We recently connected with Brandon & Hannah Wagster and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Brandon & Hannah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
In March we moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, a town we had never heard of until January. We had been planning for 2 years to open our own magic theatre, so we had sold our home, cashed out our 401Ks and were just waiting for the right opportunity in Myrtle Beach which is where we thought we would be the rest of our careers. At the beginning of the year we realized that town wouldn’t work and reached out to a friend who suggested we check out Virginia. We visited for the first time on Valentine’s weekend, moved 5 hours away from home with everything we owned on March 16th, worked 80 hours weeks for 3 months straight to get everything ready, and then opened the doors to the theatre on June 17th. It was the most tiring, craziest, rewarding thing we have ever done. We had no idea how a town that had never had a magic theatre would accept us but we thought it was a void that needed filled. It’s a great town for both locals and tourists and luckily all of them have been super supportive of our choice to move here. We had an incredible summer with lots of sold out shows, so it was a ginormous risk but it absolutely paid off and we love it here.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Brandon got into magic after receiving a magic kit on Christmas morning when he was 6 years old and was instantly hooked. He started performing paid shows at the age of 11 and decided to make it his full time career at 16. It was always his dream to own his own magic theatre and after seeing a magician perform in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee he realized that the ultimate goal would be to settle down in a tourist town. I on the other hand grew up hating magic but after meeting a cute magician who shall remain nameless the rest was history. Three months into dating, Brandon and his current assistants parted ways so I joined the team. And while originally it was magician and assistant, now it’s an equal partnership with two magicians in the show. Brandon set his sights on Myrtle Beach which didn’t have any other magic shows at the time as a place to build the show and we moved there in 2012. Two theatre runs and a pandemic later left us at a crossroads in 2020 when the world was shut down. The next step was finally time to open the theatre we had always dreamed of and couldn’t be more proud that it finally came to fruition this year. Dreams can come true if you put in the hard work!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Covid for sure. I don’t think entertainers have ever seen anything like the past two years where we were literally told “You are non-essential”. The entertainment industry suffered greatly and so many had to find new ways to completely change up their entertainment product or even get other jobs. While we were waiting for the theatre to open (even though we didn’t have the town right) besides just doing traveling shows we had to get some extra side jobs too for the first time. Performing was a big identity for a lot of us and we saw a lot of friends really struggle in their relationships and who they were as people. We did a lot of outdoor and traveling shows which was a big shift from the multi-million dollar theatre we had been performing in.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think something a lot of people don’t realize is how much we take reviews of our show to heart. Creating something that comes from within you that could be inspired by a happy or even sad moment of your life or just something that means a lot to you and then have someone tell you they didn’t like it hurts. It feels like a personal attack. We try not to read into everything of course but sometimes it’s hard. The same can be said with positive reviews though, we can’t just believe those either or we could certainly get inflated egos. But I do respond to every single review that we get whether it’s TripAdvisor, Google, Yelp, or Facebook. We put everything into these shows so we love when we hear that it translates onstage. The kind words mean so much!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.williamsburgmagic.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thewagstersmagic
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thewagstersmagic
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/wagstersmagic
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCS3SbPS_omuA1Usc8_cA3Lw
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/the-wagsters-magic-theatre-williamsburg-2