Staff writer
Magician Shawn Reida, who has performed magic shows since he was 16, said seniors are his favorite audience.
The Wichita resident said he performed 200 magic shows for seniors before the COVID-19 pandemic, but business has slowed down since then. Bookings are picking up, though.
“This is not your standard magic,” Reida said.
He performed Thursday for 35 seniors at Homestead Senior Residences in Marion.
As the show began, he asked his audience if they wanted a short show or a long show.
Then he asked if they wanted the mild show or the wild show.
The long, wild show it was.
Reida performed live rabbit tricks, comedy tricks, mind reading tricks, light bulb tricks, and window tricks.
During the show, he got help from a 2-year-old assistant whose grandmother was part of the audience.
He also called audience members into the act, having them hold a rope threaded through a wooden cube that magically popped off the rope when they pulled the ends.
Another audience member waved Reida’s magic wand.
Seniors from Homestead’s atrium apartments, patio homes, and duplexes on Victory Lane gathered for a sandwich lunch and stayed to see the show.