Creating the Story

Magic is a form of theatre and can also be much more. The main difference that separates magic from all the other performing arts is that where in the other forms the artists are telling a story, in magic you are creating the story. Whether you are telling or creating, the central focus remains the story. As live performers we must take advantage of the hundreds of years of study about performance. As the creator or—as I prefer—catalyst of the experience, we also have much to learn from the writer of fiction—whether short stories or longer narrative. To not avail one’s self of the wealth of work already done along these lines is to deny our audiences of the richer experience they deserve. By incorporating the techniques designed to aid the intuitive leap from written text to emotional response of the dramatic actor, combined with the careful sculpting of situation and response used by the writer of short stories we can elevate our performances—and audience’s estimation of our craft—to levels we have never dreamed.