The Archive
What used to be premium-only is going public in weekly stages. Past posts are being updated regularly, so check in.
Light as Language: A Working Performer’s Guide to Atmospheric Illumination
April 13, 2023
Most performers think about lighting the way they think about tablecloths. Something to have, not something to use. They dim the overheads, put a candle...
The Skeptic at Table Three: Managing Disbelief Without Breaking the Room
March 5, 2023
There's a man in the third row. He arrived with his wife, who looks genuinely curious. He looks like he's waiting for something to go...
Part 2 of 4 · The Mentalism Persona
Part 2: The Mask That Makes Promises, How Your Mentalism Persona Sets Ethical Constraints You Cannot Ignore
February 10, 2023
In Part 1: The Second Skin Problem: Building a Mentalism Persona That Survives the Long Set, the argument was structural: your character has to be...
Routining the Séance: How to Architect a Complete Bizarre Magic Experience From First Effect to Final Exit
January 21, 2023
I don't claim there's a formula for this. I'm skeptical of anyone who does. But I've sat through enough séances, as a performer and as...
Part 1 of 4 · The Mentalism Persona
The Second Skin Problem: Building a Mentalism Persona That Survives the Long Set
January 1, 2023
I'm not going to tell you persona is everything. That's a workshop line, and workshop lines are where real thinking goes to die. What I...
The Ethics of Belief: Simulation, Responsibility, and Where the Line Actually Is
November 7, 2022
I don't claim to be psychic. I want to be clear about that up front. But I've watched people leave a performance room with something...
Reading Cold in a Warm Room: Why Some Venues Kill Mentalism Before It Starts
October 17, 2022
The room beats you to it, every time. You haven't spoken yet, your props are still packed, and the audience has already decided how much...
Forcing Belief: The Neuroscience Behind Why Mentalism Hits Harder Than Conjuring
September 26, 2022
Forcing Belief: The Neuroscience Behind Why Mentalism Hits Harder Than Conjuring The Difference Nobody Talks About Show someone a card trick and they applaud. Read...
Sound Design for the Séance: How Audio Architecture Shapes Belief and Sustains Atmosphere
July 23, 2022
In Part 1: The Architecture of Dread: Building Atmospheric Tension Before a Single Word Is Spoken, the focus was physical: room arrangement, sightlines, the deliberate...
The Séance Table as Mise-en-Scène: Designing Environments That Break Skeptics
July 2, 2022
By the time your first participant sits down, the séance has already been running for twenty minutes. The work happened while they were in the...
Pre-Show as Performance: The Art of Intelligence Gathering Before the First Effect Begins
May 21, 2022
The show doesn’t begin when you ask for silence. For a working mentalist, the show begins when the first guest arrives, or in some cases...
The Force Unseen: Psychological Forcing Techniques for the Modern Mentalist
April 21, 2022
The best kind of force is the kind that does not even feel like force. You can mix up the cards in the deck if...