Dennis' Deliberations

Life always provides surprises and challenges and this Summer was no different. It is always a challenge to keep an income coming in during the Summer months because a major income source for me is teaching in colleges and public school. Early this Summer the choices that appeared to open for me ( with a Masters Degree) seemed to be bagging groceries at Publix or slinging fried bean paste at Taco Bell. Fortunately, I did find some work playing camera man for some industrial training videos.

But the big project for the Summer was helping illusionist Mark O'Brien stage his novel magic-drama stage show, "Walking Through Fires" at the Atlantic Theater
in Jacksonville. Photos from the stage show can be seen on line at http://www.fmptajax.org/EventPhotos/WalkingThroughFire.htm

To refresh your memory a bit about Mark O'Brien: He appeared as the closing illusion act at our Ring Banquet a couple of years. Mark is in his mid 40s and has been around the show-business block a few times. He was a frequent performer during the late 80s and early 90s on Nickelodeon Network productions taped here in town when they were doing production, he has done cruise ships, did a season at Busch Gardens in Tampa in the Stanleyville Theater and was two seasons at Fort Fun in Germany.

An extensive listing of his career can be seen at http://markobrienproductions.com/
Mark was on the fast track to establishing a solid and stable career as a mid-tier illusionist.

Then in the Summer of 1999 as he was negotiating for his business plan for a magic theater on International Drive to come to flower, two large storage buildings on the back of his 3 acre property in North Orlando , filled with almost a half-million dollars of uninsured illusion props, caught fire. They were heavily damaged. The fire marshal could not find any obvious unintentional ignition source and declared the fire "suspicious". It appeared that the sheds were intentionally torched. Unbelievably just one week later, both sheds again caught fire and were totally destroyed.
In spite of evidence that suggested that the fires were intentionally set, the case was not exhaustively investigated by fire officials. At this point the story gets downright spooky! O'Brien hired 2 private investigators and they uncovered a lot oof seeming linkages between O'Brien's Orlando business rivals and the only individuals that knew that O'Brien had his props stored at his home compound. As the investigation was coming to a high point, O'Brien's private investigators were arrested for impersonating police officers and the FBI. Events around the arrest were not clear.

The whole of the events surrounding the fires and the private investigator's arrest ended without O'Brien ever clear on who, why and how he was burned out.
O'Brien was convinced he was burned out by show business enemies and competitors. Other remote possibilities included neighbors angry that he had his leopard housed on his property and young neighborhood vandals.

As a result of the fires, O'Brien's career was stalled just at the time the country was headed for the early 2000 Hi-Tech economic downturn and the trauma of the 9-11 terrorism. He recovered some of his momentum and continued to perform but began devoting more time to profitable business efforts outside of performing illusions. He did a stint as a successful Trade Show coordinator. He also became a successful licensed professional private eye doing arson and insurance fraud cases.

The Jacksonville production was a part of the fulfillment of Mark O'Brien's goal to get his bizarre story and the resulting injustice into a film. The feature film will include several sequences from his "Walking through Fires" stage show. So, to get those sequences, O'Brien created the theatrical play with illusions and magic built into it.
"Walking Through Fires" is set as a trial in a courtroom. The judge sits elevated behind her bench on the right side of the stage. Large gear cogs suggest the "wheels of justice". O'Brien is the plaintiff and is suing the system for failing him in its investigation and handling of the fires. The system is defended by Samuel Stone, a defender of the system who is annoyed at O'Brien for pointing out the failures of the system. O'Brien's personal attorney is "Justine Justice" a bubbly prosecutor standing up for O'Brien.

The show opens with O'Brien being produced from a wooden crate that explodes after being wheeled around and shown empty. You may recall this illusion from the Ring banquet show two years ago. There is a transition and we find that O'Brien is actually performing for the court. Extended courtroom dialogue then explains the charges that O'Brien is bringing to the court against the "system". Mark also included some interesting video clips to explain the story line. Small magic that is woven into the storyline includes the Cups and balls, Cardographic, Anderson's Newspaper Tear and Perfect Time. Act one ends with O'Brien laying on a psychiatrist's couch and being covered and levitated and vanished in classic Asrah fashion.

The second act opens with a video montage of Mark O'Brien performing on Nickelodeon TV and other important trade show and cruise ship venues. He then performs live the Metamorphosis in a fast 1970s Doug Henning style. The courtroom drama continues and is broken by video montages and a novel sequence that features a very artistic version of The Artist's Dream and O'Brien's original creation, "The Split Image". Jim Steinmeyer gave honor to Mark's "Split Image" in the manuscript to "Modern Art". When O'Brien is remembered in the magic world, he will be forever linked with his clever "Split Image". The effect is similar to "Modern Art" but much more complex and baffling. The doors are opened on the front and back of each cabinet section and it is obvious that the assistant is not in a Zig-Zag or Modern Art type twisting position.

The finale to the show is a scene where Mark's attorney, Justine Justice, is tied into a DeKolta Chair and O'Brien is chained in a coffin-like box by the defense attorney, Samuel Stone and two giant twin buzz saw blades cut into the box. Mark does a double exchange with Stone and Justine Justice disappears from the DeKolta Chair.

The show did a fairly good box office considering the remote beach location of the theater and the limited advertising budget. This show has been in the works since last Summer and I worked all of the weekends during May,June and most of the last half of July on the show. There were a total of 3 big truck trips taking and bringing back equipment from Orlando to Jacksonville.

I built the Asrah, the DeKolta Chair and helped cut two traps in the stage for the DeKolta and Buzz Saw. I was O'Brien's illusion technician.

In the end it was a lot of work, frustration and effort but I feel that considering the budget, the circumstances and situation the effort was worth it. For me it was a positive learning experience. From the audience viewpoint, I could tell that not everyone who saw the show understood what they were seeing! It was a unique stage drama with magic built into the storyline. This type of hybrid art form would have probably been better appreciated in a cultural area like the Northeast United States rather than Jacksonville.

This story is not finished...Mark O'Brien continues to refine his ideas and work on his film. In spite of all his setbacks, Mark O'Brien is still in the game.
I will keep you posted!

Dennis Phillips