The Story We Never Shared

So let's back up to 2020. Life was pretty normal for everyone I'd like to think. I believe we all can say life looks a lot different now then it did pre Covid. In March we were busy prepping for our new show to go in on April 1st at the theatre we had been performing at in Myrtle Beach for the last 5 1/2 years. And then things started to get weird. The news was constantly talking about everyone getting sick with this new deadly virus and we all started to get a little nervous. The theatre got more hand sanitizer stations, we quit doing meet and greets, and the rumors started to spread about taking a week or so off for shows. We had no idea what was in store. But I do remember that last night we performed on that stage. It was March 16th and we had just finished our routine in the big variety show. We walked off with all the dancers behind us and Brandon turned to me and said "Hannah I think that was it. I think we just performed on that stage for the last time." Why he said that, I honestly don't know. The theatre hadn't announced anything yet. There was no reason for him to know, but he did.

The next night we had off but the day after that we should have had a Pure Magic. We stayed up super late redoing the whole show to be without audience participation because we knew there was no way we could do any with the way things were going. Our show was at 4. We found out at 11 they were cancelling it. We were the first show at the theatre to be pulled because of Covid, then they cancelled the show for that night and closed until further notice. We thought surely it would be just a little while.

Everyone was let go. We lost our insurance. The whole nine yards. But of course we weren't the only entertainers to suddenly have the floor snatched from underneath us with shows shutting down. We were some of the lucky few because we had unemployment from working at the theatre. 

March ended, then came April. Towards the end of the month we started to go a little stir crazy. We went from 4-10 shows a week to absolutely nothing and never leaving the house. We finally reached a breaking point and some things from our marriage that we kept shoving aside while constantly working rose to the surface. It wasn't something we could bounce back from either. We had to make a decision if it was worth it to keep going and we dug in deep. Some roots are hard to get going if you never give anything time to grow so we put our marriage first.

We started recovering and couldn't look back. And that meant giving up some things that were comfortable to us and had been our lives for a long time. If we're honest, we thought the theatre would make some changes when things finally did reopen again and we always assumed they wouldn't continue our show as it was just an extra show while they still had two other main shows. But we knew we would cross that bridge when we came to it. In the meantime we just chose to heal.

We traveled. A lot. We dated. We got to know each other more over that one summer than we ever had in the 10 years together. We worked harder than we ever had to put ourselves and our marriage first. We were so broken from how we had been living our lives. Always trying to seem like we had it all together, always putting the show first, and never making time for us.

I know Covid hurt so many people but I've also seen where it has done good. I've seen people start new businesses, take crazy chances, do things they said they would never do. We did that too. And I don't regret a single second of it. 

We shocked everyone when we announced in September that we wouldn't return to the theatre. We were in Universal Orlando Resort when we got the email that the theatre would be reopening soon and we had a lot to think about. We weighed our options and chose what was best for us. Even without the steady paycheck, 401Ks, insurance, and all that we were happy. The amount of stress and strain that came from it wasn't worth it. I was even having chest pains at 26 due to the stress of the work. 

We actually upset a lot of people but we just kept our heads down and went underground. We signed a contract to work a fair in Florida for that following February and didn't really do much until then. And we loved it.

We did have some Facebook friends reach out actually back in late March or early April right at the start of Covid to ask if we wanted to hear all about how they opened their magic theatre. Of course we said yes and ended up spending almost 6 hours on a Zoom meeting with them and heard all about how they did it. This did happen before the big blow up in our marriage but still it changed everything.

Once we had healed some and settled in a little bit, we started entertaining the idea more. Brandon has always wanted his own magic theatre and right then during shut down when we had nothing better to do we started planning what this could look like. By the time the theatre we had been working at was getting ready to open and calling everyone back in we were already 6 months into our 2 year noncompete we had signed when joining. We had every intention of opening the theatre in Myrtle Beach and didn't want to start the contract over again so that was another factor for us not wanting to return.

We felt peace with our decision and kept pushing forward. We traveled a lot in 2021 as well but with doing shows. It was fun being on the road again. We lived out our best Disney and Harry Potter lives as we kept getting work in Florida and visited the theme parks over and over. We had never had the opportunity to really travel with only having part of the month of January off. 

We sold our home, moved into a tiny little garage apartment, took random jobs (nannying, baker, barista), to save up as much money as we could, cashed out our 401Ks and played the waiting game.

We looked for spaces every now and then around town but knew we had to wait until closer to the end of the year to sign a lease for a building. Our 2 year noncompete would be up on March 16th of the next year so we couldn't say a word until then. It was a lot of walking on eggshells as we tried to find the right place for the theatre. We still were doing everything we could behind the scenes and kept in constant contact with our business mentor. We were gonna do this and it was gonna be Myrtle Beach.

Fast forward to December of 2021, we had been going back and forth with a landlady for months now but we really loved a space we found. In January it was time to sign the lease. But it didn't feel right. In a leasing agreement both parties should budge a little. And this lady never budged. She kept asking for more money and more things. We got more uneasy and Brandon reached out to his best friend who owns two businesses and asked if they could talk numbers. 

And it wasn't good news. As most of you know there are shortages of everything even still today which meant timelines were all over the place and with this option, our only option, it wouldn't work. We had searched high and low for the right building for months on end and this was our last option. And this lady was going to make us go bankrupt before we could even open. We were devastated and we cried a lot.

2 years of work felt like it had completely gone up in flames and we had no idea what to do. We couldn't open for summer now and the only guess was to try to open in time for Christmas but that was losing a whole summer again when we had already lost 2021. We knew we couldn't do it again, people would forget about us. Other magicians were already back to performing while we were waiting out our noncompete and it was awful just twiddling our thumbs.

So for about 3 days we just cried. Where would we go from here? We couldn't possibly start doing resort shows again after leaving a 1600 seat theatre. We didn't want to work for another theatre again. And we couldn't be without work all summer. To say we felt trapped is an understatement.

Then enter magician friend ex machina. 

Tiffany wanted to help us find some summer work. So naturally the conversation turned to theme parks as those can be a good gig for illusionists in the summer time. Her very first suggestion was Busch Gardens, to which we replied with while we love Florida, we wouldn't want to move there. She corrected us there was actually a sister park to the one we were thinking of but in Virginia. Williamsburg, VA. Which we had never heard of... Once she started explaining that it was part of the original colonies and James City we realized of course we knew what the Williamsburg area was but never really knew the name and definitely hadn't visited before.

But then Brandon couldn't get it out of his head, we had only ever thought to do our show in Myrtle Beach and another town had honestly never presented itself to us. It couldn't be a coincidence. He started researching everything he possibly could about the town and in a matter of days fell in love. It fit the tourism numbers and demographic we needed, is a super safe community to raise a family, and most important of all there was NO entertainment here. There was a void and we planned to fill it. 

We called back Tiffany and Brandon asked if she thought Williamsburg would be a good place to open our theatre and she couldn't have agreed more with our idea.

We always knew that if for some reason we left Myrtle Beach that we would choose a town where there was no other magic shows so we wouldn't step on any toes because we knew what that felt like when someone comes in and rides on your coattail to share in some of your hard work and success. Williamsburg had never had a professional magic show and we jumped at the chance to bring magic to this amazing little town.

So while we had been planning our magic theatre for 2 years, we had most of the details right, just not the town. 

We booked a trip to visit Williamsburg for the first time Valentine's weekend. We already knew in our heads this was where we wanted to be before even arriving but we had to be sure with a fact finding mission. Brandon spoke with some big marketing people in Williamsburg and when he told them we were coming to possibly look at opening a magic show one person got so excited they started telling people we were coming before we even went to the town! But obviously, luckily it worked out.

On our trip we ate at a few local restaurants, scoured some locations for lease we had found online before hand (which none of them were accurate), did an escape room, walked around some parks with Luna and Colonial Williamsburg, it even snowed while we were here. We fell more in love with the town every second we were here but we couldn't find a building.

We were tossing up the idea of just moving here anyways, getting some part time jobs and opening the theatre when we found the right space. But on Valentine's night, our last night in town, Brandon tried one last time to find something. We remembered seeing that a church had a sign out where they just bought a new building which meant they had to move from somewhere and that sent him on another deep dive of the internet. He found their previous building, tracked down another tenant that seemed to have residence in the building and reached out the next morning. We were running out of time at this point because we were leaving that day and had a meeting with the Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce to talk about opening a business here as our last planned activity.

As luck would have it the landlady of the building is best friends with the contact Brandon found online. We found out the building is vacant and they are looking for someone to lease it. 

We set up a time to walk through the building, prayed really hard in the parking lot, held our breath and walked inside. Let me clarify by saying obviously Brandon is the dreamer in this relationship, and I'm the realist. But with him being the dreamer, that also means he can envision and imagine things that I cannot. No matter how hard I try, until the project is almost done I can't see it. He stepped in and saw all the building could be, how it could become a theatre. I saw a lot of yellow walls and a lot of nothing. I could understand slightly where things could go because luckily the church clearly had an auditorium although the stage was off in the corner and entirely too small to even hold two illusions much less a whole illusion show.

After 30 minutes of walking through, taking photos, videos, and measurements Mrs. Beckie, the building owner finally turns to us and says "So what is it you wanted to do with this?" We laughed because we thought her friend told her so then we got watch her face as she processed "We want to open a magic theatre and do magic shows year round" She replied with "Well that's interesting" but wasn't turned off from the idea.

We exchanged contact information and everyone decided to think on it and we discussed through what it would look like rent wise, timeline, etc. All hypothetical of course. 

And just as quickly as we had found it, we were back on the road to South Carolina. A five hour drive gave us a lot of time to think and discuss all the possibilities. We of course called Tiffany first thing to talk it over and then called another magician couple in Florida that already had a successful magic theatre of their own. We bounced off ideas, talked through all the pros and cons. And honestly we had a hard time coming up with cons. The biggest was leaving everyone and everything we knew and moving to a brand new town not knowing a soul and obviously risking every penny to our names but that seemed like an easy decision to make in the long run.

Our hearts knew, this was it. 5 hours later we pulled into the field in front of our tiny little garage apartment and we had our decision. This was it. We were doing this. And we only had 29 days to get it all together and break the news to everyone we loved. February 15th was the day our whole lives changed and we left a piece of our hearts back in Williamsburg. We knew we had to go back and get it.

Let's Start Over

Hey magical humans. It's been a long time. And instead of apologizing for that, I will just say thank you for your patience. Because I've learned I apologize way too much and honestly I don't have anything I need to say sorry for while I needed time. 

It's been almost 2 years. So much has changed. Our lives completely changed. 

We got a hard reset, so the blog needed one too. Life As A Magic Assistant will always have a special place in my heart but welcome to the new. I've officially made the switch to The Box Jumping Magician. Don't worry we will get to way more on that later.

So let's catch up. If we haven't met before, I'm Hannah. And if we have met before, well maybe I'm a little different than I was before if we haven't met lately and that's okay too. I just turned 28 years old, my husband and I have been together 13 years this fall and married for 9. We are both magicians and are the parents of an angel baby and 3 wonderful animals: a dog named Luna, a parakeet named Pippin, and a rabbit named Ruby. We grew up and lived in South Carolina our whole lives up until 3 months ago. We took our biggest leap of faith yet on March 16th and moved everything we owned to Williamsburg, VA and now we are opening our own magic theatre that Brandon has dreamed about for over 20 years this week. Our lives are magical and crazy to say in the least. 

I'll be sharing a super detailed look at the past couple of years and why we ultimately ended up leaving a town we said we would never leave and how we found this wonderful place we live now.

Just like before I'll probably say some things I shouldn't as I'm brutally honest and real. But you will know that what I'm saying is from the heart.

I've missed this outlet and I am so looking forward to getting back to blogging. I hope you enjoy keeping up with us and all that is happening in our lives right now. It's been a whirlwind. 

You can see more about what all we have been doing here at The Wagsters Magic Theatre and hope to see you all starting on the 17th!

Looking forward to finally sharing our story with you soon. Until then, stay magical!

How Covid Has Tried To Take Away Magic

Well it's July. I have pushed this post off over and over and over because I kept thinking this all would end sooner.

We officially have not done a show since March 16th. And this is certainly the longest I've ever gone without stepping on a stage since starting magic.

Now I will admit we are finally starting to see a few friends around the US get back to doing very small shows that are nothing like we've done before (I'll get to that in a minute) but South Carolina still hasn't opened theaters and it's looking like it won't happen anytime in the near future. Myrtle Beach where we live is just a hot mess right now. It's a hotspot for the virus because it opened very quickly and everyone from all over have come here because there are no rules or hasn't been about masks, social distancing, quarantining, etc.

Edit: As I'm writing this, Myrtle Beach just passed to require face masks in public effective as of Thursday night. It's about dang time!! 😷

As a "non-essential" worker we have had a LOT of time on our hands. And we took this time to really reflect and ground ourselves as who we are and what we want to be as people and performers. Honestly we've had too much time but that's okay too. We personally needed to slow down. Needed a reset. We spend so much of our time constantly working between creating, rehearsing, marketing, and just stressing about what's next for us.

I truly hope if you had time off that you slowed down. That you really did take in the time that we don't normally have. Set down your phones and soaked in some quality time with the loved ones you were quarantined with and were productive in ways other than work. For us we started taking outdoor dates, exploring hiking trails, spending real quality with the animals more than usual. We went on adventures. We've worked a lot on our house. Things that normally are on the back burner we took the time to do.

As of right now we don't know what's next. This has been the most confusing, uncertain time we have experienced. And the entertainment industry is at a loss.

Broadway is closed until 2021, Cirque du Soleil filed for bankruptcy, Feld Entertainment laid off 90% of their employees. Entertainment is not okay. We've already seen theaters and venues shut down and performers moving locations. This will take seemingly forever to feel normal again. To crowd bunches of strangers sitting side by side in a room together.

Virtual shows are the new normal. And so many have had to make the transition to something they never planned just to survive. Virtual shows personally haven't been an option for us. We honestly didn't realize how long this would last so most of our props and all of my makeup and hair stuff have been locked up in the theater since the shut down. And back in November when we had our van broken into they stole all our equipment that we would need to put on a show. Also it's just not something we feel like we would be good at. We perform for live audiences and we didn't want to put something out there that wasn't the best it could be. But with that being said, it has worked out for a lot of our magician friends and we have loved getting to watch people perform that we normally don't get the chance to!

But when magic shows do come back, what does that look like? We have to social distance, no audience volunteers on stage, and still no meet and greet. We had started the social distancing of audiences in the theater and no meet and greet already back in March when all of this started but no volunteers will be a new thing for us.

As most of you know we were suppose to be putting in a brand new show on April 1st. This was hands down the most excited we have been about new routines, costumes, music and it didn't get to happen. And now it won't for a while.

We have a no physical interaction volunteer show mapped out. But it's a combo of years past because so much of our new magic needed people up onstage and we are so sad about that. All of that work for the past year, because we do start planning out new shows a year in advance, has gone down the drain. The new show and marketing campaigns literally went out the window.

In a tourist town like ours, our peak season is summer. Memorial weekend to Labor Day weekend. July is here. Summer is already almost halfway over. But don't you worry, the beaches are plenty packed. Like I said Myrtle Beach is a hotspot, people are not letting a global pandemic rob them of a vacation. But they can't see any shows while they are here.

Latest cancellation extension from the theater

Now because we do have all this time off we did decide to go on a little vacation honestly because we've never gotten to leave during the summer before. But we were extremely safe and cautious with where we went which was Universal Orlando Resort and they are doing an amazing job with keeping everything since their reopening last month.

But for everyone what a safe reopening looks like is very different. The big problem with theaters reopening right now isn't the actual show, it's very easy to distance people in a super sanitized auditorium and keep them safe. It's the whole lobby aspect, everyone shows up at the same time, goes to intermission, restrooms, gift shop, concession at the same time and all file outside through the same doors at the same time. It's like herding cats. And at the end of the day, you can suggest and try to persuade people as much as you want to follow the rules but it still doesn't always happen.

The hardest part of all of this has truly been not performing, not having an outlet. During stressful or hard times we can usually just perform extra hard and leave it all out there and the stage and honestly sometimes give the audience an even better show than usual.

It's been a big adjustment in our household not having that. And truly finding ourselves outside of being entertainers. That's always been such a huge part of our being. Our normal everyday is preparing for the next show, talking constantly about it, we never stop thinking about it. And honestly our relationship had started to suffer for that. We were putting the magic first, so having it forced out of the forefront was a blessing in disguise.

Overall to everyone reaching out asking if we are okay, we truly do appreciate it. We have been very blessed during this despite it all. We have so many magic peers who haven't been as fortunate as us because we aren't just self-employed anymore while working at the theater. We have never been more thankful for our path and where we are right now.

We do miss performing. The butterflies we get before we appear at the top of the show. The sound of applause. The adrenaline of nailing a super physical illusion. The hugs and words of praise we receive after the show. Our fans who come and see our show time and time again and somehow never get sick of us. We do miss you.

Art by Jeff Rogers

But one day we will be together again. One day when it's safe.

So in the meantime please wear your mask, make smart decisions, and if you know an entertainer, reach out and give them a virtual hug. They really do need it.

A Decade of Magic

Today officially marks 10 YEARS that I've been doing magic! A whole decade! I cannot believe it!

And to celebrate I'm not doing a show... which is a depressing thought.

It's also World Theatre day and all the theatres are shut down. Disney just announced they are staying closed until further notice. It's a weird time.

We all try not to focus on the negative at this time but it's weird just sitting at home doing nothing. But that is our literal jobs right now, to stay home and stay safe so I've had plenty of time to reminisce about my journey in magic and where it's taken me.

As I've explained in the past, Brandon did NOT want me to be his assistant when we were dating. But eventually I won him over and the very first show I went along with him after our verbal agreement that he was stuck with me even more, I only had one job. I just had to change his music for him once he was tied up in a straight jacket.

And man my nerves was out of control. I could have ruined the show. Spoiler alert, I did great marching my little happy self up on stage in my obnoxious zebra print top as I smiled and hit next on his little iPod Mini. Oh hey throw back.

And that started everything...

My first show outfit

The countless birthday parties and church events, that turned to magic conventions and library gigs, that one day turned into a theatre run, and then to hotel shows, to finally being where we are right now with Pure Magic.

Sometimes I want to get mad at this job for what it's taken from me. It's not been easy.

We don't get vacations whenever we want. It keeps pushing off my dream of a family. We don't really have a normal social life. We say no to a lot of things so we can use all of our money to keep growing the show.

I want to be mad somedays about what it takes away and what I've "lost" in the past 10 years. But I can't really because magic has given me SO much.

I mean first off, obviously I get to work with my husband. We spend pretty much every waking moment together (especially right now during quarantine lol) but even outside of this, we get to go everywhere together.

Crazy dressing room selfies are always the best

I've met incredible people I never would have thought I could meet like Jack Hanna and the band Kansas. I've made amazing friends because of this craft that everyone thinks only consists of anti-social dorks. Mentors turned into friends and those friends turned into family.

I've gone to cool places. I would have never gotten on a plane if I didn't have to. I still avoid it if possible, that fear of heights is not a joke. We've visited places I wouldn't normally go to for magic conventions and our vacations to fun places have literally all been paid for by magic.

I've grown so much as a person. I'm constantly pushed out of my introvert comfort zone by getting up onstage and speaking in front of thousands of strangers. I continually work on my fears of heights and tight spaces. #ClaustrophicMagicAssistant

Itty Bitty Living Space

I've learned to love humans more. For the most part, I don't like people. I have always been an animal person and I tend to be unapologetic about it. But seeing what magic can do for others and help them escape from what's going on. Hearing people pour their hearts out to us at meet and greet about what's going on in their lives and how our show affected them. That can't help but wear down even a cold heart like mine.

And my absolute favorite part about this job is how much of our lives I have to look back on. We have more photos and videos of us than most people get to have in a lifetime. I can watch us grow up and how much we change as performers and people throughout time.

For something that I hated for a while there growing up, I've certainly learned to love it!

I wish I could list out every single thing that's happened to us these past 10 years working together. I have so many fun stories I want to share but am planning to create some individual posts so I can better explain some. I'm most looking forward to sharing our audition stories with you guys! So stay tuned!

From the bottom of my heart thank you to everyone who has helped us in this journey. Anyone who has encouraged us, stayed up late on skype or facetime with us to improve a routine, given me hair and makeup advice, helped us choreograph a new illusion, find the perfect song, the list could go on endlessly. Thank you to the incredible performers that I look up to that continually inspire me. And most importantly thank you to the people who didn't believe in me. You pushed me most of all.

One decade down, hopefully many more to go!!

Doing It Wrong

I'm getting ready to relive some emotions and memories that I've kept suppressed for years just for you guys. So get ready for a rollercoaster.

We love when fellow magicians come to see our show. The fact that you would take that risk of getting trapped. Once you've sat down in a bad show you have to be nice and stay especially if you're in the same art form. I'm sure plenty of us have been there. 

Recently a magician came to see Pure Magic. Fortunately he was nice after the show and spoke to both of us. (Believe it or not, some magicians will ignore me and just talk to Brandon) He gave us both compliments and went on his way.

We figured that was that and didn't think much about it. Not too long after that night Brandon ran back into him when I wasn't with him. He then proceeded to give Brandon notes about how we are "doing the whole duo magician thing wrong".

Okay first off, guys. guys. guys. I cannot stress this enough. Don't give people unsolicited advice on their show if they didn't ask you for it. I could write a whole blog post about this. Especially because Brandon and I are younger we have dealt with this our ENTIRE magic careers.

And it doesn't just happen to us. People feel like because they're older and "know" something about magic that you definitely want their opinions. And in 10 years, I can think of one time that the advice was beneficial to us and the guy who did it started out by saying "Can I make a tiny suggestion?" And that is the ONLY way it is even slightly acceptable to do so.

I mean if you're a doctor, would you want someone else coming up to you being like "Oh yeah, I do medicine as a hobby and you should really rethink the way you diagnosed that patient. I read on WebMD that those symptoms lead more towards the coronavirus" *insert eye roll here*

SO let me explain to you why we are doing the whole duo magician thing wrong.

At this point, to our audiences we are Duo magicians. While I still do most of the box jumping, Brandon now does some too and I also do my own solo magic in the show. In my heart I will always be a magic assistant. By having us both be magicians it's easier to have the audience respect me and not see me as just another prop.

So rewind to 2013, three years into our career together, we decided to take a big turn and start working towards establishing Brandon and I as equals. We didn't know where to start, so Brandon reached out to our friend Christian Painter because he and his wife Katalina perform as a duo act and have great chemistry and balance onstage. We wanted to know their secret for reaching that point. Christian simply told Brandon... give her a microphone. She'll learn, sink or swim, how to become a better performer by having to speak in front of the audience. That was it. It is some of the best advice we've ever gotten. It pushed us off in exactly the right direction.

On Halloween we did a Houdini tribute show, this is when we announced that we were no longer The Magic of Brandon Wagster but now officially The Wagsters. In this show I did my first piece of solo magic, that wasn't the freaking vanishing bandana. I had a good personality piece with a short script and no Brandon in sight. It went over great!

So by this point we've been living in Myrtle Beach, have lost our theater gig, and honestly not working much at all. So our egos and confidence are very fragile at this point. We did however land a solid gig during the Summer at the Sea Mist Resort. So every year a few months out we started planning this show. Another magician we trusted at the time gave us some advice to help Hannah. It definitely wasn't the right advice.

He suggested we not do magic together but have a several solo pieces for each of us. Some guys will do a joint show with a fellow magician and will trade off back and forth. Yeah... that crap only works if you both have the same amount of experience.

So every Monday, June through August we did two shows back to back at the Sea Mist. We had minimal time in between to reset everything, so this meant we had no time to make adjustments in between the first and second show if something wasn't going over well.

I'm trying to remember exactly what I did... I have truly tried to repress this night in my life because it was hands down one of the worst. I know I did an act with silk scarves, some multi phase prediction thing, and probably my hugs & kills bit I did in the Houdini show.

I don't recall how we started the show. I'm sure we did something together and introduced us as separate magicians and that's when all hell broke loose. At this point I would have just turned 20 and Brandon 23. I would have been doing "solo" magic for a few months. And Brandon had been doing it for 17 years. Do you realize how much of a head start that is?

I was literally battling Brandon onstage. And not well mind you. He did a piece, then I did a piece so horribly it wasn't even funny. We've all seen something that was so bad it was funny and other times it's so bad it's painful. I think at first the audience really was excited for me. It sounded cool that I would be doing my own thing. I muddled through my silk routine and bowed to some scattered applause.

Brandon did something and then I did the awful prediction thing we put together. It wasn't even good magic, I'm not sure what we were attempting but I had to speak the whole time and I had to act and I did not deliver. It didn't fool anyone. This got a few pity claps.

Brandon did something else. I then came out to do the trick I did at the Houdini show. This is a good solid routine but at that point it didn't matter. The audience already hated me. When Brandon announced it was time for me to come back onstage again the audience GROANED. There was a loud audible groan because they had to put up with me again.

My heart is hurting again just typing all of this...

Guys listen I've actually been booed onstage before. Now granted I was assisting another magician and technically they were booing him and not me. But that didn't even come close to what it felt like to audibly hear that an audience hated me. As a performer I have never felt so low.

I genuinely don't remember the rest of that show. I don't remember the following show that night. I just remember the self loathing and hate I felt for myself because of this experience.

We had to drive to Columbia that night from Myrtle Beach and I cried all the way there. 3 hours of just sobbing.

How could I ever step foot on a stage again? How could I be so stupid as to have left everything behind to pursue a career that I was absolutely terrible at?

I was numb for a while. I didn't want to talk about it. We put the show back to what it was the year before and I just slept walk through the shows for a while and tried to forget it happened.

Brandon was always my security blanket onstage. And it shouldn't have just been snatched away from me all in one go. We had such a great balance onstage and we do magic together so effortlessly but having Brandon backstage as opposed to onstage made such a big difference. Just a few feet further away from me than usual determined my success or failure at that time.

So we reverted back for a long time. I was terrified to try again and just chose to go the safe route. It took quite a while for me to get back on the horse.

In the little gigs we did here and there eventually I started trying to just speak again. I certainly never went back to those routines we created for that summer. They are dead and will stay dead. We even have a special drawer labeled failed for that junk.

When it came time to present our full show at the Opry for the first time I was actually ready for speaking. I performed vanishing bandana again because it was comfortable and for the most part we stayed at our onstage balance but gave me a lot more speaking parts.

Even then I wasn't great but I had come such a long way. I spoke a little high pitched and definitely way too fast but my confidence was still healing even after 2 1/2 years.

Every year gets easier, I push myself and grow more as a performer. Last year I put in my first piece of really good magic, not a gag, that was completely solo and involved controlling an audience member up onstage, which when you are inexperienced with that, it's a lot to juggle.

In about a month we're adding a piece to Pure Magic that involves us both doing the same trick. This is scary to me because it feels like we will be competing against each other again but we have rehearsed it constantly and I'm interested to see how it goes over in our first new show of the season.

Next year I'll be doing a close up piece that we've created that doesn't involve me speaking. I've chosen great personality pieces at this point to show off my sass and was able to play off audience members. This will be just me doing sleight of hand to some music with a camera zoomed in on my hands all while being projected onto 3 giant screens. No pressure.

But now I'm excited for things like this. Of course I'm still frightened, I always am. But the best things in life come with a risk.

And this is a good balance for us. This is the way we have found that works for us. Me just having one or two pieces of solo magic while we do the rest together.

So no, we aren't doing that whole duo magician thing wrong. We are doing what works for us. What works for me. And we're going to keep doing it that way. Our right way.

Best vs Favorite

Shows like the Pure Magic we had today are why I love this crazy life so much.

We had just an awesome big responsive audience right from the top of the show, our actual performance was nearly flawless (I never say things like this, but dang I was proud of today's show) and we had one of our longest meet and greets to date.

Sometimes it's discouraging throughout the year trying to look like we have a full crowd in a beautiful 1600 seat theatre but during summer time we really do get big crowds. It's so cool getting to offer something that's family friendly and affordable here in Myrtle Beach. Especially on days when it rains and everyone is bummed they can't be on the beach we are a great inside, out of the weather, option that all ages can enjoy.

After every show we always meet everyone in the lobby and personally thank them for being there. I've never understood why some people choose to not meet their audience. They are literally the reason we have a job and we do what we do. It's for them.

And nothing makes us happier during meet and greet than seeing faces we've seen before. We have so many families come back to see us year after year because we're always here ready to entertain them. When they can comment on how much they love the new material because we change it every year because we know they'll come back.

That's the best part about earning our place here. We did the work over the years and continue to do so to make Pure Magic a staple here on the Grand Strand. Every year we gain more traction and more fans who tell us they can't wait to come back and see us again.

We don't want them to just enjoy the show, we want them to enjoy getting to know us. A compliment we get over and over is much people love the personal stories in our show to learn about who we really are. And that's what we want. Even if they can't remember what we did in the show, we want them to remember how we made them feel.

And that got me thinking about the words best vs favorite when describing a show. Or even just things in general. Being in magic, people always want to ask us about other shows. So when someone asks me about the best magic show I've ever seen I always have to give them two answers. The best and then my favorite, because those are two very different things.

In my opinion Penn & Teller's show was the best one I've ever seen. I have never been fooled so many times and so shocked at how quickly 2 hours went by, the magic and staging was just completely over the top. I always tell anyone heading out to Vegas to check out their show.

But Terry Evanswood has my favorite magic show and that's not just because the magic is good, it's because of the way the show makes me feel. Like we've said plenty of times, Terry is the reason we decided to choose this town to call home for our show. We actually just got to visit with them this past weekend and see the show 4 times. 4 times. I promise you I absolutely would not sit through another magician's show, even the "best" show I've seen, 4 times. But we did because how much joy watching his show gives us, how inspiring it is, how you literally just forget all the things that are going on in your life while watching his show.

And because this is my favorite magic show, I tell EVERYONE to go see it.

I hope we've made an impact on our audience in that way to help them escape their realities and just enjoy themselves as much as I do during my favorite magic show. Because in the end I think that's what's the most important.

My Escape

Last night I was selfish.

Brandon and I have had more opportunities than usual lately to travel due to lots of people booking us for outside shows. It has been exhausting but certainly a change of scenery going back and forth from Myrtle Beach between theatre shows.

We had another show in Columbia, this one for a big family reunion. It wasn't a simple outside show, this one was a bit more involved than usual with costume changes and bigger tricks. We got there fine, everything was going great, and then about 30 minutes to show time we received some really bad news.

Entertainers understand this, but most muggles don't, when something horrible is going on, or we're sick, or depressed, or whatever is going on in our lives... the show just must go on. There's no option. When it's just you there to perform and make an evening extra magical it's all on you.

It's hard to explain the pressure of that situation. Trying to help others escape their realities when all you wanna do is escape yours.

In the time that I should have been changing into my show clothes and getting into a good mindset I was instead crying in a back room and just wishing we could go home. And it was angry tears. The hardest to get under control.

Thanks to a magic sister who lets me vent, I finally wiped my face, touched up my makeup, and put on a smile to face everyone.

But internally I was still falling apart, why do these people get to just sit back, relax, and have a great evening and forget about their problems?

(I apologize, I wasn't raised in the entertainment industry and I know I shouldn't ask these things aloud. It's almost rude, of course that's what our job is for.)

But last night, last night changed everything.

There's an important part in Pure Magic that I'm sure I've touched on before where we talk about how our show is for others. It's to help people escape from everything going on in the world and just experience wonder for a little while.

Last night, that wasn't true. That show was for us, for me.

I have ALWAYS felt guilty because as much as I love the magic, I know on the daily that Brandon is 1,000 times more passionate about it. He breathes it 24/7 and sometimes I need a break. It's made me question if I'm making my life an illusion sometimes and it wasn't what I really wanted to do despite how much I love performing.

But while we were performing (I started out angry performing, that is definitely a thing) I worked SO much harder and literally had one of the best shows I've had in years. The show was near flawless, the audience was so gracious and seriously enjoyed themselves and so did I. I completely forgot about everything. All that stupid crap that had me so worked up was nothing compared to the thrill of performing and being happy on that stage truly doing what I know we were meant to do.

After the show and we finally packed up and reloaded the car to head back to Myrtle Beach I looked at Brandon and said "That was exactly what I needed. That performance was completely therapeutic."

Me, I said that. The only thing that could have fixed my problem in a million years was performing magic onstage. Not my normal escape, which is usually Disney World or Stephen King books, but just performing.

So last night I was selfish, and it was completely life changing for me.

In other news...

We just released our latest promo video this morning! So if you want to come escape your reality with us check it out!

Why Myrtle Beach?

This coming July marks 7 years of no longer being tourists but locals here in Myrtle Beach. This was a decision that Brandon wanted to make for a long time but it just took the right opportunity.
But we didn't just pick this town, this town chose us.

Photo by Katie Shuler

Brandon was inspired at the age of 16 by Terry Evanswood. Terry talks about how he grew up vacationing in Pigeon Forge and there never being a magic show there and how eventually he set out to change that. Brandon immediately connected with that and chose Myrtle Beach.
We both grew up vacationing here, granted I wasn't into magic at the time so I wouldn't have looked for a show, but Brandon did and never really got to see one.

Vacationing together in Myrtle Beach in 2010

Sure people have come and gone for short stints over the years but not an established show.
There hasn't been a big year-round theatrical illusion show that was always here when you came back. A friendly face you could get to know and watch the show grow and change everytime you vacationed again.
With that goal in mind we had been planning what is now Pure Magic a LONG time coming.
For years we started thinking through what material would work for the clientele that comes through this area. The great news about being around here is we were already on the right track, having grown up being tourists ourselves.
We knew we had to keep growing the show so we worked hard to earn and make our illusions. You can't do a big illusion show without the big boxes.
We took every opportunity we could to help get our names out there and in front of the right people around the state. Surely it would happen one day, but to be fair we were still only 17 and 20.
Then the fall of 2011 rolled around. Yet again another magic show that was suppose to open in Myrtle Beach was having problems and they were now without a magician. A magic friend who knew this was our dream called to inform us and off to the races we went.

The theater that never made it past marketing

We did an audition in that friend's warehouse for the whole theatre staff of The Pat Boone Family Theater and their families. It was nerve wracking to say the least but somehow we made it through. They loved us, they hired us. This was it. We made all our plans to go, told everyone we were finally moving. It was time to go to Myrtle Beach.
And then... nothing. It fell through. We were devastated.
But back to the old grind, find another way to get there.
Oddly enough some of the people from that theatre were joining a church that wanted to run a theatre on the side (yes this was just as bad of an idea as it sounds)
But who cares? They wanted a magic show. They wanted us. Leap of faith. Myrtle Beach here we come!

July 17th, 2012 we moved into our first little apartment and July 21st we opened the show. It was hands down the fastest, craziest transition of my life. I graduated highschool and moved right out within a couple of weeks. We moved 3 hours away from all our family and walked into unfamiliar territory but hey we had a dream.

Our very first billboard of just us here in Myrtle Beach

Grand Illusions featuring The Magic of Brandon Wagster & Hannah Lynne at the Grand Theatre on the Grand Strand.
And what is one word I wouldn't use to describe this experience? Grand.
Lord, it was far from it. Starting out the show was great, I mean hello at 18 and 21 we were starring in our very own illusion show in the town we wanted to be in! We were head over heels happy.
We had at a young age already accomplished something that people way older than us were still dreaming about. This was our chance and we were making it happen.
But oh how quickly the mighty can fall. A church is not a theatre. They are two very different things that run very different ways. We weren't the only show playing there but ours definitely caused the most problems. We were a magic show in a church theatre. I mean what could possibly go wrong? Well obviously a lot of the congregation left with our dark sorcery in their building and it just went on from there.

The run of Grand Illusions lasted for the summer, we only did 19 shows and sold less than 200 tickets. All together. Yep, you read that right. All together. Like I said a church is not a theatre. They had no idea how to market, Brandon did as much as he could in person going to hotel presentations and meeting with lots of small business owners in the area.
But that wasn't the worst part, as shows were going worse due to bad business decisions the shows obviously started trailing off with smaller and smaller audiences. The management made a decision that if we didn't sell a certain amount of tickets by 3:00 they would just cancel the show.
AND NOT TELL ANYONE.
Do you know what that meant? Brandon and I would stand in the parking lot and wait for people to show up so we could personally apologize to them that our theatre canceled the show and didn't bother to call them. It was the most humiliating thing we have ever done.

Standing in that infamous parking lot years later

We had reached an all time low. Our confidence is still bruised from this fiasco. When it was finally time to just part ways with the theatre it was bittersweet.
Our show was over but so was our torture.
Now one thing people don't really tell you when you move out is how careful you should be with your money incase you take a big risk like us and it flops horribly. We had a little bit to float but not much considering we made next to nothing at the theatre. But we made a little splash in the big pond that is Myrtle Beach so we accomplished something.
With it being the end of summer and no way to jump straight back into another theatre we started gigging around town and back in Columbia again. Because you do what you have to do to get by. We got engaged in November and were married by January. We didn't see a point in waiting when we knew we were soulmates.

Brandon proposed to me on the beach in front of the Sky Wheel

Honestly the next couple of years are a blur. Somehow we made it by but barely. We were fortunate enough to pick up a big summer gig at a resort to keep us floating atleast. But there comes a time when you just feel defeated and are ready to give up.
That came at the end of summer 2014. We were done. We found a new town in the upstate of SC and were ready to get the heck out of Myrtle Beach because obviously it didn't want us as much as we wanted it.
We were a month to the day of moving, everything was getting packed. We were living out of boxes and the phone rang. I will never forget that day, I will never forget that phone call. The president of the one and only Carolina Opry theatre, the golden gem, the tip top of Myrtle Beach called us. They wanted magic to be featured in a new show called Thunder and Light.

I. WAS. SO. MAD!!!

It was time to go, we had decided that, the deed was done, the apartment was packed. But close friends from church agreed with Brandon. It was worth atleast seeing what they had to offer.
We auditioned and started that new show within a week and in September off we went on our journey with Gilmore Entertainment. This was just getting our foot in the door. This gorgeous theatre that Brandon always wanted to be in more than anything was giving us a chance.
Myrtle Beach did want us to stay.
We kept our little apartment and started trucking on again. We were just a part of the smaller matinee show doing one spot to start with and it grew from there. But that wasn't enough money to keep us going so we continued doing outside shows.

Over a year later we joined the Christmas show at The Carolina Opry. Another year later we still did the Christmas show and then we were approached about doing our own show as a one night thing in January.
THIS was it. The moment we'd really been waiting for. Our opportunity to impress the bosses and show them we could handle it, we could pull off a full illusion show. It was a challenge, we hadn't done one since Grand Illusions but we poured our heart and soul into that show. An Evening of Magic was our chance. We knew we probably wouldn't get it again. Entertainment doesn't work like that so we didn't take this lightly.

With a non holiday weekend in the off season, a huge crowd, and a near flawless show we made our mark. The emotions and thrills from that night will stay with me forever.
While out at dinner celebrating with our sweet best friends in magic who came out to support us, we received an email from the most important person to impress, Mr. Calvin Gilmore himself. It was short and sweet and worth a million dollars in our minds
"Great job tonight, Brandon and Hannah - couldn't stop watching - pace - music - illusions . We will do more shows"
That was it. We sealed the deal. We worked hard with the marketing team to come up with a magic show title that would appeal to, that's right you guessed it, exactly Myrtle Beach crowds. We all agreed on Pure Magic and started working on an even better show to work with them in mind.
We have clawed, fought, and worked up every ring on this ladder to get where we are today. And everytime we've tried to leave, Myrtle Beach has kept us here. We actually thought about it again a couple of years ago but it further proved to us this is where we're meant to be.

The first show of our 3rd season of Pure Magic

It's so incredible now to have the fan base we do, to have people come back year after year and tell us how much they enjoy the new pieces and how they love seeing us again. And that's what it's about, we don't want them to just like our show, we want them to like us. We do this for them and we hope they realize that. It's so cool to have people come up to us and say they saw us back in Grand Illusions all those crazy years ago and how they are so happy to see us in a new better place and thriving.

Meeting with fans after Pure Magic

We don't have a Vegas show, a Branson show, or any other place's show you can imagine and we will never have that. Our show is for Myrtle Beach. This town has us and we hope it will stay that way for a very long time. I'm glad we dug our roots in here, it has been worth every second.

This is our home. We've worked so hard to build something here.

So why Myrtle Beach?

Because our blood, sweat, and tears have been poured into this foundation... That's why.

Tightrope

After a couple of showings of the new season of Pure Magic I think it's safe to start talking about the new routine I referenced in a past posting.

We created a piece of magic to help tell my story.

I so hope you all have seen The Greatest Showman by now, it's honestly one of the best movies I've seen in years and I'm not exaggerating when I say we listen to the soundtrack atleast 4 times a week even after over a year of it being out. Sometimes a movie and music just speaks to you.

This movie hit home with me more than anything. A story about entertainment, a boy with dreams who grows up into a man who chases them down and the girl follows along and helps make those dreams possible.

"However big, however small, let me be part of it all. Share your dreams with me."

Brandon has always been the dreamer, and while I am the realist, I'm still always there rooting for him and pushing him to keep going no matter how hard the going gets.

I was a normal teenager, going to high school, I finally decided on my major and was heading down the music path. I loved playing music, I still do, and thought I would become a high school band teacher. Oh how I loved marching band, I still miss that. Then came Brandon, the cute guy I was majorly crushing on and despite the fact that I had a boyfriend, my best friend was absolutely in love with him, and that Brandon was 3 years older, it still didn't stop me.

I went to his first magic show on a date to try and make Brandon jealous (it didn't work in case you were wondering) but atleast he was interested in me. The magic he did fascinated me almost as much as the guy doing it. I had hated magic for quite some time at this point but the guy I was watching onstage changed that. I wanted to do that. And most importantly I wanted to do that with him.

A few weeks later we started dating, and little did I know how much this one guy would literally change my life my sophomore year.

I followed him around to shows and things just because it seemed like the girlfriend thing to do, just support him. Once we got two months into dating it was time for him to part ways with his assistants. While it was a frustrating time, it was best for everyone all around and took away a lot of stress. But then the part where he needed a new assistant.

Oh how I begged and pleaded. Obviously this was the way to get even closer to his heart was through the one thing he may have liked more than me (he definitely did and still might somedays haha)

It finally happened, he caved, despite telling me no a thousand times. He didn't want it to cause a strain on our relationship and make us break up (it did but we got back together). I remember starting to work with him and rehearsing and the excitement of it all but I don't remember making that decision.

That big moment when my brain flipped a switch and said this is it, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I think at first it might have honestly been out of jealousy. I just didn't want him working super closely with a girl that wasn't me for the rest of our lives but then it changed. I genuinely started to love it and obsess over it.

I remember taking my playing cards and tricks into school with me and even rehearsing choreography every second I got. Every bruise was a badge of honor. My friends all thought I was crazy and even started to distance themselves from me but I didn't care, I was having the time of my life.

We were having fun performing around town and even traveling every now and then but I always knew he had big dreams. He wanted to move to Myrtle Beach and have an illusion show in a theatre. While I always thought deep down that it might have been a bit too big of a dream, I was there. I supported.

By the time I became a junior, that summer had changed me. We performed together constantly but we had also broken up which made me even more determined in the magic. I mean how else was I going to spend time with Brandon?

By the time I got halfway through the school year my counselors were threatening to fail me for missing so much school due to shows. And literally over a weekend I switched to online school. Just like that. I changed it all.

I dropped my dreams. I was 100% committed to helping Brandon now chase his. And boy have I followed him to lots of places.

I graduated early, we seemed like we were about to hit it big time and finally moved to the beach on a dream that crashed and burned just as quickly as it had come. And while Brandon may have lost faith in himself and doubted this was what he should really be doing. I didn't. I mean how could I? I had nothing to lose anymore. I left my school path, my family, my friends.

People actually ask me all the time if I regret it, do I ever wonder what life would be like if I had just chosen to keep to my normal track in life? At this point, almost 10 years of being with Brandon. The answer is absolutely not. I think I can very well guess how my life would have gone had I stayed in Columbia. I'm pretty sure of where I would have gone to school, who I would have married, where I would have been going to church...

But that life wasn't for me. I risked it all for him. And every. single. second was absolutely worth it. This wonderful, crazy, amazing, stressful, magical life that we have created together.

That dream of his became our life. And together we walk on this tightrope called life but holding his hand, he taught me not to look down, just take the steps forward despite the fears and we're making it.

We're here. We're in Myrtle Beach doing our illusion show at the theatre he so desperately dreamed to be apart of. This is our circus.

I'll never forget hearing this song for the first time while watching the movie in the theatre. I leaned over to Brandon, whispered "This is my life" and squeezed his hand.

This song literally came from my heart somehow and will forever be my anthem.

Some people long for a life that is simple and planned

Tied with a ribbon

Some people won't sail the sea 'cause they're safer on land

To follow what's written

But I'd follow you to the great unknown

Off to a world we call our own

Hand in my hand and we promised to never let go

We're walking the tightrope

High in the sky

We can see the whole world down below

We're walking the tightrope

Never sure, never know how far we could fall

But it's all an adventure

That comes with a breathtaking view

Walking the tightrope

With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

With you

Mountains and valleys, and all that will come in between

Desert and ocean

You pulled me in and together we're lost in a dream

Always in motion

So I risk it all just to be with you

And I risk it all for this life we choose

Hand in my hand and you promised to never let go

We're walking the tightrope

High in the sky

We can see the whole world down below

We're walking the tightrope

Never sure, will you catch me if I should fall?

Well, it's all an adventure

That comes with a breathtaking view

Walking the tightrope

With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

With you

With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

With you