Manual Cinema Presents 'Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster'

Leonardo is a terrible monster. He tries so hard to be scary, but he just…isn’t. Then Leonardo finds Sam, the most scaredy-cat kid in the world. Will Leonardo finally get to scare the tuna salad out of someone? Or will it be the start of an unlikely friendship? The plot thickens when the pair meets Kerry and Frankenthaler, an even scaredier-cat and her monster friend. Kerry and Sam need to make a big decision: Will they just be scaredy-cats or can they become friends?

“Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster” uses hundreds of illustrated paper puppets, book pages, two-dimensional props, furry monster puppets and songs to bring Mo Willems’ books to life. Calling on the playful use of scale, Manual Cinema has recreated the experience of holding one of Mo’s big, bold, colorful books, full of visual rhythm. Like all Manual Cinema productions, you’re invited to watch the big screen like a traditional movie or watch the artists below it as they create the story in real time. (There is no wrong way to watch the show!)

Mo Willems

Mo Willems is an author, illustrator, animator, playwright, and the inaugural Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence, where he collaborates to create 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 No. 1 New York Times best-selling picture books, which have been awarded three Caldecott Honors (“Knuffle Bunny,” “Knuffle Bunny Too” and “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!”), two Theodor Geisel Medals, and five Geisel Honors (The “Elephant & Piggie” series).

Willems’ 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 Theater for Young Audiences in America, having written or cowritten 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 for writing. Other television work includes two series on Cartoon Network: “Sheep in the Big City” (creator and head writer) and “Codename: Kids Next Door” (head writer). Willems 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.