Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Photo By Thomas Martin

Illusionist mystifies the VWC community

By Eric Miller

ermiller@vwc.edu

Prepare to be amazed.

 Fool your family, your friends, and if you have a bad memory, fool yourself, said Illusionist Jason Bishop, who both fooled and entertained many students Aug. 30, during WAC s Welcome Back Week activities.

Sponsored by Traditions, The Jason Bishop Show featured the aforementioned illusionist and his assistant Kim, who changed her outfit during the hour long performance more times than one could count.

According to Bishop, an illusion is  where you believe you see something happening when nothing really is. For him, it was easy to see what he wanted to do with his life and there were certainly good things happening for him.

 I just always had an interest in magic, he remembers. And when he met up with Kim, after several years in college, they formed an act. Since then, they have appeared in tours across the country, from colleges to famous resorts located in hotspots like Las Vegas.

Most notably, he received the prestigious 2007 Jack Gwynne Award for Excellence in Presentation, a presentation that was also well received by the crowd of students that gathered in the Marlin Grille.

With a generic sense of humor, Bishop kept the audience s attention whether or not he was performing magic. In between card tricks and rearranging the layout of a newspaper, students got a chance to participate in his mind games, even if just for laughs. One of his opening acts included changing places with his assistant after being locked inside a chest.

Making sure he got the response he wanted for an act, Bishop informed the spectators,  That s where you applaud, right there. And the audience had no trouble in doing just that as he took a quick bow.

A signature part of the show was a  close up magic, where his tricks were magnified on a flat screen. For those who were there to be amazed, the show ended with a bang as he created different origami pieces that eventually shredded and blew around the room with the use of a fan.

Bishop himself called it  & the best show this year. That could be a well debated statement as it s only the beginning of fall semester, but one thing is for sure: the show was most definitely a hit. And that s no illusion.