Masters of Illusion Program

CONTENTS Theater Staff.......................................................................................................... 2 Whitney Morse on The Sharon® L. Morse Performing Arts Center........................ 3 About.................................................................................................................... 4 Biographies........................................................................................................5-8 Coming Soon...................................................................................................9-11

STAFF Director of Operations................................................................... Jason Goedken Artistic Director.............................................................................Whitney Morse Technical Director..................................................................... Kenneth Constant Production Manager..............................................................................Jon Cronin Booking Coordinator & Administrator....................................Elizabeth Constant Executive Administrator.................................................................... Sean Graham Lighting Director..............................................................................David Krupla Assistant Lighting Director.............................................................. Lindsey Young Artist Liaison/Hospitality Management........................................... Leslie Munson Cassandra Francois Audio/Visual.........................................................................................Luke Bezio Sound/AV Designer.........................................................................Nick Erickson House Manager...................................................................................Heather Ard Director of Ticketing & Customer Relations............................... Yasmeen Stogden Promotion & Marketing...................................... The Villages Sales & Marketing Ad Sales.........................................................................The Villages Media Group

GIFT CARDS

Available

Purchase at any of The Villages® box office locations. ©2021 The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center.

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www.TheSharon.com

WHITNEY MORSE on

The Sharon L. Morse ®

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Dear Patron of the Arts

,

Welcome to The Sharon® L. Morse Performing Arts Center!

We are so grateful to re-open our doors after such a trying season. We invite you back to view the national and international performing art tours we host here for your entertainment.

Much like the building’s namesake, my grandmother, Sharon L. Morse, we love all varieties of the performing arts here. It is in her memory that I, along with my amazing team of artists and arts administrators, strive to bring many different types of the highest quality entertainment here to The Sharon.

Since opening in 2015, we hope we have established a relationship of trust; that any show at The Sharon will be a show worth seeing. Perhaps you find yourself here today to see a concert of one of your favorite musicians, or to take in the national tour of a Broadway show. Either way, we encourage you to consider trying out a new show that perhaps you haven’t heard of before, knowing that it has been intentionally curated by our team.

We welcome you to The Sharon: a place for you to see an old favorite, but also a place to discover your new favorite. I sincerely hope you enjoy the show today, and I look forward to seeing you here again soon!

Whitney Morse

See You at The Sharon,

Artistic Director

352-751-7799

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ABOUT Masters of Illusion, the hit CW television series and America's largest touring magic show is coming to The Sharon.

Only the best, most unique, amusing, astounding and amazing performers have been chosen to perform in Masters of Illusion. Master of Illusion is a huge stage phenomenon born from the multi-award winning television series Masters of Illusion, which is heading into its 9th season on the CW in 2022.

Starring the world’s greatest award-winning magicians, this 21st century magic show is unlike anything you have seen before – filled with modern illusions and arts of deception, performed live on stage.

Watch closely as you experience things that just can’t be done… or can they?

Audiences will be held at the edge of their seats by the jaw-dropping grand illusions, and laugh out loud at the hysterical comedy magic as performers from around the world combine fantasy, fervor and flair with magic created in front of their very eyes.

Masters of Illusion has performed live in front of tens of thousands of people around the US for the past seven years and been seen by over 100 million viewers on the CW network as well as in 126 countries around the world.

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BIOGRAPHIES MICHAEL TURCO Michael Turco fell in love with the mystery of magic when he was just 5 years old.

Spending his summers just miles from the strip in Atlantic City, he saw every magic show in the area and was intent to master each trick and illusion on his own.

It was not long until he had his own acclaimed show, Wonder, premiering at Bally’s in Atlantic City and he has been performing at the highest level ever since.

Turco made his national television debut in 2011 on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and since then has been featured on Entertainment Tonight, Hallmark Channel’s Home and Family, The CW’s Hollywood Christmas Parade, REELZ’s Extreme Escapes, Pop TV’s Don’t Blink, the international series La Grande Magia, and more.

Outside of television, Turco headlined his own show at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, where he brought a little bit of Jersey flare to the strip. He created new illusions specifically for that stage and collaborated with Dancing with the Stars pro Lacey Schwimmer to bring cutting edge choreography to the show, setting the bar high for the type of experience fans have come to love.

The press describes him as “a natural born talent… a true success story,” and he does not plan on stopping any time soon. He can currently be seen in the live tour of Masters of Illusion, the international stage show, which he has been apart of for 8 years. Likewise, he has been a featured performer on the CW’s television version of show, now going into its eighth season. When he’s not touring, Turco and his team produce a series of shows for theme parks across the US. Almost four years ago, he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and is currently working with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on bringing awareness and fundraising for a cure. Michael is a Member of the Society of American Magicians, International Brotherhood of Magicians and acclaimed Academy of Magical Arts. He is also a Goodwill Ambassador for Distressed Children and Infants International.

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BIOGRAPHIES JONATHAN PENDRAGON Jonathan Pendragon has performed at three Presidential Galas in Washington D.C., for the Queen of England, the Prince of Wales and the Royal Family of Monaco.

He is the youngest performer to ever receive a Performing Fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts (the governing body of the Magic Castle). He is the Grand Master of Grand Illusion: Jonathan Pendragon.

At the turn of the millennium, MAGIC magazine created a list of the 100 most influential people in the history of 20th Century magic. The list included Harry Houdini as well as more contemporary artists. Jonathan was one of only a handful of current performers named. David Copperfield said that “When the history of magic is written, Jonathan Pendragon will be remembered as one of its most creative performers.”

Siegfried (of Siegfried and Roy) declared him a “Genius!” International magicians from Hans Klok to Criss Angel have identified Jonathan as one of their greatest influences.

Jonathan is a graduate of the University of California at Irvine with a degree in Theater, and it was there that he began to develop his trademark highly-physical performance style. Immediately following graduation, he found work in the film industry as both an actor and a stuntman. Jonathan’s gift for Illusion put him both in front of and behind the camera. Creating the famous “back handsprings down the church aisle” scene in THE BLUES BROTHERS, Jonathan worked with director John Landis and actor John Belushi to create the illusion that it was actually Belushi doing the tumbling. He worked several years for CIRCUS OF THE STARS, teaching and performing with actors like William Shatner.

Beginning in the early 80s, Jonathan began to develop a wholly unique form of magic, “Physical Grand Illusion.” This style of Illusion put the emphasis on the physical performance instead of the prop. At a time when magician after magician presented larger and larger illusions on television, some of which were elaborate camera tricks, Jonathan wowed international audiences with illusions based on years of physical training, including dance, gymnastics, and martial arts.

He created The Pendragons, an illusion team who were as spectacular in their appearance and movement as anything they presented. Metamorphosis, their most famous illusion, involved a split-second transposition that would have fooled Houdini (the illusion’s inventor), according to the 2005 50th Anniversary Edition of the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS. Many of today’s most popular illusions were invented by Jonathan Pendragon: including Clearly Impossible, the most deceptive “sawing a woman in half ” 6

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BIOGRAPHIES illusion ever invented, and the Fire Cage, the most popular assistant production in the world. He created and staged the opening illusion for Norman Jewison’s film BOGUS, and designed effects presented by the most famous names in magic.

Jonathan Pendragon’s work in the field of magic has encompassed everything from street magic to the largest illusion ever presented on stage (vanishing 25 showgirls for the TV special WORLD’S GREATEST MAGIC). He has written books on the philosophy of the art, and lectured internationally. He was twice named Magician of the Year by the Academy of Magical Arts, and has won the Grand Prix de Magique de Monte Carlo. The World Magic Awards has twice named him Best Illusionist and, in 2000, Magician of the Year.

Jonathan appeared in at least 14 prime time network television specials in the United States, and starred in the most elaborate magic special ever filmed: DISNEY’S NIGHT OF MAGIC, shot in Disneyland Paris. He has performed on television in approximately 50 countries around the world, and graced the stages of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, the Palladium in London, the Olympia in Paris, the Wintergarten in Berlin, the Theater an der Wein in Vienna, the Toledo Opera in Spain, the Beijing Opera House in China, and the Music Hall in Cincinnati, where he created an evening of illusion presented in front of a symphony orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel (a performance which was repeated at the Detroit Opera House). He gave a special performance at the foot of Mt. Fuji, in Japan, which was broadcast all over the country. Recently he appears regularly on three different magic television series, showcasing his versatility and skill in multiple styles: MASTERS OF ILLUSION on the CW network, DON’T BLINK on the Pop Channel, and EXTREME ESCAPES, on Reelz. Since January 2014 he has been a regular bi-monthly columnist for Genii Magazine.

Today Jonathan Pendragon is revered in the art of Grand Illusion. He continues to travel the world, often touring with MASTERS OF ILLUSION LIVE, creating new magic as well as performing many of his classic effects, his performances garnering praise from a wide spectrum of luminaries outside of the magic world, including Stephen Hawking, Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, and Neil Gaiman (who described him as a “magical person”). Once Ray Bradbury, after witnessing a performance by Jonathan, exclaimed “Remarkable!” Jonathan has transcended the line between art and life, between illusion and reality. When asked by USA TODAY how he wished to be remembered, Jonathan replied “As a myth.”

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BIOGRAPHIES DAN SPERRY Shock Illusionist Dan Sperry: The Anti-Conjuror is hailed as the most popular and in-demand illusionist of this generation.

As a result of his jaw-dropping performances on multiple record-breaking international tours, numerous network television appearances and some of the most underground viral videos to ever plague the Internet, his legion of hundreds of thousands of dedicated fans span world-wide.

Combining the art of magic with the macabre, his totally unique and edgy illusions initially capture the imagination of crowds across the globe. But it is his unhinged, shockingly eccentric humor and audience interaction that makes his live show a truly unique experience that has been dubbed, “Totally icky, yet totally awesome”, “…Left me laughing to tears. The cynical Alice Cooper of Magic”, and one that “Has audiences laughing and shuddering in equal measure”.

From receiving numerous awards and honors for his performances such as “Most Original Magic” and “Most Cutting-Edge Mgaic” to sky-rocketing ratings on America’s Got Talent, Germany’s hit series Das SuperTalent, The Today Show, TLC’s Cake Boss, Penn & Teller Fool Us, Masters of Illusion and more to selling out countless performance venues around the world, Dan Sperry presents a magic show for people who love magic shows but an even better show for people who hate magic shows.

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COMING SOON

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COMING SOON

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COMING SOON

UP VIEW APRIL 14 • 7PM • $35 AND | $20 LIMITED

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Shhh...

only for The Sharon® ticket holders!

Show your ticket stub* from The Sharon at these participating restaurants & order from an exclusive

Secret Drink Menu!

1045 Old Camp Rd, The Villages 352-750-6000

2738 Brownwood Blvd, The Villages 352-571-5344

1542 Water Tower Cir, The Villages 352-751-4501

*Ticket stub must be from a show in the last six months. It may be shown digitally or printed.

No. 6

By T.J. Young

Can we weather the unknown together?

Surprisingly humorous, this unit-set drama puts everything in perspective; who are our neighbors when it feels like the end of the world?

2017 Harold & Mimi Steinberg Award Winner – KCACTF

MAR 29TH - APR 30TH

ON SALE NOW!

“No. 6” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

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#TheStudioTheatreTDS 352-751-7799 | 806 San Marino Drive, The Villages, FL 32159

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Neighbor’s daughter’s name.

G R E Y M AT T E R

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