, multiple screens, puppets, actors, live feed cameras, multi-channel sound design, and live music, Manual Cinema transforms the experience of attending the cinema and imbues it with liveness, ingenuity, and theatricality.
Production Schedule
- Rehearsals | March 23 - May 1, 12:30-3:20pm MONDAYS (and Friday lab 12:30-3:20pm)
- Tech: May 2-May 13, 2026 (6:30 pm-10:30pm weeknights, daytimes on weekends, but times TBD)
- First Preview: May 14, 2026
- Opening: May 15, 2026
- Performances: May 16, 2026
- Closing: May 17, 2026
Dream Delivery Service Staffing and Student Opportunities
Available Student Positions:
- Actors
- Puppeteers
- Assistant Director
- Assistants to Puppetry Designer/Puppet Fabricators
- Assistant Lighting Designer
- Assistant Costume Designer
- Costume Construction Crew
- Assistant Sound Designer
- Assistant Stage Manager
If you are interested in design and/or technical positions, please fill out the DESIGN AND CREW FORM, and we will be in contact with you soon!
Performance Opportunities
If you are interested in acting/puppeteering in the show, please fill out the ACTOR AUDITION FORM. Auditions will be held February 9 - 11, 2026 in 20 min sessions with small groups, 10-5pm. Once you fill out the audition form, we will contact you with an audition time. Come in movement clothes, nothing to prepare in advance, you'll learn and play with the company!
Questions and More Information
Please reach out if you have any ACTOR questions to Devon de Mayo, Director of Performance, ddemayo@uchicago.edu and if you have DESIGN/TECH questions to Davonté Johnson, Director of Design, rdtjohnson@uchicago.edu.
