New Year, New Hannah

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- Write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."   -Neil Gaiman

This is the last day of 2013 and boy am I happy. Goodbye to the most stressful, painful, exhausting year of my life! It seems that years ending in odd numbers aren't lucky for me.

Today also marks the last show of this year for us. And after this show there will be lots of changes. To the material, the costumes, the scripts, the hair, the makeup, the office work... it's ALL changing and definitely for the better. I'm retiring two of my most "iconic" costumes tonight and I couldn't be happier. Most of my costumes I have had since I started in magic at the young age of 15. So needless to say they are starting to look quite immature on me and I have far outgrown them.

My hair I am going to start repairing back to its original color. I found an awesome red hair shampoo that can do that for me. Then to work on finding a style. I am refusing wigs now so it is just trying to find me a good way to get volume and maybe some curls.

The Many Faces of Hannah.
Yes that is Ariel. I'm also planning to become a mermaid this year.

As far as makeup goes I'm ready to start doing a Smokey eye and I really should start wearing more fake eyelashes. And get a shade of foundation that is my skin tone. Believe it or not even red heads tan a little when you live at the beach for a year.

We are completely redoing our office work techniques. Brandon has been reading lots of Dave Ramsey and has lots of plans for the new year. Lately we have been working a lot on our personal lives and getting it in better shape. Now it's time to tackle the rest.

This year I will take over as my role as a magician truly for the first time. I'm going to build a small show just for myself and come up with some of my own routines for our show together. We're also hoping to get some more boxes for me to jump in and out of. Maybe I'll get to finally levitate soon? I'll guess we will find out.

Performing my first solo routine back in October

So as this year winds down I KNOW that the coming year will be better. But I also know that because of what all has happened this year I'm going to be a stronger person and able to take on whatever gets thrown at me next.

I'm counting it down. Only a few hours left and I can't wait. Break out the sparkling grape juice. It's time for the New Year, New Me.

Start Over

Just in case you hadn't heard, lately we have been busy rebranding our company. Which is super exciting but it's almost like starting over. We are getting a new name. The company has and always will be "Wagster Magic" but since Brandon started it in 2009 he has always been called The Magic of Brandon Wagster and when I came along, that didn't change.
Now as we are switching over to more of a duo magic act the name has to change to accommodate that. A few people have been asking "Does that mean you won't be a magic assistant anymore?". I will ALWAYS be a magic assistant no matter what. I will always be the one jumping in and out of the boxes and I will always make sure that I present Brandon and make him look good. We may become a duo team but he will still always be my magician first and foremost.
Since we are still the Wagster Magic company, website will stay as www.wagstermagic.com. Unfortunately we do have to start from scratch on our Facebook fan page though, you can't change the name after you have so many likes. Very sad! But like I said, with some of this we just kind of have to start over.
Our official launch date will be on October 31st. The website, fan page, and new merchandise will all be released at our big Halloween show.

Wagster Magic Halloween Show Page

Which in case you haven't heard about the show, we are super excited! After almost 4 years of having the idea in our heads we are finally able to do it. If you're in the Myrtle Beach area on that night, please come out and see it. This will be the first chance for you to get our new merchandise and our audience will be the first to see the new logo!
Along with our rebranding, we will be changing our own personal looks too. Our costumes and hair are changing. It's honestly pretty stressful what all we have been doing lately but it will be worth it in the long run!
I'm finally changing my "featured" outfit to something more mature looking and for the first time I'm starting to wear shorts on stage, which is awesome by the way.

We have finally figured out who we are with this logo and I hope you all agree that it is the perfect look for us when we release it!

Go Broke, Get Rich... Maybe

How is it that out of all the areas of magic we could have chosen, we pick the most expensive by far? Oh because that’s just how it goes. We chose to be illusionists. That means we’re the guys doing the tricks with big boxes.  Amongst other magicians, you have to work extremely hard and pay your dues to earn that title.

In our spare time over the summer Brandon and I both worked at our local magic shop to help out. After every time a trick is pitched and the potential buyer hears the price they just freak out. Come on it’s only $17.99. That’s nothing. 

The problem with wanting to be an illusionist is that the majority of your show needs to be illusions to really be considered as one. And man do they cost money.  We have to save up thousands for just one illusion. But seriously, it’s worth it! To make money you have to spend it first and literally go in the hole to buy a few big props so you can move from the title magician to illusionist.

Fairchild Magic Illusions

There are lots of things that make illusions expensive though so the price really isn’t that bad when you think about all that goes into it. First off, you have to pay for the building materials. Then a lot of labor and TLC goes into getting them put together and all pretty. And many illusions have certain builders who are the only ones allowed to build and sell them. And of course it took an extremely smart and creative person to come up with the idea! They deserve to get paid for it. That also includes the rights to perform it.

Then after you finally get your prop you can’t forget having road cases, which can be just as much as the prop sometimes.  Professionally built illusions are made to last. But we've seen a lot of guys who just throw their props in the back of a trailer or van like it’s nothing and it destroys them. You can’t just wrap them in bubble wrap or blankets and expect them to withstand travel. Those cases are tough and for a reason; you have to protect the illusion. It's really smart to spend the extra money and get the case.

 

Our sweet Isabell in front of some of our road cases

Once you spend tens of thousands of dollars then you can start performing in larger venues for bigger audiences and hopefully make the big money. Go broke, get rich. It hurts to spend money like that I assure you, but it’s worth it in the end. 

Illusion Brainstorming

Last night Brandon and I had a lot of fun planning our new show. In case some of you didn’t know we will be rebranding our entire business through the rest of this year and we will have a new name, logo, promo video, and website being launched in January of next year. With this rebrand I will be a much bigger part of the show so as of now we are designing routines that will include me as often as possible. As opposed to the normal of me just being on stage for just illusions and maybe one or two other tricks, I will be onstage the majority of the time.

Current Illusions

Well we officially picked our next 3 illusions that we should be getting in the next year. One will be released with all the new rebranding material and should hopefully be on the promo video. This is an original illusion that no one has seen before and we are really excited to get it done! The other two we will buy in 2014. I cannot wait to perform them! As of now Brandon and I constantly perform 3 illusions and our 4^th illusion is in the workshop being redesigned so it isn't pictured above. We actually just got rid of 2 illusions to make room for bigger & better things. So in our magic career we have retired and given 3 illusions to better homes.

 

Past Illusions

So our show is definitely in the transition stage as of now. When living in Columbia it was always about perfecting the show, and just building it every so often. Now being in a tourist town, we have to be able to revamp our show every year and switch out routines and illusions in order to keep our audiences happy. People will come back every year to the same place just to see you perform and that’s awesome! We have definitely been extremely happy with the way things have turned out since we moved here. This town has so much more potential for us.

I feel like with this completely new dynamic for us with our new look we are finally finding “ourselves” as performers. We always thought we knew what our look was but sometimes it takes an outside eye to help you really see. Now that we have a logo and a feel for who we are, it seems to be so much easier to decide what tricks and illusions fit us best. We don’t want to blend in with other magicians and illusionists. We want to stand out in our own way. Even if we don’t have the most unique tricks out there, we want to be known for our entertainment value. That is our main purpose.

Magic is Evil?

Believe it or not, it is possible to be a Christian and do magic. A lot of people take magic out to be as only a bad thing associated with witch craft. We don’t conjure spirits from the dead or cast out spells on people. We know that everything we do isn't real. Would it be cool sometimes if we could really levitate? Heck yeah! But it’s not real. Everything is an illusion.

Unfortunately other Christians don’t always believe that. Brandon and I love performing in churches and that is actually our hardest jobs to book. To try and convince church people that we aren't evil or the devil proves to be quite difficult sometimes.

The big thing that will decide on if magicians get a job in church or not, depends on what you title yourself as. To get more church shows you have to be an illusionist. That means to the booking person that everything you do is an illusion. Which is true of magic completely. But some people do take it too far and try to make audiences believe everything they do really is magic.

Okay this picture is ridiculous, but it made me laugh. I couldn't find a good "Gospel Magic" picture that I liked.

There’s a secret to everything, our goal is to entertain you, not to fool you. If you leave a show and you enjoyed yourself, then we did our job. It’s awesome when we actually do get to do that in a church and help minister to our audience. We never straight up preach to you because well if that’s what Brandon was good at, then he’d be a preacher. We tie in a message with the magic that helps you understand better why we do what we do. And we hope that our actions of keeping a clean family friendly show and keeping my outfits appropriate make a difference. Sometimes actions speak louder than words.

Brandon and I attend NewSpring Church which is a huge church or I should say church chain in South Carolina. There are several campuses and we of course attend the Myrtle Beach one. Today we got the opportunity to meet our head pastor, Perry Noble. Someone mentioned to Perry that we did magic and he was so excited and asked Brandon to do a card trick for him. That’s the kind of excitement we want to see about magic from the church community! What we do isn't bad regardless of some experiences you may have had previously.

Click on the link below to watch the trick he did for Perry!

Brandon's Card Trick for Perry Noble

Living in the “Bible Belt” definitely sometimes serves as a problem when wanting to do magic in churches but the longer we do this, the more we learn. It is possible to make a living doing magic in this area, regardless of what a lot of magicians think. It's our audiences that keep us going and make it possible for us to keep performing!

A Year Gone By

"Time does not pass, it continues" - Marty Rubin

Okay seriously this is the craziest thing ever. We have lived in Myrtle Beach for exactly a year today! Where has the time gone?

I feel like we just moved in to our little apartment in the extremely hot July sun and had no furniture, with no idea what we were doing. Some days it still feels like that. But honestly to think of how much stuff has happened in a year is just crazy.

To start off we moved because of a theatre gig. We thought we were on top of the world but things didn’t quite turn out as we planned. The run was only from July 21 – October 12. And we didn’t make a lot of money and completely drained our savings, but we made it. Bills were definitely a new and difficult thing for us to deal with. Being a grown up is tougher than it seems.

Then right after the theatre gig ended, a scary thing came along. My grandmother got re-diagnosed with breast cancer and had to have a very quickly scheduled surgery which luckily I was able to go home for a week for that.

November was exciting for us, our 3 year anniversary came up and Brandon proposed that day and we decided to get married just 2 months away from that. Which of course brought lots of drama with why we were rushing. Because we can. That’s why we did. We wanted a winter wedding. My parents were okay with it. So what else mattered? Yes I was 18 but I can make my own decisions. And no I wasn’t pregnant. It’s just what we chose. So December was a whirlwind of wedding planning. Then came January which went by even faster.

The wedding and honeymoon came and went with the blink of an eye and pretty soon we will have already been married for 6 months. I still can’t get over that it’s already been half a year.

The next few months were kinda rough with Brandon’s grandmother slowly getting worse and then at the end of April we got a call saying we really needed to come home. We were lucky enough to be able to spend a week with her before she went to be with Jesus. So May ended up being a very tough month.

Then came our birthdays and then summer was here before we knew it and we are doing 4 shows a week. Now it’s staying up late and sleeping late not really actually waking up rested. And working at the magic shop every night we don’t have shows. It’s been pretty hectic to say in the least. But finally our savings is getting replenished. This summer has been awesome for us and next year will be even better.

So as far as I can remember that’s everything important but my goodness it’s been a year. Hopefully by this time next year I can say we are moving again but into a house. That would be a blessing!

As I look back, I see how truly lucky we are to have had such amazing people help us get started. We struggled, we cried, we thought we couldn’t make it. But we did. And we couldn’t have done it alone. Thank you to all the wonderful people who pulled us along and encouraged us to follow our dreams!

Jekyll & Hyde

Hannah Wagster & Hannah Lynne

Jekyll & Hyde: The famous story of a split personality. Who else has one? This girl. If you knew the real me, not just the stage me, you would know I really am too different people.

Most people get to meet Hannah Lynne. And that’s because she will actually introduce herself and talk to people and have normal conversations. Honestly she is the girl I wish I could always be. She is everything I’m not. Confident and ready to conquer every situation no matter what it takes. Truly not afraid of anything; always getting sliced and diced and super excited to jump out of the box to get her well-deserved applause.

But Hannah Wagster, the backstage me, is just the opposite. I am terrified of the dark and heights, I’m claustrophobic and about as shy as it gets. And you’ll never see me make eye contact when talking. I mean honestly how does it even make sense that I could be a magic assistant? I can’t stand for people to look at me. I’m getting embarrassed just thinking about it.

I can’t even begin to tell you what makes me switch personalities. Even when I’m greeting people before the show all dressed up I’m still in normal mode. So it isn't the physical change that affects it.
But the second I walk out on stage, she takes over and it’s all eyes on me and I know how to smile and keep the attention. I strut my stuff and have a blast doing it. I even hold that personality through pictures, autographs, and selling merchandise but then once the people are gone for the night, I’m like Cinderella after the clock struck midnight and the spell is over.

Now I just want to clarify, when I say you can meet either Hannah, I mean as a first impression. Family and friends kind of know a mixture of both. I can be very talkative and say what’s on my mind without caring what you think. But my fears of everything are still there.

I'd have to say the one thing that links us is obviously Brandon. Well and clowns. 

We are both afraid of clowns!

Band-Aids for Box Jumpers

"You're not a magic assistant until you shed blood"

In case you didn’t know, another term for a magician’s assistant is “Box Jumper”. We get the term from literally jumping in and out of boxes. Now some assistants take offense to this name but it describes what we do pretty well so I have no problem with it.

One of my biggest pet peeves is people perceive that my job is easy. Come on people I jump in and out of boxes for a living. It’s risky and very common to get hurt. But I've been pretty lucky thus far *knocks on wood*

Everyone says “Oh you get sawn in half, where are your scars?” as a joke. Trust me I have some. I still get cut by blades and swords regardless of how sharp they are.

While this cute little blood donation advertisement makes me laugh, it really is true. And if you haven’t bled while doing magic, I don’t know how you can call yourself an assistant. It’s about giving everything you have to make the performance perfect. Sometimes that just means getting hurt and sometimes it’s stupid stuff you can’t control. 

For instance I have 2 long scars on my right arm from wrist to elbow and what are they from? A button on Brandon’s sleeve. Something so simple but during choreography they sliced all the way down my arm two nights in a row.

How do you handle this in the middle of a show? Try not to get blood on your next costume while you’re changing, wipe the tears off your face, and walk back on stage with a smile. It’s all you can do.

The most common injury I’d have to say is bruises. I honestly can’t think of a time since I started working in magic that I haven’t had atleast one bruise on my legs. Or forehead, or arms; you name it. But hey, I welcome bruises they mean I work hard. Or it just means I’m clumsy. The picture above is of my worst bruise to date, I did that back in 2010 and had to be on crutches for a few days. We named it MeOW. Gotta make the best of bad situations.

So no, my job isn’t easy, but it is the best job out there and I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Now I'm A Movie Critic

"The closer you look, the less you'll see"

Last night Brandon and I had the opportunity to watch Now You See Me the magic bank heist movie playing in theaters. Thankfully I chose to not read any other magicians’ opinions before seeing it. I went in there with a clear mind knowing only what people not in magic thought and I knew they all loved it.

Honestly I was amazed. I absolutely love this movie. I would like to see it again. It’s definitely my favorite magic movie out there and I've seen all except Burt Wonderstone.

All these magicians are getting mad about the outrageous egos in the movie. HELLO! Look in the mirror. Magicians have bigger egos than anyone out there. And guess what, you have to have an ego to perform. You need a back bone. You have to have the courage and confidence in yourself to actually get on stage.

I believe all the characters were believable and interesting. But now I officially have a new favorite movie character. Henley Reeves is my new inspiration. Isla Fisher played her as the feisty red head ex assistant/escape artist. Her beauty, confidence, and control on stage were just fabulous. She has amazing clothes and moved with elegance. Yes, she’s just a character but she has the personality that I truly want to have on stage.

I think the movie as a whole did a better job of making magic look cool. Honestly we have the unfortunate label as being really geeky. Which we kinda are... but you do have to be smart to be a good magician. I think Burt Wonderstone did just the opposite for magic and made us look worse. I've talked to a lot of people who aren't in magic and they said that Now You See Me made them want to go watch a magic show.

So to all the magicians out there, yes it revealed a magic trick. Big deal, they all reveal atleast one. But it’s making people want to be entertained by magicians. Truly that’s all that matters in the end.

Now if you haven’t seen the movie. Go, like now! It won’t be a waste of money I promise you. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and the plot twist at the end will blow your mind. 

I assure you Magic + Bank Heist = Genius.

Summer Nights

As much as I love Grease, this post isn’t about it. Sorry if I disappointed you.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted but we’ve been busy getting ready for summer and this year it is going to be packed! We’re excited to be at 2 locations weekly for the whole summer. And it’s not just a small show. It’s got illusions! Yay!

Today will be our last rehearsal before we load up the cargo van to get into the first location tomorrow.

We’ll be doing 23 shows with the illusions so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of funny stories to come share on here throughout the summer. With that many shows you know the probability of them all going flawlessly is… well just not gonna happen. Especially since during the show I will be performing, running sound, changing clothes, and packing all at the same time. I don’t usually have to run sound during bigger shows so this should be interesting. Ok well that’s only for one show that I have to run sound. But still, I’m definitely going to have to make a checklist to do for each routine. My OCD won’t allow it any other way.

I know a lot of people come to Myrtle Beach to vacation so if you will be here and would like to see us, here is where we will be:

On Monday nights we will be at the beautiful Sea Mist Resort, but in order to see the show there you have to be staying there. And I promise you it’s one of the best in Myrtle Beach so you wouldn’t regret it. And the show is actually free to its guests! The show starts at 7:00 PM so don’t be late!

On Wednesday nights we will be at the new Cypress Campgrounds. The show is called “Rock This Town: Magic & Music” and while we are the featured performers, there will also be 2 awesome impersonators in the show. This show is open to the public and only $10 for adults and $7 for children. Shows at 7:30 PM!

Well there you have it, what we will be doing these summer nights. Also be on the lookout for some new Wagster Magic merchandise and Presto Pets is going to be in full swing this summer! So excited to get started with the madness. Hope to see you at a show!

Presto Pets

“Saving one dog will not change the world. 

But surely for that one dog, the world will change forever!”

As if we don’t have enough to already work on with our business, I have a project that I’ve had in mind for a little over a year now. It’s called Presto Pets and the purpose is to collect items for shelters that are in need. I have a huge heart for animals and especially shelters so we want to make an impact.

When I was 6 I decided I was going to be a vet, and I was very headstrong about it. Obviously life likes to throw you curve balls and change your mind completely. I’m so glad I’m in the magic. But due to my growing up with my grandmother having a farm and me just constantly rescuing animals, my passion will probably always be helping animals.

I’m the loser that will pull off on the side of the road with a box of treats in the back of my car ready to convince a dog to safely cross the street. I’ve yanked my car out in front of people and cut them off so that ducks could cross. I’ve cried countless times over road kill.
I just can’t help where my heart hurts at.

With that being said, I really always wanted to volunteer at a shelter but for some reason they aren’t always the nicest people to work with, so I’ve decided a different approach.

Last year we were able to do this for a shelter is Columbia, SC and we collected a LOT of stuff. I was extremely impressed with what we collected. And then when we went to drop off the items we spent an hour or so playing with all the animals.

I want to do this every month. The problem is finding shelters that are actually grateful for donations. 

We obviously need to find smaller shelters that really do need the help. I’ve found a couple here in the Myrtle Beach area. And we want to contact them and find some places we can use for drop off points.

Be praying that we find the right direction for this project! I really want to make an impact on animals' lives!

I've also started a fan page for it, so go like it please!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Presto-Pets/218755084895349

Backstage Behavior

Our magic is strongest when we are able to perform in a theatre. The stage is where we love to be more than anywhere else. But just like with any other theatre show it definitely doesn’t run smoothly on stage if it’s not running smoothly backstage.

Smoothly: Never the term I would use to describe backstage to be honest.

We move from venue to venue with generally just Brandon and I with the show and knowing the show, so we constantly have to teach new people how to help out and what to do and when to do it.

Now with having said this, we have had some of the most amazing people who we literally only told them something once and they had it perfectly. Other people… well not so much.

I’m not exactly proud of how I’ve had to act backstage on a few occasions. But luckily it hasn’t been a reoccurring thing. Most people have it together.

I’ve shoved some people into walls, fussed at them... And I have felt soooo bad about it and apologized a lot afterwards. But when it’s show time, it’s show time. I am in the show mode. Nothing can get in the way of me when I am literally running backstage. As soon as I walk off the stage, clothes get stripped off, new costume on, and it’s extreme speed mode especially if I know the stage hand needs a little help.

Now when I do have amazing people backstage, I actually get down time, I can relax and goof off with the guys. I’ve had so much fun with all the people I’ve gotten to work with. Theatre people are just plain awesome.

Onstage, I step out with a smile and perform my heart out. Backstage, I’m packing material we have already done and I’m pushing the next pieces closer to the wings to get ready to go on.

It’s crazy fast and usually insane, but the thrill keeps me going.

Thank you to anyone who has ever helped us backstage or ran tech for us. Without you guys we couldn’t have a show!

Let's Play Catch Up

I haven't blogged in over a month! Where has the time gone? It's already February. A lot has happened. Ok well kind of. The wedding was only one thing but goodness it took over our worlds.
We didn't have a chance to do any shows in January because planning for our wedding was just insane. Never plan a weddding 3 hours away from family and where the ceremony is being held. Not a good idea.
The first few weeks of January all revolved around that. But luckily we did get a break in there for some magic.
There's a magic convention held here in Myrtle Beach on Martin Luther King weekend every year and of course our wedding date was picked around that. We were talent for it back in 2011. And then in 2012 we were just regular attendees so this year we wanted to get back in the scene. We were tech crew for whenever we were needed with the shows. I had an absolute blast doing it! I got to help some of the most amazing magicians. Les Arnold and Dazzle were my favorite by far. Dazzle is a hilarious over the top, crazy, spotlight stealing assistant. She and Les were in the amazing documentary Women in Boxes. I'll probably fill you in on a later post about that. I was also lucky enough to assist Juliana Chen onstage. She is honestly one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She was so grateful every time I helped her. And she had an adorable little yorkie named Jupena! Some other magicians I helped with their props were Christopher Hart ("Thing" from The Addams Family) and Andrew Goldenhersh. I actually had to help him with his chickens that got loose on stage. Now that was a sight! We all died laughing at Juliana clucking at them from offstage trying to coax them to her. That became the running gag of the convention. "Juliana Chen: Chicken Whisperer"
The best thing by far about that weekend though was getting to sit down with Dazzle. Or Alex, that's her real name. We probably sat and talked together for atleast 45 minutes. She's a 4th generation of magic and she told me all about her past with the magic and what got her and her dad started with this new act. She gave me advice about magic, about marriage, and just life in general. I really hope that one day I'll be able to meet up with Alex and Les again!

Once Magic at the Beach weekend wrapped up, it was time to head to Columbia. Less than a week to finish up the rest of the plans for everything.
The big day came and went quicker than I could have imagine. Lots of crying, smiling, and laughing. I don't remember that much of it. But hopefully once I see the pictures I can relive it again. And surprisingly no, we didn't do any magic at the wedding or reception. But our cake did have a top hat on top! My title has now become Mrs. Hannah Lynne Wagster. Which is still so crazy to think about. It's been over a week now and it still really hasn't sank in.

Overall the month of January brought a lot of great memories that I hope will never be forgotten!