As one of the first Lancer Productions events of the year, Derek Hughes, professional comedian and magician, wowed his audience on Saturday, Aug. 31 when he appeared at Jarman Auditorium.
To start off the night, Hughes showed a simple rope trick – simple compared to the rest at least. It was immediately apparent that the magician awed the majority of the roughly one hundred students that had attended. Hughes was very interactive with the crowd, keeping them laughing with his jokes and tricks that appealed very well to his college audience.
After showing the students the ropes, he moved on to elaborate card tricks, selecting two students to banter with during his next allusion. Freshman Anna Bultrowicz, and sophomore Jake Isquith were selected from the front row to take part in the card tricks. Bultrowicz was asked to write her name on a conventional playing card and then place it back in the deck. Hughes continued with jokes and banter as he shuffled the cards numerous times, playing with them in his hands and then skillfully reaching into his jacket pocket and revealing the signed card.
The audience could be heard gasping and whispering over the reveal so Hughes decided to prove his trick. He repeated the same process, with Bultrowicz still on stage, allowing her to do the trick just as he did. He still was able to pull the card from his pocket.
As Hughes continued his tricks, instrumental ambiance played in the background. He took a closed envelope out of a bag on stage and handed it to another student in the crowd, saying his “commitment” was sealed inside. He told her to hold on to the envelope until he would need it later.
Throughout the night, Hughes kept the mood going with an even amount of comedy and magic as he joked with the audience and even quipped with them when they would shout something out.
Next up, he brought sophomore Phillip Scruggs, to hold a bag with an “i” on it to symbolize imagination. Another bag was set across stage with “r” for reality. In a role-play type scenario, Hughes asked Scruggs to take out an imaginary deck of cards from the bag and proceeded to ask him to shuffle said deck and mentally choose a card from the pile. After Scruggs returned to his seat Hughes asked him to yell out the card he had chosen. Seemingly choosing a card on the spot, Scruggs called out his card. The magician made his way to the other bag and took out the actual deck of cards in it. After flipping through the deck he revealed the only card that had been flipped over in the pile Scruggs’ chosen card.
After Scruggs returned to his seat, Hughes asked him to yell out the card he had chosen.
Seemingly selecting a card on the spot, Scruggs called out his card. The magician made his way to the other bag and took out the actual deck of cards in it.
After flipping through the deck, he revealed the only card that had been flipped over in the pile – Scruggs’ chosen card.
Later in his act, Hughes was able to guess random words on books that were handed out to his audience including “Crime and Punishment,” “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare” and Dr. Seuss’ “One Fish,
Two Fish.” As if that didn’t impress the students already, he did the same thing with a dictionary.
At the end of the show, Hughes brought up a skeptic from the audience; Mary Beith, a freshman who admitted she did not completely believe what the magician was doing was real.
Hughes asked Beith to randomly choose a card. In response to her choice, he brought back up the envelope that concealed his “commitment” from earlier in the show. Inside the envelope was Beith’s card of choice.
For his finale, Hughes brought out a past newspaper from Minnesota. He tore up the paper and crumpled it up before undoing his destroyed work and revealing the paper as completely together and unscathed.
Even after his show, Hughes continued to wow his audience members, doing private tricks for smaller groups and answering numerous questions from skeptics, aspiring magicians and curious students.
He was very at ease with the questioning, admitting that some of his tricks were practically brand new to him. Some of his tricks take over a year and a half just to research and develop.
He admits to admiring Doug Henning, a magician from the 1970s and 1980s, from a young age.
During one of Henning’s shows, Hughes was called on stage for an illusion. After the show, he attended a magic camp that was “very precocious” and says that the camp was what sold it for him as far as his new passion.
Hughes, who currently lives in Los Angeles, came to Longwood University through the work of Lancer Productions adviser, Bryan Bristol. Junior Jeffrey Reason constructed the whole event with the help of junior Katie Vaughn.
“[The night] went spectacularly,” said Reason. “We had a great turn out of over 150 people and everyone seemed to have a great time.”
For more information on Derek Hughes and his magic tricks, or to contact him, please visit derekhughes.net.
Derek Hughes works to impress Longwood students with his clever tricks.
