The last few days have been incredibly busy. I’m not even sure where to begin. After an amazing week in Stuart, FL working with the Lyric Theatre, Martin Memorial Hospital, and the Education Foundation, we were on our way to Largo and the Largo Cultural Center.
LARGO, FL
We arrived on Wednesday night in order to be ready for a Tuesday morning visit to the Palms Children’s Center. This is a pediatric rehabilitation facility with some pretty cool clients. The group was assembled in the activities room when I arrived ready to get started. I performed a few small tricks and then started teaching them some magic. Alan and Chase were there to jump in and help – and I needed all the help I could get. The kids were great – enthusiastic and the room was soon filled with smiles and laughter. It was a great way to start the day!
After the morning workshop, we grabbed some lunch and then went back to the hotel. I tried to catch up on as much office work as I could before the evening workshop. I would be conducting a master’s class workshop for magicians/therapists on Thursday night. We had a great crowd – about 90 or so – and it was a very informal time of questions and answers.
Friday morning, we made our way to the Largo Cultural Theatre to begin load in for the evening performance. This would be our first show in this venue though not our first visit to the area. We had a fun audience Friday night – lots of energy! There were even a few people there from my hometown in Indiana. Wow, it was great to reconnect with them!
A big thanks to Rob and Joe for all their hard work – and for making our first visit to Largo so much fun!
After the show, we drove about 4.5 hours to get back to Fort Lauderdale. We were in bed by 3:30am but load in would come very early.
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL
I’ve been looking forward to our return visit to the Parker Playhouse. We had a great audience here a couple of years ago. The crew is awesome – so much fun to work with – and the team associated with the venue (Jill and Tate) are equally awesome.
We arrived at the loading dock around 8:30am. Keith pushed load in back a bit so we could at least get 5 hours of sleep. We had two shows at the Parker – 3pm and 8pm. The crew met us at the loading dock, stage ready to go, and with a good attitude (they also had a late night). Once everyone was signed in and badged, load in began.
The day moved along really well. I love working with this crew – fun and professional. We were set up in plenty of time to eat something before the 3pm show. I’m always a bit nervous about matinee audiences but this one did not disappoint us! They came in with lots of energy and kept it up throughout the performance. The audience was a great mix of families and senior citizens. I had some wonderful volunteers on the stage and, when the show was over, talked to tons of people in the lobby afterwards.
We re-set the show, had dinner, and then prepared for the second performance at 8pm. This audience was very different from our first one. There were very few children in the crowd and most people were age 20 – 60, a very nice “adult mix” in the theatre. But their enthusiasm was amazing. As soon as I hit the stage for the first illusion, they made me feel like a rock star…and they didn’t stop until I hit that last pose on the grand finale. This audience was simply amazing! They came ready to have a good time and (hopefully) they felt like that’s what they got. It was truly a pleasure working with this audience!
Thanks to Jill, Tate, and the entire team at the Parker Playhouse for a wonderful day!