Half A Decade of Magic

All month I've been patiently awaiting the 27th of March to mark my 5 year work anniversary and counting down all last week, Friday finally arrived and I FORGOT! I feel so dumb. I mean we did have 3 shows that day and then made the 3 hour trip to Columbia but still I had been waiting forever for that day! What's even worse is I just realized last night that I missed it... *facepalm*
I cannot believe I've been sucked into the world of magic for this long already! It seems like just yesterday I was arguing with Brandon that I would be a good assistant and I don't care if I get hurt trying to jump in and out of the boxes. He had to trust me that I could do it.
I've been searching and searching, honestly I used to have it, the picture from my very first official show with Brandon. I was wearing my pink dress and a silk rolled up into a flower in my hair with a bobby pin. It was as ugly as it sounds, trust me. And the show was beyond awful since the audience just didn't care but hey I was a magic assistant. I finally got what I wanted.

The oldest photos I can find are from this show at my 16th birthday party

Magic wasn't quite what I expected it to be though. There's a lot more to it than it looks. So many hours of rehearsal. Lots of trial and error. Which is always embarrassing during a show. The whole idea of trying to leave feelings offstage and pretend like everything is just great and you weren't trying to kill each other behind the curtain.
Over these past 5 years I have done things I would have never done on my own. I've performed for thousands of people. Signed lots of autographs. Travel to amazing places. Entertained at some really unique events. Performed along side with some of the most talented people I've ever met. And most importantly I've made some of the best friends. Magic is a pretty dog eat dog world so if you find a good friend, stick with them.
I've changed so much over these past 5 years not just as a performer but as a person. Obviously my looks have changed, you don't go from 15-20 looking the same. My attitude has changed. Growing up with divorced parents you tend to be a little rough around the edges and don't put up with a lot because you don't trust a lot but I'm still learning to get better about this. My confidence has increased. Yes I get more compliments and confidence as Hannah Lynne than as Hannah Wagster but slowly it helps. Our relationship has changed. When Brandon and I first started working together, we broke up within 3 months. We could not figure out the balance but now we do it pretty well. (I think that's what I'm going to blog about next.) To me atleast all of these changes are good.

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped me become the magic assistant I am today! Without your help honestly I don't know where I'd be. Thank you to John Tudor, Joey Vazquez, Kohle Leaphart, Joe Daniels and of course my handsome husband... You guys are pretty much responsible for molding me hands on to perform like I do. There's so many assistant I look up to and wish I could thank personally for inspiring me, that's on my bucket list to meet some of the famous assistants I look up to!

Here's to another 5 years!

LAAMA Lecture 1.0

Guys, Life As A Magic Assistant shortened is LAAMA. It's like llama. They are so cool. Ok well I found this exciting anyways...
So last night I was finally pushed out of my comfort zone and did a shortened version of what I hope to become my lecture. It was pretty scary, I'm not gonna lie. Acting on stage is easy, but just talking to people is a nightmare to me. It's an introvert thing. By the end it was pretty easy but man did I get myself worked out about it. I was so nervous I didn't rehearse it because I knew that would just make things worse.

I tried to focus on the most informative subjects for if you are wanting to find an assistant for your show and how they should look, stand, act, etc. Eventually I would love to dabble more into things like history, different types of characters and things of that nature.
Brandon stood up there with me and gave input to keep me in line if I stumbled but now looking back at it I probably could have done it myself once I got past the first 5 minutes and next time I will but I needed my rock there for the premiere.
One thing I didn't think about before hand is how many people are uneducated in this subject so there wasn't as much agreeing and head nodding going on like there is at most magic lectures. My very first question was how many people have used an assistant before and only 3 or 4 raised their hand. I flat out told them I was disappointed, it really shocked me. Why would you not want someone to help you, even it's just as a stage hand? We make life so much easier for the magician!
My favorite thing were people's questions. They had so many! My favorite question was what do magic assistants talk about when they get together. Horror stories usually, comparing battle scars... but my favorite thing about hanging out with other assistants is we usually play in each other's boxes. If we have never been in that illusion before the other will walk you through how to position in it. Always a fun experience!

I can understand why so many magicians don't know that much about assisting, there is almost nothing about it to research. I've gotten my hands on a handful of books about them. There can't be more than 10 out there. There's only one real documentary, Women in Boxes, which is AMAZING by the way. Then there are few books out there that have excerpts about assistants. I've tried to track down a few radio interviews about them without much luck. There's just not many resources out there sadly. God bless Ann Patchett, I'm sure her writing is wonderful but she has made researching magician's assistants a whole heck of a lot harder by titling her book The Magician's Assistant.

 I'll keep everyone updated on how this lecture thing goes, I'd love to travel with it. We shall see. Hoping to work on my book soon. I have a few more MA books I will be purchasing soon to add to my collection and research in. I also want to be able to have a few things available for sale when I go around lecturing so I will be looking into some ideas soon. Any suggestions are appreciated!
Oh yeah, I got to break in my new costume yesterday! After 4 1/2 years I am finally rid of that pixie dress that has been my signature outfit and replaced it with this one. Hope you guys like it!

Thunder & Light shows are now weekly so please come check out the show. Every Thursday at 4! Hope to see you there!