Once upon a time. In the beginning. A long time ago. Memorable stories start with a great opening line. While the performing arts tend to focus on telling stories in which the audience are mainly observers, the wonderful thing about a performance of magic is that it creates a story in which the audience is an active participant.
Ever since he was a little boy, Andrew Pinard has wondered about the world and marveled at the ways people interact with it and each other. He has spent much of his life seeking answers, often only to find more questions. Along the way he has picked up some interesting observations, some odd stories and some truly unusual skills. Rather than trafficking in the impossible, his performances beg the question: what might be possible?
Launched at Red River Theatre’s Simchik Cinema, “Discovering Magic” has been a monthly feature of the Concord performing arts scene since 2013. It was featured as an annual tradition for many years at The Player’s Ring in Portsmouth, where it played for sold out houses. The show has been featured in other communities including The Palace Theatre in Manchester, The Music Hall Lounge in Portsmouth and across New England. In celebrating its 10th anniversary, it cements itself as New Hampshire’s longest-running show.
For ten years, audiences have come to Concord from all over the state and beyond to experience a “mind-numbing, jaw-dropping, eye-opening” experience. Using the most ordinary of objects, accomplished actor, conjuror, puppeteer, storyteller, and award-winning performer Pinard takes participants on a guided tour of the impossible and the absurd.
Audiences have experienced sleight of hand, con games, psychology, history, science, comedy, cognitive development, political spin, and more through the eyes of a “perceptual engineer” on his quest to explore distortion and guile. Culled from his popular monthly performances elsewhere and abroad, every performance is different and guaranteed to please audiences.
Pinard’s history in magic began with a trick he did in second grade at Derry Village School. His feat involved reading the mind of someone thinking of a number determined by a second grade assembly. He got the trick from a book, he said, noting that “the secrets of magic are available for everyone to read and learn.”
By fifth grade Pinard had turned to music and theater, and only returned to magic in 1991 after leaving college where he had been pursuing a degree in music and theater.
In his time as an entertainer he has performed virtually every type of magical performance: busking on the street; performing for almost 15 years in restaurants (and publishing a magazine for other performers on the topic); trade shows; seances; illusion shows; corporate events; historical reenactments; consulting; and more.
After 33 years of entertaining with magic, Pinard says he doesn’t do tricks, but he “curates experiences.”
The goal of magic, according to Pinard, is not just to fool, but more importantly to “trigger delight and astonishment.” And to achieve that he steers away from top hats, doves and the other clichés normally associated with magicians.
“Fooling people is definitely a magician’s base competency,” he said, “But actually I’m not the one fooling them. They are fooling themselves. I am simply introducing an idea and letting their imagination run away.”
Pinard can talk at length about the intellectual side of magic – how “it is about imagination and expectation” and how “you have to engage both during a performance.” But in the end, he believes “magic is really about creating a remarkable story, in which the audiences are characters and help define the story.” In this way, he said, “this makes magic unlike any other performing art.”
Other magic performances he regularly offers include a vaudeville-style show for family audiences and one where he plays the part of a 19th century magician.
There is an aphorism that says that the one who dies with the most toys wins; Pinard believes that the one who collects the most stories is actually far richer. Experience “Discovering Magic” for yourself and add another story to your collection.
Pinard has been the recipient of numerous Best of NH awards from New Hampshire Magazine (2000, 2002, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2022), as well as a recipient of numerous New Hampshire Theatre Awards including the Vision & Tenacity award (2017). He has served as editor of The Yankee Magic Collector, a journal exploring magic history for over twenty years and is working to bring the international history conference The Yankee Gathering to NH in 2024.
Absolutely Magic will present “Discovering Magic” at the Hatbox Theatre located at The Steeplegate Mall in Concord, on select Wednesday evenings through August 2024. Tickets are $19-$25 with discounts for students, seniors, and Hatbox Theatre members. Tickets and more information are available at hatboxnh.com.