Getting YOU on Stage

The “en-trance”: There are many different ways to get to the center of the stage. One way is to have the curtains open and you are revealed. Another is to open by walking through the audience onto the stage. Yet another is to walk onstage from the wing. All have their advantages. The curtain reveal: Many magicians use this opening reveal, but it puts you at the mercy of the...

Good Directors Cut!

Few things are more enduring than the Zen thought “less is more.” In the creation and brainstorming period of a new piece, nothing gets edited; everything is put into the heap. I tend to overload each new piece with many layers of esoteric symbolism in an attempt to make it more profound. One day, I was rehearsing a routine in my studio. After many disappointing attempts to get the...

Magic on Stage

Over the years, I have been both a student and a teacher of magic. My friend and mentor, Eugene Burger, has shared many of his thoughts with me about his creative process. Together, we have been teaching magic for over ten years. I am happy to present some of our ideas on how to go about creating better magic. For many magicians, just getting into the habit of a rehearsal discipline is often...

Fear

NIL TERRIBLE NISI IPSE TIMOR. (Nothing is terrible except fear itself.) Francis Bacon, 1623 In the minutes before my show I could feel it creeping up: snakebite, poison in my veins. Stomach churning, palms sweating, heart racing, hands trembling — Stage fright. Virtually every performer who has ever faced an audience has experienced stage fright. Strangely, given its universality, the...