A Series of Wonderful Events at the Wildey
Editor | Sep 02, 2011 | Comments 0
Jesse Gernigin will be presenting his show ‘A Series of Wonderful Events’ this Saturday September 3rd at the Wildey theater. The show starts at 7:00 and runs to 8:45 p.m, tickets are twelve dollars and can be purchased at the box office out front of the Wildey starting at 6:30 on September 3rd. Jesse has been a full time performer since he graduated college and his show ‘A Series of Wonderful Events’ is his first fully produced show.
Jesse promises that, “A Series of Wonderful Event’s will be unlike any show you have seen before.” I ask him why, “The show merges different mediums of media. I use music, images, ideas and if possible video to create a full entertainment experience.” I ask him what the difference will be between ‘A Series of Wonderful Events’ and another magic show like David Copperfield’s. He laughs, “Well for one
Jesse Gernigin. Bolla Photography photo.
thing my show is just me. I have no assistants. But my show is unlike other magic shows because my show was created around a premise. Most magicians just put tricks one after another and focus too much on fooling the audience. I know how to fool audiences so I wanted to do something more. So I wrote an entire show around the premise that I can bend and effect people’s perceptions and choices. And the entire show, the magic, the humor, everything reflects that premise.” I found the idea of exploring perception through magic interesting. I asked him what influenced him to choose perception over other large ideas like randomness, luck or conciousness. “I found that perception was the easiest to relate too. We all perceive the world in our own private way. So perception is the largest privately held and publicly shared human experience. I liked that idea and it is what drew me to the premise.” I was struck by the clarity of Jesse’s thinking but I wondered if he did the same magic other magician’s do or if he created his own magic.”I create my own magic.” He said. “I wanted the show to be entirely mine. I wanted it to be a unique experience that you would remember.” But Jesse goes on to make an interesting point, “A lot of the things magician’s do the same tricks because there are only so many magical things you can do. You can vanish something, you can make things teleport and change places, you can make someone forget something, you can destroy something and put it back together, etc. So even though I do an entirely original act the themes of the magic are the same. Things vanish, things change place, etc.” I mention he seems very artistic along with intelligent and I ask if he sees these reoccuring themes in magic as a handicap.
“Yes and no. Yes because there are things you can never do in a show. You could never actually hurt someone to heal them. The audience wouldn’t like that just as much as they wouldn’t like me making ghosts appear and doing as I say. Real magic, as far as the audience is concerned, is off limits. But at the same time I don’t find these themes restrictive because they all have so much room to explore within them. Sure I may make something vanish, but how did I do it? Where does it go? Did I vanish it or hide it, and if I did hide it would I reveal where it was, and if I did would it be any less amazing if you knew where it was when it shouldn’t have been able to get there?”
I thank Jesse for his time but before he goes he offers to do something for me, “That I do in my show live every night.” He asks for the loan of a key and a ring. I retrieve his request and hand them over. “Ready?” He asks balancing one on top of the other. I nod. He clicks his fingers and the ring falls off the key and I realize that the two have linked together. “How the hell!” I cry and he laughs. I tug to make sure they are joined together. They are. Jesse tells me to re-balance the key and the ring. I do. He tells me to lift the ring slowly, I do. The ring melts right off the key, right in front of my eyes. He never touched them, I stare. “That,” he says, “Is a part of A Series of Wonderful Events.” And it will be again on Saturday night September 3rd at the Wildey theater starting at 7:00 p.m. Make sure to get your tickets and i’ll see you there!
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