Theme Show Resources

As a magician who makes the biggest percentage of his income from school shows, I used to dread the summer season. I found that my steady flow of school show income would come to an abrupt stop about the second week of June.

Many performers find that company picnics are a lucrative source of summer income, but here in Florida, where I live, companies have their picnics during the cooler spring or fall months. To book more shows for the summer, I had to find a few new markets.

I decided to concentrate on libraries, summer park programs and day care centers for the summer months. I also decided to approach these markets as I approach school shows, and have a theme for my show. I felt that having a theme for these summer shows would make them easier to sell. Clients feel they're getting more for their money when you deliver a few educational messages along with the entertainment. Plus, the theme ties the show together and helps in the flow from one routine to the next.

I used find myself having difficulty coming up with themes, but then I discovered a store that really stimulated my creativity. This store was even more valuable than a magic shop. It was an educational supply store.

If you look in the yellow pages under "Educational Materials" you should find a listing of stores. These stores sell teaching aids, colorful posters, books and the like for teachers and people who home school their children.

I first ventured into one of these stores when I was looking for a world map. I was doing a magic show with a world geography theme, and I wanted to display a map on an easel. I found an inexpensive colorful map printed on heavy cardboard. I also found that by looking around the store, I was getting lots of ideas for themed shows.

There were all kinds of posters, books and visual aids for the types of subjects children would be studying in preschool or elementary school. I developed several of my day care show themes just from spending a few minutes wandering around the store.

I noticed several teaching aids relating to the subject of color, so I developed a magic show with a color theme. This became a very successful day care show. Another popular subject in the store was the environment and animals, so I wrote and performed an all about animals magic show.

While looking around the educational store, I noticed lots of materials about shapes, so I'm now developing an all about shapes magic show. Even self-esteem, which is an excellent theme for elementary schools, can be simplified and adapted for day cares. There is a wealth of information on self-esteem in the educational materials store.

I have a few other show themes that I'll be presenting in the future. One show will include US geography and history. I checked at the educational store, and found beautiful, colorful pictures of all of the United States presidents that can be adapted to use in a prediction type of trick. If you take a look at some of your card tricks or effects using cardboard characters, I'm sure you can adapt the materials you find at the educational store and create some new tricks.

As an example, I've recently been using a routine called "Harmony" from Duane Laflin's excellent book, "Christmas Magic." In this effect 6 pairs of different colored Christmas trees are mixed up, yet by spelling words and mixing the cards further, the cards end up in perfectly matched pairs.

This trick is adaptable for many occasions. I received a call from a bank to present a show for their customers. I thought I'd use several tricks involving money. I decided to replace the Christmas trees with different denominations of money. Sure enough, when I checked at the educational materials store, I found large cardboard coins that worked out perfectly.

When I present my new US geography show, I'll make another version of this trick with six pairs of differently colored statues of liberty. I'm sure I'll find the appropriate cardboard pictures at the educational materials store.

The items at these stores are all very inexpensive, so you can have a customized show at a very low cost. Your clients will be impressed with how colorful and professional your show looks.

Remember, shows with a theme sell better, and even go over better with your audience. To get ideas for themes and to give your show a customized look, I encourage you to try my secret weapon: the educational materials store.

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