Back to School - A Conversation with Dean Larry Hass

The number one question I get since going public with my return to magic is, “How’s the magic going?”  That’s a complicated question to answer, too complicated for casual conversation, really. I tend to fall back on, “It’s coming along.”  That’s enough for most people, who then smile, nod, and move on to how (insert miserable condition) the weather is.

If I gave them the complicated answer, they would be forced to endure hours of backstory, references they don’t care about, and possible tears.  Actually, that’s an exaggeration - it wouldn’t be hours…

Somewhere in the middle is the truth of my journey, and the one word that sums it up the best is “Learning.”  It really has been like going back to school part-time. I am, of course, learning the pieces that I include in my acts, but there’s much more to it than just “learning a few tricks.”  There’s script-writing, acting, movement, stagecraft - the list seems endless, but all equally important.

One of the “classes” I’ve been getting a lot of value out of could be called Contemporary History.  Discovering the roads other magicians have taken has given me both perspective & new directions to take with my own work.  The lessons are simple - I just bombard every magician I meet with as many questions as they’ll answer before remembering that they have an urgent haircut appointment.  Experience is a great teacher, even if they’re the experiences of others.

One of the many instructors I’ve sought out really is a teacher, a Dean in fact.  Lawrence Hass, Ph.D., is the Dean of the McBride Magic & Mystery School. Larry’s bio on the Magic & Mystery School website describes him this way:

Larry creates magic shows that mix astonishing, artistic magic with ideas that lift the spirit. He performs at theaters, nightclubs, universities, art museums, private parties, medical schools, public conferences, and corporate events all across America and internationally. He performs regularly in Las Vegas and at the world-famous Magic Castle.

Dr. Hass has also won multiple awards both as a writer and an inspirational teacher of magic. He is the author or co-author of several internationally best-selling books for magicians, including Inspirations: Performing Magic with Excellence (2015) and Transformations: Creating Magic Out of Tricks (2007).

Larry Hass’s visionary approach to magic has been featured in leading international media, including the New York Times, USAToday, The Chronicle of Higher Education, by the Associated Press, National Public Radio, on the Discovery Channel, and in his recent TEDx Talk.

On a personal level, I met Dean Hass during Magic & Meaning a couple of years ago - the weekend he officially became Dean, in fact.  Like many of the magicians I met that weekend, I was a lot intimidated by Larry, but he couldn’t have been more welcoming and friendly when we met.  Since that time we’ve written infrequently, and he has never failed to answer my questions, no matter how silly or trivial (as you might imagine, many of mine are both).  When I asked him the following questions about his background, he graciously (and quickly) replied, even though he was in the middle of about, 47 other things that week. Yes, I think it was a slow week for him…

TR:  So let’s start with the basics… where were you born?   Was magic an early interest?

LH:  I was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  Growing up, I had only momentary, passing interest in magic:  my deepest interests as a kid were comic books and music. I am sure that I saw some magician as a boy, but I don't really remember it. (I have some vague recollection of seeing a rag-tag act at the County Fair.). As a teenager I do remember seeing a Doug Henning TV special, and I remember his performance of "The Vanishing Nickel." I like that, but again, none of it was especially "hooky" for me.

TR:  So when did the magic bug bite you?  

LH:  I first really "woke up" to magic in 1994 after I had finished my PH.D. in philosophy and began my first job as an assistant professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  After seeing a David Copperfield special that year, that summer my wife and kids and I were staying in Chicago. That is where and when I had the great fortune of being turned on to Eugene Burger's writings, and shortly thereafter I met Eugene and we quickly became friends.  (Yes, that is me and my wife Marjorie sitting next to Eugene in his Gourmet Close-Up Magic video filmed in late 1994 and released in 1995.)

TR:  Coming from an academic background, I suspect you transitioned from “the trick of the month club” to more serious study rather quickly.  

LH:  At first in the summer of 1994 I was buying tricks and videos, but pretty quickly I figured out that books were an essential resource.  Eugene's books were very important, especially Intimate Power and The Experience of Magic, but I also was reading all of Dai Vernon's books, as well as the English translations of Juan Tamariz.  In fact, I was reading pretty much all the magic books of the time--something a professor loved to do. Beat the heck out of reading Kant!

TR:  Did you actually begin performing then as well?

LH:  I started performing magic almost immediately in 1994.  Even though I was, at the time, an academic scholar, my deepest interests lay in learning how to perform magic.  So I really dug into that and started performing at first for family and friends. When that wasn't enough, I volunteered at one of the local hospitals and started doing weekly visits to patient rooms--something I did every week for over three years.  Meanwhile, as people in my campus community learned about my interests I started receiving many invitations and bookings to perform. I knew that the only way to become a performer was by actually performing and learning from every show, so I took every gig I could get and create.

TR:  It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when you weren’t part of the Magic & Mystery School?  How did the transition from college professor to Dean of M&M come about?

LH:  In 1999 I started a program at my college called The Theory and Art of Magic Program.  This program, which ran from 1999-2009, brought the world's greatest stars of magic to campus to perform their art but also to give talks about the nature of magic as a human phenomenon and a performing art.  Over the years of this program I featured dozens of magic's leading lights, people such as Teller, Juan Tamariz, Jeff McBride, Rene Lavand, Max Maven, Eugene Burger, David Blaine, and many others. Because the program was so unique and received extensive national and international press coverage, I became fairly well-known as a philosopher of magic and as a performer.  As a result I was invited to be one of the guests of honor of the very last Mystery School in 2003. After that I stayed closely connected with the Magic & Mystery School, being a guest of honor at the 2007 Magic and Meaning Conference, joining the faculty in 2008, becoming the Associate Dean in 2010, and now the Dean last year (2017). Throughout all those years, I have taught many, many classes in Las Vegas, made many shows with Jeff and Eugene, and been involved in the daily work and planning of the Magic & Mystery School.

TR:  You juggle many things other than magic… how do you find a balance/time to practice?

LH:  Well, actually, I USED to juggle many things.  In 2010, as I became the Associate Dean of the Magic & Mystery School, I retired from college teaching and scholarship and became a full-time magician.  What I am juggling these days are all the "balls" required to have a successful career in magic show business, for example, booking and delivering shows to real-world clients, teaching magic students in person and through Skype, working on behalf of the School, writing essays, articles, and books for magicians, and running Theory and Art of Magic Press, of which I am the Founder and Publisher.  So I guess I AM juggling a lot but it is all magic related. However, to answer your question: as a professional performer I am warming up, practicing, and rehearsal material "just about every day." Typically, those things come first and all the other activities are made to fit around that.

TR: What do you love about magic?

LH:  Well, this is a huge question and I could answer it for pages and pages.  One thing I will say is that magic requires and allows me to use my entire self--mind, spirit, creativity, and body--in the service of an art form that makes people feel great.  It is my calling, so it is a deep pleasure to be "answering the call."

TR:  If you think that’s a big question, try this on… what is magic?

LH:  I actually have a TEDx Talk that covers my working definition of magic, titled "What Is the Art of Magic?"  I recommend this for anyone who wants to really dig in to my views about it. But briefly and without any discussion, here is my view:  "Magic is a performing art that creates the experience of impossible things, thereby generating energy, delight, wonder, and the unique frisson of mystery."

TR:  Spoken as only a serious scholar who is passionate about his craft could!  Thank you for your insights - it feels like we just scraped the surface here!

LH:  Every word of this is intentional and feels important to me, and there is a lot we could unpack . . . and perhaps some time we will!