Everyone in Iola knows magician Mark Toland, or so it would seem from the crowds that have packed his annual Christmas performances at the Warehouse Theatre. This year, to accommodate the expected crowds, an additional show has been added. As ever, all performances are free.
Toland said doing the Iola shows is a treat — both for the town, and for him. “The Iola show is unique, because people are coming to see me. Usually I’m an added bonus,” he said about many of his gigs. “People come to a corporate party and I’m there, or they come to a restaurant and I’m there.”
Toland does “probably 100 shows a year,” he said. He anticipates that will increase once he graduates from Wichita State University this spring.
“As soon as I get out of school I’m going to try to do it full time,” Toland said. “I love magic to death.”
Toland first got bitten by the magic bug at age three, said his mother Karen Toland. That was via a book of magic tricks. But Mark Toland said TV had something to do with it, too.
“My favorite magician is David Copperfield,” Toland said. “I saw him on television when I was a kid and he made a train car disappear. I remember seeing that when I was very young and thinking ‘This is what I have to do.’”
“When they asked me in kindergarten what I wanted to be, I said a magician.”
Toland stuck to his dream.
Now he performs for kindergartners and other kids, at birthday parties and school functions. He also performs for adults, at corporate parties, dinner theaters, weddings and private functions. And then there are shows like this weekend’s.
Toland will host two performances at the Warehouse Theatre. The first is Saturday night at 7 p.m. and the next a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. In addition, Toland is offering a free afternoon workshop for youth ages 8-14 on Saturday, also at the Warehouse Theatre.
The 1 p.m. workshop is limited to 15 participants, who must sign up by calling Jim Talkington at 365-2042. You may also e-mail him at jimtalkington@iolacommunitythatre.org.
Toland’s mom said he typically visits Jefferson school when he’s in town, but this year he has a Friday evening engagement in Kansas City, so will mis the opportunity. He conceived of the kid’s workshop instead, Karen said.
“He is teaching them the basics of magic,” Karen said. “He put together kits for them so they can not only learn how to do magic, but have something to do magic with after that.”
“I’ve never done a workshop like this before,” Toland said. “I’ve always been secretive about (how the tricks are done), but if one child gets hooked on it, it’s worth it,” he said.
Once hooked, Toland said, you learn there’s more to magic than meets the eye.
“People think it’s all fun and games, but I get to see the business side of magic. Building props, shipping props, repairing them.”
Toland works at Steve’s Magic Emporium in Wichita. “It’s a store that caters mainly to professional magicians,” Toland said. “It’s world-renowned becasue it’s so exclusive.”
Toland said 90 percetn of the store’s business is mail-order. “I still need to learn the tricks to demonstrate them to the 10 percent of our customers who walk in,” Toland said. That little perk lets him learn every new trick as it is brought in, allowing him to incorporate dazzling new material into his own shows.
Toland said a films such as 2006’s “The Illusionist” and “The Prestige” expanded the audience for magic.
“Every illusion you see in the film,” he said of “The Illusionist”, “can be performed on stage. I think that’s amazing.”
That meshes with Toland’s ideals. “I want to fool adults — I want to puzzle them beyond belief.”
“I think magic is a feeling,” Toland said. “Whether it’s seeing the snow or the mountains and feling that awe, thats the feeling I want the audience to get.”
1/28/09
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