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TEEN MAGICIAN’S TRICKS WILL BE A TREAT AT HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL
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10/13/2009 : Costa Mesa, CA - The stereotype of the typical 15-year-old these days is someone plugged in 24-7 to an iPod, a game console or some other high-tech gadget. It’s not that 15-year-old Mark Gibson is alien to those pursuits, but the Rancho Santa Margarita is devoted to a decidedly more old-school pursuit: magic.
A member of the famed Magic Castle’s Junior Society, Gibson is a working magician as much enamored about the history of the discipline as he is enthused about pulling the proverbial wool over audience’s eyes.
He and his amazing sleight-of-hand coin and card tricks will be on hand at the Orange County Market Place’s 12th Annual Trick or Treat Festival on Sunday, October 25. The Market Place is the weekend swap meet at the O. C. Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa.
Gibson, a freshman at Tesoro High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, has worked professionally since the age of 12. But even before that, he’d always “been fascinated by psychics and ghosts and all that paranormal stuff,” he said. “Magic has always had a close relationship with those things, so I developed a keen attraction to it at an early age.”
After a cousin showed him a simple card trick when he was 12, Gibson’s attraction developed into a deep desire to learn this time-honored and exacting craft.
“No one in my (immediate) family had ever been involved in magic or affiliated with magicians, so I really picked it up on my own,” he said. “It was also a great way to socialize, since I was very shy when I was younger.”
Gibson’s interest in magic really took when he attended a brunch at Hollywood’s famed Magic Castle and was introduced to that institution’s Junior Society, a guild of approximately 60 young magicians. He auditioned for the society shortly afterward and was accepted.
Not everyone makes it to the Junior Society with their first audition but Gibson said the judges picked him not only because they liked his magic but also because he provided a bit of history and background on the tricks he was performing.
Membership in the Junior Society is restricted to those between 13 to 19 years of age who are seriously interested in magic. With the emphasis on “seriously” the Magic Castle Junior Group is not for beginners in magic, and the Group does not teach magic per se. Applicants have to be familiar with magic and magical terms to be eligible for consideration. Potential members must pass a five-minute audition in either stage or close-up magic.
“The Junior Society is based on the idea that we come in as magicians and they make us performers,” he said. “They don’t really teach us magic, but they put us in an environment with other young magicians who are all on the same career path. We learn from each other and are exposed to all different types of performing.”
While Gibson is knowledgeable about all forms of magic performance—stage, parlor, precision, silent—he gravitates toward close-up magic, in which the audience is right in front of him, basically daring him to fool them.
“I find close-up magic to be more intimate and difficult,” he said. “I mean, think about it: what’s harder: making an elephant disappear on a stage when you have lights and camera or smoke, or figuring out how to do a card trick with people right in front of you?”
The tools of Gibson’s particular magical trade are coins, card tricks and other up-close sleight of hand effects… He estimates he knows about 80 tricks at the moment, his favorite incorporating cups and balls.
“It’s the oldest trick in the court of magic, dating back to ancient Egypt,” he said. “It’s one of the earliest tricks I learned and I like it because it incorporates all things possible with magic: conjuring, vanishing, appearances, transformation, transpositions. So many different things are possible with this one trick.”
As much as Gibson enjoys the performance and technique of magic, he’s also a student of the history and genre of the music, peppering his act with trivia about his tricks and avidly reading magic textbooks and history books (As a member of the Magic Castle’s Junior Society, he has access to the William Larson Library, one of the world’s largest repositories of magic books and memorabilia).
“I don’t think I really set aside a time of day and practice magic, it’s always with me,” he said. “I always have a coin or a deck of cards with me. I never really stop. It’s almost a meditation. And I’m constantly learning from everything around me, whether it’s reading magic textbooks or attending lectures, or learning from other junior members and older magicians. And I’m always looking at different situations that are happening around me and thinking how I can incorporate them into my act.
“In a sense, all magicians are connected regardless of what things they do. We all have a need to communicate with people, to shock them with our skills. It’s really a connection. We’re all logical thinkers, and to play with people’s imaginations and create a shocking or surprising effect is something every magician must accomplish.”
His on-stage persona is “a very young, but mature soul. I think people see me and realize that I’m young, so they’re comfortable with that, but I really like being able to control their impressions, and to make them laugh. I wouldn’t say my magic is serious as much as it is laid-back and funny. I like to lighten the mood with gags or jokes, but then still wind up surprising someone who is intent on not getting tricked.”
His off-stage pursuits include another exacting discipline: martial arts. And his favorite subjects in school also tie in to magic: math and science. “Magic is very mathematical, since it’s about patterns, and every trick has a structure, which is a lot like science,” he said.
Gibson is determined to make his career as a working magician. “Of course, I would love to do this as a career; I don’t think I’ll ever stop. It’s part of me…but I don’t’ think I’ll ever master magic. I don’t think anyone can. You can create every effect known to man, but there’ll always be something else out there to challenge you.”
Gibson will do two shows during the Festival. At 11 a.m. he will do close up magic on the Golden Mike Stage, and at 1 p.m. he will present a bigger array of tricks on the Main Stage.
His shows and all the entertainment at the Festival is included in swap meet admission, which is $2 or free for kids 12 and under.
The 12th Annual Trick or Treat Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes free daytime trick or treating from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., all day giant pumpkin carving by Farmer Mike (now author of "Farmer Mike Grows Giant pumpkins"), first 500 kids receive his book, free face painting, Goldilocks and the Three Buccaneers puppet shows, the 10th Annual Halloween Hearse Show including 10 a.m. procession thru Costa Mesa, Dr. Demento's Festival of Dementia Shows, Freak Show Deluxe, vampire poets, Crimebo the Clown and Crime Trivia Contest, Count Miniscula, Ballooney Looney Witch, costume contest for ages 13 years and over, kid's costume parade, Ukulady, stilt witches and a blood drive to support local hospitals. A complete schedule is available at www.ocmarketplace.com.
Along with the Festival is the regular base of Market Place vendors which includes nearly 1,000 merchants offering a variety of products and services. fresh produce, gourmet foods to go, artisans and crafters, manufactured homes, kid’s play area, inflatable attractions, hair salon, food concessions and more. In its 40th year the Orange County Market Place is held every weekend (except during the Orange County Fair) at the O.C. Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa. Hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information may be obtained by visiting the website or calling 949-723-6660.
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