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Community Arts Center hosts Masters of Illusion for a magical night in Williamsport

Some of the world’s greatest illusionists will be working their magic at the Community Arts Center on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Magicians Dan Sperry, Michael Turco and Naathan Phan have all appeared on the CW Network’s hit television series, “Masters of Illusion.”

The family fun show has been presented live in front of tens of thousands of people across the United States and has aired eight seasons on the CW, where it has been watched around the world with over 100 million viewers.

Sperry, a shock illusionist and anti-conjurer, will take the stage with his own unique act during this season of Masters of Illusion Live.

“There’s lots of different styles, so that’s what I think makes it a really good sort of family show — something-for-everybody kind of thing. Naathan, he does a lot more interaction with the audience, comedy and stuff like that. Michael does all the big grand illusions, like what you’d see on TV. There are really big, amazing props and fire and bikes and crazy magic stuff,” Sperry said in an interview with the Sun-Gazette.

The tour of Masters of Illusion Live! first premiered in September 2011 and is in its 11th season. The performers continue to introduce new content for their audiences.

“It’s an outstanding show. You’re gonna want to see this amazing show again, but also there’s always going to be something new,” Sperry said. “For example, someone like Michael Turco, who’s been on the tour quite a bit, he’s always working on new stuff. As creators, as someone who creates, we need to stay fresh for ourselves to reassure ourselves. It’s always a creative process.”

“It’s a lot of fast moving visuals as well. So you get the interactive entertainment aspect, you get the visual aspect. It doesn’t move too fast, but it keeps your attention,” Sperry added.

Sperry’s own act “combines illusion and the bizarre with satirical macabre humor. (There) is non-stop mayhem set to an industrial musical score with razor blades, buzz saws, voodoo, blood and more,” according to a press release.

“I was really influenced by punk rock when I was a kid. My dad introduced me to Alfred Hitchcock movies and Universal Studios monsters like Frankenstein and Wolfman — watching all that stuff as a kid was a big influence on me,” Sperry said. “Like everybody, I started very basic and straightforward. Once I got into my early teens, I started kind of applying those influences in my magic instead of just, ‘Is that your card?'”

“I was wanting to recreate the emotions that I saw in movies. Whatever it might be to the audience, to help use that as an extra layer to enhance the performance presentation,” Sperry said.

From there, Sperry found a way to develop his own spin on traditional magic.

“I got into the real classical style guys and, like, the tuxedo and the white gloves and the elegant old school sleight-of-hand — that to me was cool. So it’s kind of taking that influence and mashing it with this counter punk rock, monster movies type influence,” Sperry said. “So that’s what I put together to start dabbling with when I got into really taking it seriously and wanting to try to make a career out of it.”

“Thankfully, Masters of Illusion has helped me make it possible, as well as the ticket buyers — for all of us to keep doing what we like to do,” Sperry said.

To purchase tickets for the Masters of Illusion Live! show, visit www.caclive.com.

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