I decided that I missed performing (a lot) and made the decision to quit my stressful but high paying job to go back into magic. Scary, but I have been having a blast and am so much happier.
Until the picture above, all my pics here have been, shall we say, a little out of date. I do look a little different now than when I was in my teens and twenties.
Me performing strolling magic at the Strolling Showdown in the Inner Circle of the Magic Castle. I am very active at the Castle. I go to every lecture I can, I am involved with the Women Magicians Association, and Geoff and I love to have dinner there with the great new chef and enjoy the shows. When a member arrives, the greeter at the door as you enter into the lobby always says “Welcome home.” To me, it really feels that way.
I still love doing kid shows. I just did a show for 70 three and four year olds, so I am pretty fearless with kids. I guess because I really do love them and love entertaining them. It helps to have done as many kid shows as I have. That is the same Dove Pan Geoff bought when he was 15. It has seen a lot of shows.
I enjoy doing strolling magic, close-up, kid shows, and face painting and balloon artistry (great add-ons for more money), but my first love will always be the stage. There is nothing like a big crowd applauding your performance. Above is me doing my modern take on the Sympathetic Silks themed around the romance between Bess and Harry Houdini in my brand new Love Act. It features a lot of original magic and took a long time to develop so it is exciting to finally be performing it in font of live audiences.
I created my Mrs. Claus character, who turned out to be a huge hit. I perform both strolling and stage magic with her. I even talked Geoff into playing Santa, and he is great at it.
I love socializing and doing shows with my talented fellow AMA members. Here I am with Mrs. Claus’ favorite elf, AMA member Christine Chow.
Geoff and his brother Kelly with Santa. Santa does not look happy, as he may suspect that the child on his left will someday take his job. Geoff’s brother (right) also wore the red suit for an article on being Santa during his journalism career. Maybe he just realized that Kelly would grow up to spill the beans on the Santa racket.
Geoff as Santa Claus. We both did voice over work, and he has a terrific Santa character voice. When he puts on the suit, he becomes Santa.