In came an audience of about 30 elderly residents. The activities director dampened my spirits somewhat, when she said, “I’ll put the awake ones down front.” The appearing doves seemed to go over well. The card trick didn’t. When I revealed the selected card, no one remembered what card had been originally taken.

The most interesting response came with the needle through balloon effect. The trick worked fine, but at the end, when I popped the balloon, the entire audience jumped in their wheelchairs. I shuddered at how I nearly caused several heart attacks in the room.

After that humble beginning, I thought nursing home shows weren’t for me. However, as the years progressed, I got more and more calls from activity directors, and decided to give the nursing home circuit another try.

Presently, I only do about a dozen nursing home shows a year. I still prefer the kid show and family show market, but nursing homes are good for a change of pace. The pay is usually on the low end, but the shows are easy to book, and can be used to fill in some of the open areas we all have on our calendars.

Plus, even though the pay may not be great, you get rewarded with the feeling that you’ve cheered someone up, even if it’s only for a little while. Sometimes we don’t know the impact we’ve made in someone’s life. 

When I decided to do more nursing home shows, I knew I needed to approach the shows differently from when I began in college. I needed visual, colorful effects that were easy to understand. Then it dawned on me—the same type of routines I used in a kid show would probably work for elderly residents.

            My nursing home show runs about 40 minutes. Many times, the activity director will ask for an hour show. This is because they always book musical acts to play for an hour. I stick to my guns, and politely explain that a show of 40 minutes of magic will be plenty.

            I also produce a rabbit in the show, and afterwards I go around the room to the residents and let them pet the rabbit. This takes 10-15 minutes, so I am there for about an hour. No activity director has ever complained that I did not do enough time.

            I use a mixture of solo effects, and audience participation. The audience participation effects are ones that can be worked right in someone’s hands, without making them stand up. If I find someone sitting in a regular chair, instead of a wheelchair, I may have him or her stand up, and even come up front to help me. Sometimes, I also will use the activity director or a nurse to assist.

            I almost always use a sound system. My battery powered, compact sound system is ideal. Many audience members may be hard of hearing, so the extra amplification is a big help.

I try to keep my show compact, and keep the setup time to about ten minutes. You will find that most nursing home audiences will arrive in the performance area about an hour before your show is scheduled to start. So, plan on a type of show that you can set up with audience members staring at you. I try to preset many of my effects before I even leave my home.

There may be a piano, large television or stereo system in your performance area, so the compact show is essential. I limit my show to a suitcase table, and possibly one other small side table, mounted on a tripod-type stand.

The show opening is crucial to get the attention of the audience, and it sets the pace for the entire show. I open my nursing home show similar to a kid show. I have the audience practice clapping, and I teach them the magic word. I use a simple word they’re all familiar with: bingo! That’s right, I tell the audience that whenever I need help with the magic, they should all say the magic word “bingo.” I don’t know why, but it always gets a smile.

I open with the vanish and reproduction of a long colorful streamer, to “test their eyes.” Then the streamer turns into a cane. The streamers are known as “Thumbtip Streamers,” and they are very showy. The streamers are 36 inches long, and multicolored. It is very impressive the way a long streamer like this can be vanished in a standard thumbtip. Of course, the cane is a standard appearing cane.

  I also enjoy using the Vanishing Coke Bottle, because it is a familiar object, it’s visual and it’s easy to understand. Another visual trick that works well is Abbott’s Super Botania. You drop a single flower into an empty tube, and the flower turns into a huge bush of flowers. David Ginn published a great routine in his book, “School Show Presentation,” entitled “The Tree of India.”

Audience participation effects break up the solo routines. The number one audience participation trick I perform is the Paper Hat Tear. I usually work this by going into the front row of seats, and having someone who is seated help me. This trick is easy for the volunteer to assist with, because they only need to tear a piece of paper.

The Mis-Made Flag works well, too. I hand someone three silks, and they simply hand the silks back to me. The audience enjoys the humor when I “accidentally” drop the blue silk, and the reversed flag gets a big laugh. I use the classic kid show prop, the Breakaway Wand, and it goes over very well with the senior audience.

The Linking Rings is a showy, easy to follow routine, and I will call up the activity director or a nurse to be my assistant.

The highlight of the show is the production of a live bunny rabbit. Following the show, I go around the room to each audience member and let them pet the rabbit. I always get lots of positive feedback from the nurses and activity director. In fact, at one show the nurse became very excited, because her patient reached up to pet the rabbit, using a hand that she hadn’t moved in months.

If you don’t seem to be getting much response during the show, don’t take it personally. The audience members are usually on medication, which can make them sleepy. Plus, they might not be feeling well, or perhaps they are hard of hearing. They may not clap because they can’t move one or both hands.

I remember one show I performed in an Alzheimer’s unit, where the audience response wasn’t as good as I expected. Afterwards, the activity director was just beaming, and told me how much everyone enjoyed the show. One of the patients had smiled during the show, and the director told me it was the first time she had seen him smile in over two years.

Nursing home shows may not pay as well as some markets, but you will get paid with the satisfaction of knowing you’ve made a positive difference in someone’s day. I hope these suggestions will encourage you to give nursing home shows a try.

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