Crystal Manich

Crystal Manich is an Emmy Award nominated, versatile Latina international director whose works for stage and screen have been seen across the United States, Argentina, and Australia. She recently won Best First Time Female Filmmaker at the 2021 Toronto International Women Film Festival for her feature film The Copper Queen. She has also directed music videos for singer-songwriter Ivywild.

In Fall 2019, she directed the world premiere stage adaptation of Julia Alvarez’s Return to Sender by Marisela Orta for the Nashville Children’s Theatre about Mexican immigration and its complexities. It has been nominated for several Broadway World regional awards. She also directed the opera adaptation of the Spanish language opera Il Postino for Virginia Opera in a new production that will appear at several companies in the United States.

In January 2020 Crystal directed the musical Bernarda Alba, based on the Spanish play by Federico García Lorca, by Michael John LaChiusa for the Minneapolis company Theater Latté Da in a new production. Her spring season also includes a new Spanish adaptation of Cimarosa’s opera Il Matrimonio Segreto set in 1980’s Little Havana in Miami, as well as André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire in Virginia.