For two magicians, performing magic is more than a hobby; it is also a way to spread an important message.
Rick Smith has had a passion for magic since he was young, taking every opportunity to learn tricks and performing them for friends and family. Houdini and David Copperfield were among those he admired most.
Stephen Hawkins’ interest in magic was supported by his mother, who would buy him magic tricks at the local magic store in Florida where he grew up. At 15, he spent a week at a clown college with a youth group, where he learned not just to be a clown, but also acquired the skills it takes to do magic.
Both continued to practice their craft into adulthood, until they met at a church where they worked as part of the technical crew, doing sound bites and video. They quickly became friends.
“I really started to ramp up, going from doing silly magic tricks to wanting to put some shows together,” said Smith of Washington. “And Stephen talked more about promoting me at first, but a trip to New York City changed all that.”
The visit was work-related, but the pair took time to stop by Tannen’s Magic Shop, famous since 1924 and a mecca for every aspiring magician.
“Of course, I bought some stuff and started talking about coming up with tricks that would be good for one person to do,” said Smith. “But this is where we really started dreaming about maybe putting tricks and the two of us together, to play off each other. It just grew from there.”
That was almost 10 years ago, and they have been performing magic together ever since.
They keep their shows fresh by buying new tricks and adding new routines, but also credit it to the
fact that they are on stage together.
“ A lot of the tricks we do, Houdini did, so we know that the audience will like it, and then we put our personality into it,” said Hawkins, of Bloomington. “No two shows are exactly the same. I never know what he is going to say during a show, or vice versa, which makes it part of the fun.”
“Most tricks are marketed to be performed by individual magicians,” said Smith. “The nice thing is that we don’t do many tricks out of the box, the way they were meant to be performed. We take them and apply it to our persona, our shtick, we have created for ourself on stage.”
