Entries from May 2008 ↓

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I was invited to give a short magic performance (one segment of a longer revue) for the Asian Roundtable of Colorado. The Roundtable is an umbrella organization for other Asian Pacific American groups in the state. On hand were members of the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, the Asian Chamber of Commerce, the Boulder Asian Pacific Alliance, and hundreds of others representing dozens of organizations.

Performing in a revue format (one of a series of short acts), can be challenging because the schedule can shift wildly. Most often they’re running late, but sometimes an act isn’t ready and you can get bumped up. And once I was asked (just as I got ready to step on stage) if I could do an extra 15 minutes because one of the performers was stuck in traffic.

Also, in a revue (unless they have a curtain) you won’t be able to set the stage in advance, so I’ve found it’s best to travel light and not rely on big props. I’ve seen too many performer get a rousing introduction, and then fritter away the energy and momentum while they say, “Sorry, this will just take a few minutes while I get set up…”

I was making a list of magic effects that I perform and the props required and was delighted to find that I have 45 minutes of material using only a pocket knife, a deck of cards, and a few paper napkins. If I four-wall a theater in Boulder this Fall, I may make this the basis of the show (not because I can’t set the stage in advance, but because I am smitten with the aesthetics of a magician on stage with minimal props).

Another difficulty in performing in a revue is the issue of setting up sound equipment. As a magician I generally need to move around quite a bit (across the stage and into the audience), and I need to have my hands free to wield my props. I brought my own wireless lavalier microphone since many conference rooms won’t have them available. But I couldn’t get to the sound tech without interrupting another performance. Fortunately they had a hand-held wireless microphone available, so I dug out my gimcrack (a microphone holder that can be worn around the neck) and I was ready to go.

Today’s audience was great. They were really responsive and quickly got into the fun. I opened with my usual opener (some magic with a piece of rope). I like it because it lets me test the audience and see what kind of mood they’re in, and I get to tease them and prod them (if necessary) to have a little fun.

Then I brought a volunteer up on stage and let her share the spotlight with me. I did some magic with a deck of cards and my trusty pocketknife. Then I encouraged her to try and duplicate my magic and when she succeeded the audience gave her a huge round of applause.

If I had more time I would have done one more piece of magic to lend a sense of completeness to the act, but given the time constraints (I never want to be the performer that throws off the schedule by going too long), I was very pleased with the performance (as was the booker) .

Because of my background in theater, I’ve just been booked to give a talk about “Scripting Your Act” at a convention of magicians in Fort Collins, Colorado, in September. My mind is already churning with ideas of what I will talk about. What a great opportunity to help magicians improve their performances.

Things seem to change at a glacial pace in the magic community, but I really believe that there is a magical renaissance underway, with more and more magicians beginning to examine magic from a theatrical point of view.

If I had to identify one thing that holds most magicians back, it would be that a great many magicians are more interested in manipulating props than they are in engaging their audiences. This fixation with props is entirely understandable. As magicians our techniques and methods (the secrets of our art) are indeed, fascinating. As professional entertainers, however, (or even as amateur entertainers, for that matter) we cannot afford to be so enthralled by the “tricks of our trade” that we neglect our audiences.

Scripting a performance is a major step in the right direction, because a script is focused on shaping the audience’s experience. The words and actions set out in your script must (in a well written script) take the audience on a fantastic voyage. An experience which — in the end — will be more important than how the magician found their card.

So what is Jason Alexander doing here? Well, in addition to the role for which he is justly famous, Jason is also a magician who preaches the importance of scripting your act. I guess the good folks at Magic in the Rockies couldn’t get Jason for their convention, so they had to settle for their second choice :-)

The business of being a magician is not what it seems. Clearly, it was not what I expected when I undertook this undertaking as a business, almost two years ago.

As a variety arts performer, naturally I perform. Also, there is new material to be developed, and the long process of practice and rehearsal. And then there is sales and marketing, the phone calls and meetings with potential clients.

As a performer, I was accustomed to devoting my time and energy to performance. And as an artisan, I was prepared for the effort required to create and hone innovative magic effects. But amount of time and the level of skill needed for sales and marketing took me by surprise.

On any given day, 8 hours are consumed by phone calls, auditions, mailings, networking, follow up phone calls, writing (and rewriting) copy, updating websites, tracking expenditures, and forecasting revenue. But first and foremost, it is about getting myself in front of people who are in the market for my services.

Which leave a scant 4 hours per day for actual performances, and for developing new material.

I suspect that the demands of the profession of magic are not unlike the demands on a freelance computer programmer. There must be a great deal of time devoted to finding work. And then the billable hours when you’re working a project. And finally there’s time spent in the classroom learning new languages and acquiring new certifications. All three categories must be balanced properly for the business to succeed.

While the business side of the business came as a surprise to me, I certainly don’t begrudge it (though as my business grows, I will look to hire someone to take over the sales and marketing); sharing my artistic vision with others is important enough to me that the effort required pales in comparison.

Still, when amateur magicians ask me if they should try becoming a full-time professional, I generally discourage them from doing so. I can see in their eyes that they look forward, with eager anticipation, to spending endless hours creating new magic effects and performing for rapt audiences, while and endless stream of clients beat a path to their door, looking to hire the magician.

Got my new website up and running, and thought it would be a good time to begin blogging in earnest.

I spent the previous evening with Mr. Sacamento, talking about scripting for a couple pieces of magic (and discussing the films he has been watching as he tries to find inspiration for the play he’s trying to write).

Writing for magic is difficult because in order for magic to be magical, there must be a tremendous amount of exposition. At the risk of boring the audience, each step must be clearly explained.

“Please examine this box. Is it solid? Are there any secret openings? Is it completely fair and normal? Is it empty of all smoke and mirrors? Good. Then please examine this deck of cards…”

And thus the show grinds to a halt while the magician demonstrates that everything is fair. The examination of props holds little dramatic interest. And there is a real danger that the audience will fall asleep before the grand conclusion can be achieved.

On the other hand, if you skip too lightly over the “proving phase” (or in the nomenclature of Christopher Priest, the “pledge”) then the magic is ultimately compromised. Because if the box was not empty, if it contained smoke and mirrors, if there was a trap door, then the outcome is severely undermined, and not very miraculous.

Finding ways to engage the audience, so they are intrigued by the “pledge,” so that each successive test tantalizes the mind (“If everything is fair, then how will the magician succeed?”), will test the skill of the best writer.