A magician's next trick – career metamorphosis

LACONIA – Magician and mentalist Adam Wilber is looking to reshape his career, and he figures the newly renovated Lakeport Opera House is the perfect place to see if he can pull it off. He will be performing there on June 25.

Wilber is a New Hampshire native and resident of New Durham, but he normally doesn’t get to spend much time at home. He developed a successful career in magic, as an inventor of tricks for a magic company, and as a performer and keynote speaker for corporate events. For Wilber, magic isn’t the end goal, but rather a tool – something he can use to open the minds of his audience members, to create an opportunity for inspiration.

“For me, magic is a conduit to lower peoples’ guard. If you get them in that state of astonishment, it gets them in a child’s state of mind,” Wilber said.

When the pandemic hit, all of his bookings disappeared as if in a puff of smoke. That disruption allowed Wilber to have a taste of a more stationary life.

“I have two kids, working in the corporate space, you’re on the road a lot,” he said. With his suddenly empty schedule, he started scheming, plotting a future for himself that would keep him closer to home. The first part of that was the creation of his own magic company, developing tricks that he could sell to other magicians. The second is finding places where he could perform for the public – something he almost never did before – and go directly home afterward.

The Lakeport Opera House would be ideal, he said.

A moment of astonishment

Wilber grew up in Hanover and was a child when he performed his first magic trick. He had a friend who tricked him with a simple disappearing scarf trick, and he was so impressed by it that he had to learn it himself. Once he figured it out, his father was his first audience.

“I saw how badly it fooled him, and it blew my mind,” Wilber said. He was hooked. He learned more tricks through high school, finding it a useful way to flirt with girls and amuse his friends. ”I was like the class clown, but with magic,” he said.

He didn’t consider it a career possibility, though, at least not at first. He went to college to become a teacher. The more he came to understand that profession, the more apparent it was to him that he wasn’t cut out for it. And around the same time that that fact was sinking in, he got his first paying magic gig.

“I’m not Harry Potter, I’m not a magical being,” Wilber confessed. He’s a performer, one who entertains. At least, entertainment is what people expect when they come to see a magic show. Wilber aims to provide that, as well as a little bit more.

“The good magician knows that the tricks mean nothing. It’s what you do with those tricks,” he said.

His show, generally speaking, has three parts. The first is comedic, light-hearted magic, designed to bring the audience together through a few good laughs. Next comes what he calls “close-up magic,” or sleight of hand. Third is mentalism, in which he seems to be able to read the minds of audience members.

Through his performances, Wilber said his goal is to allow people to forget about their daily stresses for a moment and open themselves to a few motivating or inspirational thoughts.

“I think, inherently, if you’re fooled, and you’re an adult, there’s this moment of astonishment where all of the laws of physics are broken,” Wilber said. “It’s a shared experience in wonder, we can appreciate the beauty of life and get back to our troubles and worries after.”

He said his performance won’t include any offensive or off-color material, however, those younger than 12 might not connect with the show’s themes.

Right time and place

It was just a couple of weeks after Wilber determined to make a change in his performance strategy that the booking agent for the Lakeport Opera House reached out to him. He visited the finished product to see if it would be a fit, and he came away with words similar to how audience members describe his show.

“That place is unbelievable. What they’ve done with that place is mind-blowing,” Wilber said. He has performed in many renovated historic theaters, which often show clear evidence of budget-cutting. In Lakeport, he said, “they’ve spared no expense, so hats off to them.”

For many years, the only way to see Wilber’s show was to be lucky enough to be part of a private, corporate event that he appeared at. The show on Friday will be his first public appearance in recent memory.

“As it is now, this is the only show I have public. Hopefully this is the beginning of many,” he said.