SZELES-Stage Hypnotist IAFE

A magazine for and about Stage Hypnosis. ©

James Szeles
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Grad Night Shows

For many of us May and June are the times we perform at Grad Night parities at High Schools. They are fun and easy shows to do, the only drawback being many times the shows start as late as 4:00am. One of the things I'm seeing is the new high schools are not organized. This year I worked with two new schools, both schools have been open for less than a year, had their first grad night and both schools were not prepared. One school had no sound system at all, and the second school had to call the caretaker to set up the sound system at 3:30am!

One school wanted to do the show outside, which is fine if you live in a warm climate. In Northern California it gets cold at night, even as late as July. I informed them of that and I was glad I did. The night of the show was very cold. I have gotten a few shows because the previous hypnotist the year before did something wrong. One of the shows I got was from a hypnotist who swore at the kids and still another show because the hypnotist was "hitting up" on one of the parents.

Sometimes the shows are in the gym with a lot of other events going on around you. The kid's at the shows can be very rowdy and boisterous and you need to take control from the start. It can be a challenge to get the noise down and take control of the room, you have to be firm and make it clear that the quality of the show depends on how quiet they can keep it during the induction.

Email: szeles@szeles.com