About Us

Shadowy Souls is a unique production company involved in producing films, stage shows and original shadow puppet theatre. The company is headed by husband and wife team Michael Rigler and Tara Manuel.
Tara is an actress, writer, singer and performer who brings her considerable talent to bear on the puppets and stories produced by Shadowy Souls. She is the driving creative force behind this company and tours the shows as a one-woman act. Her vision has resulted in a magical theatre experience that can be brought to far-flung rural schools and communities that rarely, if ever, get a chance to experience live theatre. She also conducts workshops for schoolchildren.
Michael works as a tv director, producer and editor but has enjoyed a long career in the arts working in film, photography, illustration and music. Rigler wrote and directed the company’s first film “The Tentacle’s Claw”. When the duo are in production of a shadow puppet play, he composes the original scores for Shadowy Souls, creates the backgrounds and puppets as well as compositing the digital and traditional animation sequences which underscore the productions.
The scripts are performed by a talented cast of local actors. Their performances are recorded and edited into the production while the puppets are performed live. You can see an example of what the show looks like here.