March 27 - 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm
Theater of Marvels
Between Friends Arts Center, Brewer, Maine

Theater of Marvels will appear at the Between Friends Arts Center at 39 Center Street in Brewer, Maine, for two shows on Saturday, March 27. There will be a matinee show at 2:00 pm and an evening show at 7:00 pm. Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $5 for children twelve and under and seniors 65 and over.

Theater of Marvels began five years ago as a collaboration between Professor Miller, a magician from Blue Hill, and Dr. Wilson, a magician, sideshow performer and escape artist from Bar Harbor. The duo seek to develop material that goes beyond the colorful surprises of conventional magic. They open the show with as much beautiful magic as they can pack into a brief "nightclub" segment. Then they put aside the beautiful silks and floating objects to explore some of the traditional magic of the East.

Professor Miller and Dr. Wilson have researched feats of wonder popular in the great Victorian magic shows and perform in period costume. The show includes timeless classics of magic like the Chinese Rings, which link and unlink before the eyes of the audience, and the Miser's Dream, in which an endless stream of coins is plucked from thin air. The magic of the East includes conjuration with sand, water, or nothing but the performer's body. The show closes with a tribute to Houdini, who changed the pace of stage magic with his dramatic escapes.

Miller and Wilson will be joined by the dancers of Paradigm East and by hoop dancer Sennyo. The dancers of Paradigm East bring a unique flair to bellydance, ranging from Rom, Dark Cabaret, Neo Tribal fusion, Cabaribalusion, Egyptian and more in between! Sennyo has recently added buugeng, an unusual movement prop, to her dancing.

Professor Miller has won awards in magic competitions with his performance of the Chinese Rings and the Hindoo Sands. Dr. Wilson has been a featured performer at the annual Sideshow Gathering, at Jugglefest 2009, and has performed with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus in New York City. In November 2009, Dr. Wilson was presented with the Candlelight Award, the "Oscar of the Sideshow," by the Circus Historical Society.

For advance ticket sales (recommended) call the Between Friends Arts Center at (207) 989-7100.

April 2-4
Great Boston Burlesque Expo
Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Professor Miller and Dr. Wilson will present Theater of Marvels at the Great Boston Burlesque Expo as a Sunday matinee performance for all ages. The duo performed at the Great Boston Burlesque Expo in 2009, and have been invited back to perform with a number of guest artists chosen from the large pool of talent available at the Great Boston Burlesque Expo.

The Great Boston Burlesque Expo offers classes and workshops in addition to burlesque performances. Dr. Wilson will be teaching three classes on Saturday, April 3:

• Practical Stage Magic - Stage magic should be fast, colorful, and easy to understand. Stage magic should also be easy to transport to the show and onto the stage. In this class, you will learn a few basic pieces of practical stage magic to start you on the journey of developing your own magic. You will also learn to build some simple magic props.
• Publicity for Performers - To be successful, you have to be good and you have to be well known. In this class, we will explore approaches to publicity, from press releases to publicity stunts. Become the sensation that you were born to be!
• Being a Star Backstage - There is plenty of talent out there. An important element of being invited back again and again is being easy to work with backstage. The audience only has to deal with you for a few minutes, but everyone else has to deal with you for a couple of hours. Make that a positive experience! In this class, we will use both common sense and our shared experiences to develop you into a backstage star.

More information on the Great Boston Burlesque Expo will be posted here as it becomes available.

April 18 - 3:00 pm
Dr. James William Elliott Card Challenge
Happy China Buffet, Bangor, Maine

On Sunday, April 18, Professor Miller and Dr. Wilson will appear at the Dr. James William Elliott Card Challenge at the Happy China Buffet at 753 Stillwater Avenue in Bangor, Maine, at 3:00 pm. The Dr. James William Elliott Card Challenge is sponsored by Ring 362 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The event is open to the general public with no charge for admission.

The contest honors the memory of Maine's foremost card manipulator. When exhibiting before the public, Elliott wore a handsome gold, diamond-studded Howard watch, attached to which was a fob of unique and (for a card manipulator) most appropriate design. This fob consisted of four gold frames which held, under glass, the four Aces of a Junior-sized deck. This beautiful fob was presented to Elliott in 1894 by the card manipulators of Boston; attached to its upper and lower ends by miniature gold rings were gold plates upon which were engraved his name and title - firmly linked together for over twenty-two years - "James William Elliott, Champion Card Manipulator of the World."

Contestants will be given a deck of cards of unknown design and have up to ten minutes to perform card magic of their choosing. Extraneous cards may not be added to the deck. The winner, who will become the 2010 Elliott Card Champion, will be decided upon by a secret ballot of all I.B.M. members present.

For more information, please see the website for I.B.M. Ring 362.

May 7, 2010 - 8:00 pm
Kalliope's Karavan: An Evening of Sideshow Delights and Vaudeville Theatre
YMCA Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dr. Wilson will appear in Kalliope's Karavan: An Evening of Sideshow Delights and Vaudeville Theatre, Boston's very own circus side show, on Friday, May 7, at the YMCA Theatre in Cambridge. The doors open at 7:00 pm for an 8:00 pm curtain. Admission is restricted to those 18 years of age and over. Tickets are $15 in advance, or $20 at the door. The show is a fundraiser for the YMCA Theatre, with $5 from every ticket going to the YMCA Theatre.

Performers include:

In addition to the performances, there will be plenty of amusing fundraising activities, including Prize Candy sales and an auction of some wonderful things!

For more information, please see the website for Kalliope's Karavan.

May 15, 2010 - 7:00 pm
Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition
Between Friends Arts Center, Brewer, Maine

On Saturday, May 15, Professor Miller and Dr. Wilson will appear at the Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition at the Between Friends Arts Center at 39 Center Street in Brewer, Maine, at 7:00 pm. The Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition is sponsored by Ring 362 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and is open to the general public. Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $5 for children twelve and under and seniors 65 and over. The contest honors the memory of Chung Ling Soo (1861-1918), one of the most influential stage magicians in history. Chung Ling Soo never spoke in performance. To honor his memory, the contestants are required to perform without the use of speech, narration, or written language.

Magicians are known for surprises, and Chung Ling Soo provided one of the greatest surprises in magic history at the time of his death: he wasn't Chinese. He was fatally shot on stage in England while performing one of his signature feats, catching a marked bullet shot from a muzzle-loading rifle. Only after his death did the general public discover that the marvelous Chinese conjurer who had thrilled the world with exotic Chinese magic was actually American-born William Robinson. Robinson had a long career as an assistant and builder for Alexander Herrmann and Harry Kellar, the biggest magic shows of his time, before dropping his Western identity and becoming Chung Ling Soo. He kept up the deception offstage, appearing for interviews in makeup and costume, speaking fake Chinese through an "interpreter," who translated for the reporters.

The contestants in the Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition are free to do any kind of magic that they like, as long as they don't speak. They will be judged by a panel of expert judges with backgrounds in theater and film. Bellydancers and other entertainers will complement the magic performances.

For more information, please see the website for I.B.M. Ring 362.