Playing cards that dance through the air ... rabbits produced from a silk top hat ... a lovely assistant made to disappear in a puff of smoke. Stage magic is simple deception raised to the level of entertainment. As you watch the performance, you know you're being tricked, but no matter how hard you think about it or how closely you watch the hands, it seems you can never put your finger on the secret. But somehow the witty banter and the sleight of hand make it all fun, and you sit back and enjoy the display of baffling skill. Perhaps the most important part of the magician's act is not in the mastery of the actual techniques or the preparation of the props, but in the ability to make an audience willing to believe.
Wouldn't it be nice to have that same skill? Well, tonight is your big chance. Your audience is waiting, and the curtain is about to rise...
1. You are a stage magician, just setting off on another long tour. Tonight is opening night, and you are waiting in the wings of the stage for your act to be announced. How do you feel in the moments before your show begins?
2. Part of your act involves calling a member of the audience up on stage to help you with a trick. Whom do you call to assist you? Give the name of a person you know.
3. Despite all your years of training and experience, somehow the trick goes terribly wrong. What do you say to the person you called up to participate?
4. You're back in your dressing room after your act. How do you feel now that the show has ended?
You're walking down the street, thinking of other things
when you stumble into a garbage can on the sidewalk and knock it over. What
comes spilling out from under the lid?
Nothing comes out - the can was empty.
A pile of loose trash spills out onto the street.
Apple cores, chicken bones, and other raw garbage.
A well-tied black plastic garbage bag.
