Dennis Watkins (born September 9, 1978) is an American magician, [1] mentalist, and actor, based in Chicago, Illinois. [2] Watkins specializes in sleight of hand, walking on broken glass, swallowing razor blades, and a card trick known as the Balloon Trick, where he crawls inside a 7-foot wide balloon. He has performed across the United States, and his public show, The Magic Parlour, played at Chicago's Palmer House Hilton Hotel since New Year's Eve, 2011 until fall 2023, when it relocated to Petterino's on October 5, 2023. https://www.goodmantheatre.org/show/the-magic-parlour/
Dennis Watkins was born in Dallas, TX. He is the second in a family of four brothers. His grandfather, Ed Watkins, was a local magician who worked as the lead demonstrator at a storefront magic shop called Douglas Magicland in Dallas for 30 years. Around age 7, Watkins began studying sleight-of-hand under the instruction of his grandfather, Ed.
In 2001, Watkins graduated from SMU Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, TX, where he received the Hunt Leadership Scholars Award. He also spent a year training at the British American Drama Academy.
Dennis Watkins is a Founding Company Member with The House Theatre of Chicago, where he originated the role of Harry Houdini in Death and Harry Houdini, a play written and directed by Artistic Director Nathan Allen. Portraying Houdini in all 7 sold-out runs of the show, Watkins recreated some of Houdini's feats, including escaping the Water Torture Cell. [3] Watkins received a Joseph Jefferson Award for his work on the show in 2012. Death and Harry Houdini returned to The Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Florida in the spring of 2017.
As Actor
As Playwright
As Magic Designer
As Director
Erik Weisz, known as Harry Houdini, was a Hungarian-American escape artist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts.
Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, also known as the "Wizard of Oz" and, during his reign, as "Oz the Great and Terrible" or the "Great and Powerful Oz", is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. The character was further popularized by a stage play and several films, including the classic 1939 film and the 2013 prequel adaptation.
Harry Kellar was an American magician who presented large stage shows during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Harry Bouton Blackstone Jr. was an American stage magician, author, and television performer. He is estimated to have pulled 80,000 rabbits from his sleeves and hats.
Richard Valentine Pitchford was a master magician under the name Cardini, whose career spanned almost half a century. Born in Britain, he worked chiefly in the United States of America.
Howard Thurston was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. As a child, he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply impressed after he attended magician Alexander Herrmann's magic show and was determined to equal his work. Alexander Herrmann was a french magician and was known as "Herrmann the Great". Thurston eventually became the most famous magician of his time. Thurston's traveling magic show was the biggest one of all; it was so large that it needed eight train cars to transport his road show.
David Frederick Wingfield Verner, better known by his stage names Dai Vernon or The Professor, was a Canadian magician.
The bullet catch is a stage magic illusion in which a magician appears to catch a bullet fired directly at them — often in the mouth, sometimes in the hand or sometimes caught with other items such as a dinner plate. The bullet catch may also be referred to as the bullet trick, defying the bullets or occasionally the gun trick.
John Henry Anderson (1814–1874) was a Scottish professional magician. Anderson is credited with helping bring the art of magic from street performances into theatres and presenting magic performances to entertain and delight the audience.
John Carney is a professional sleight-of-hand artist, author and comic actor. He won various awards from the Academy of Magical Arts, including "stage magician of the year", "close-up magician of the year", and "parlour magician of the year". In 1988 and 1991, he won first and second place, respectively, in "micro magic" at the world Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques championships. Carney studied under sleight of hand magician Dai Vernon.
Ferenc Dezső Weisz, known as Theodore "Dash" Hardeen, was a Hungarian-American magician and escape artist who was the younger brother of Harry Houdini. Hardeen, who usually billed himself as the "brother of Houdini", was the founder of the Magician's Guild. Hardeen was the first magician to conceive escaping from a straitjacket in full view of the audience, rather than behind a curtain.
Dorothy Dietrich is an American stage magician and escapologist, best known for performing the bullet catch in her mouth and the first woman to perform a straitjacket escape while suspended hundreds of feet in the air from a burning rope. She was the first woman to gain prominence as an escape artist since the days of Houdini, breaking the glass ceiling for women in the field of escapes and magic.
The Chinese Water Torture Cell is a predicament escape made famous by Hungarian-American magician Harry Houdini. The illusion consists of three parts: first, the magician's feet are locked in stocks; next, he is suspended in mid-air from his ankles with a restraint brace; finally, he is lowered into a glass tank overflowing with water and the restraint is locked to the top of the cell.
The House Theatre of Chicago was a non-profit, ensemble theatre company in Chicago, IL. The House was founded in 2001 by a group of friends from the British American Drama Academy and Southern Methodist University with the mission of exploring the ideas of Community and Storytelling in order to create a unique theatrical experience for audience members. In its lifetime, The House received a total of 70 Joseph Jefferson Awards and nominations. In 2007, The House became the first recipient of Broadway in Chicago's Emerging Theater Award. While they emerged from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic with new leadership and a new direction, the theatre company exited the Chicago theatre scene in 2022.
Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close-up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world.
Emil Jarrow was a sleight of hand magician. He sometimes referred to himself humorously as a "prestidigitator." Jarrow was perhaps best known for creating the “lemon trick,” in which he would procure paper money from an apparently fresh lemon.
David Gordon Ben is a Canadian stage magician, sleight of hand artist, illusionist, author, publisher, keynote speaker, magic historian, magic consultant, magic collector and former tax lawyer.
George Schindler is an American stage magician, magic consultant, comedian, actor, ventriloquist and writer based in New York. In addition to creating noteworthy illusions and publishing many books on magic, Schindler has performed at venues around the world and is currently "lifetime dean" of the Society of American Magicians, having previous tenure in the "S.A.M. Hall of Fame" as well as president and spokesperson. From the 1950s to the 1960s, he had also been a frequent contributor to Billboard Magazine's comedy, magic and vaudeville columns.
Bert Reese (1851–1926) was an American-Polish medium and mentalist, best known for his billet reading demonstrations.
John Wyman Jr., known professionally as Wyman the Wizard, was a magician and ventriloquist who was popular in the United States during the mid-19th century.