First Impressions

You never know who you are really talking to. They could be a terrorist, or a great leader. Let me explain…. It started in Israel. A bomb had blown up in a tourist section of Jerusalem. Dozens of people were dead or injured and all of our major convention shows were cancelled. A young magician, born in Italy, now living in Budapest, named David, was in a challenging situation with the management...

Mario’s Top Ten Tips for Street Performing

I have been street performing for more then 15 years and I love what I do – it has allowed me to travel, teach, and perform at festivals all around the world.  It has  given me the training and experience required for me to gain work as a festival worker, cabaret performer, close up magician and write and perform my own one man show.  Everything I do stems from street theatre.  I have...

People Support What They Help Create

NO SPECTATORS One of the maxims I live by is “People support what they help create.”  This holds true in just about any organization, political movement, internet group, club and yes, even in the theatre or at a magic show.   I currently feel that the more audience participation there is in a show, the more successful that show becomes.  If you look at current Las Vegas shows, the ones that have...

Finding Inspiration Outside of Magic

It is no secret that many of us have too often seen multiple magic shows with performers reciting the same jokes with the same cliché lines or (the dreaded) performing a piece with someone else’s routine.  We know that this exists today in magic. We often make mention of how troublesome it is to go to a magic convention and see every act in the competition perform another card manipulation act...

Audiences: Remembering and Forgetting

I have come to the conclusion that there are two types of audiences: audiences that come to a show to remember, and audiences that attend a show to forget. It is amazing how different these audiences can be, and how their attention spans differ. An experienced performer can tell the difference between these two audiences and can change their performance style, script and even magic effect...