As we got close to Wisconsin, temperatures started to drop steadily. By the time we made it to Hartford, temperatures we below zero. Looks like this is the “cold leg” of the tour! But as is generally the case, the hearts of the people of the town were warm, gracious, and friendly.
We got checked into our hotel and settled in for a few days. That first morning I had a number of interviews to take care of – 3 radio interviews and 2 newspapers for upcoming shows. Tom Robbins (executive director of the Schauer Center) picked Alan and I up around 12:30pm to head over to the Hartford Union High School. We spent the afternoon with an amazing group of students working with them on the Hocus Focus project. These were engaged, excited, and animated as they learned each of the tricks AND performed them for the rest of the class! Later that day, we wrapped up with a magic class at the Schauer Center for 20 registered kids.
Friday was the performance. Cindy still isn’t feeling well so she stayed at the hotel while the rest of us drove over to the Schauer Center to begin setting up. These guys have had a lot of snow!
Randy and the crew were there to meet us. We first toured the theatre, found the dressing rooms, checked out the backstage space, and talked about the strategy for setting up the show. When it came time to start load in, the padlock on the trailer door was frozen – completely frozen! But these Wisconsin-ers know how to deal with little things like this. A few minutes later, success! And load in began…
The day moved along really well. Randy and his guys are great, well organized, fun to work with, and terrific problem-solvers. We didn’t hit any snags that he couldn’t fix. Cindy arrived at the venue around 4pm, did her checks on a few things, and we started into tweaking the cues for the show.
Doors opened at 7:00pm and the audience was eager to find their seats. I could tell they were going to be a good crowd. And they didn’t let me down. We had some fun volunteers on the stage with us and the responses to each of the illusions was very strong. Afterwards, in the lobby, it seemed that WALKING THROUGH A WALL was the favorite with the group, followed closely by WINDSHEAR and the CUB ZAG.
There were a few local magicians in the crowd as well. It’s always great when we have the support of other professionals in the field. And we got to catch up with long-time friends, the Bugenhagens!! I wish we had had more time to talk with them. It has been way too long but I’m thankful for the time we did have.
Today, we’re off to Terre Haute, IN for our next show on Valentine’s Day. I’m going to attempt to finish the first draft of my research paper for Norway’s Society for Teacher Education Conference….