Vincent Damiri ‘23, Staff Writer
Halloween is right around the corner, students are beginning to get antsy with holiday fun, and what better to add to that than a magician giving us a show at our very own Alumnae Hall. As August ended and the new school year began, Immaculata thought it appropriate to hire a hypnotist to put on a show for the student body. Anyone who was at this show will tell you they had a good time, whether it was going on stage and becoming hypnotized, or just sitting in the crowd watching your friends as the hypnotist uses them to do skits and make everyone laugh.
Two months later, we’re receiving a similar visitor by the name of Ari Felber. Felber is a magician from the Philadelphia area who can amaze anyone that comes to a show of his. From his website, you can see Felber does all types of events from corporate gatherings, birthday parties, and anything else in need of a bewildering and entertaining time. He has also done events for popular businesses in our surrounding area such as Alex’s Lemonade Stand, Wawa, and many other popular places.
On October 27th, at 7:00 PM, Ari Felber came to answer all of our questions about his magical act. The evening was riddled with interesting tricks and unexplainable displays. Felber’s tricks are subtle and often head-scratching before his awe-inspiring reveal at the very end of each one. Not only was the audience bewildered at one moment, they could also be laughing hysterically the next. Felber’s gifts exceed magic as he often had the audience in the palm of his hand with his witty humor.
As magicians famously ask for assistance from the audience for their tricks, on the night of Felber’s act, one of my good friends was lucky enough to be picked. Andrew flipped to a random page in a book, looked at the top left corner, and Felber had to guess the word Andrew had seen. As magic is, I couldn’t explain to you what exactly happened with this trick, but to say the least, Andrew left the stage befuddled and the crowd retorted with roars of laughter. When I spoke with Andrew after the fact and explained what had happened and why the crowd was laughing, he was shocked. “I quite literally had my mind blown,” Andrew said to me on our walk back to the dorms.
Despite a smaller turnout than the hypnotist only two months prior, it’s safe to say another guest gave a great and entertaining performance to an audience of Immaculata students. Everyone I saw leave the auditorium did so with a big smile or a face of bewilderment, and there was plenty of laughing too. It’s clear to me that students always have a great time when we’re presented with an opportunity to be amazed or entertained. No matter the crowd size or the act, the students present can never seem to get enough of it.
