When you’ve got an audience of only 30 people, you can actually see the close-up magic, well, up close, and this allows for a much deeper connection between the performer and the crowd. In part three of our five-part interview, Aaron Rabkin explains the benefits of performing in a smaller venue like Trickery, how he uses the energy from the audience to enhance his own performance, and describes what an audience can expect when coming to his show.

For more from our visit to the magic destinations of Chicago, check out our video interviews with Mark Toland, Dennis Watkins, and Nick Roy, and our Magic Anywhere special, focusing on the unique, hands-on approach to Chicago-style magic.

Aaron Rabkin loves theater, but as a young performer, he also knows how hard it is to get a tech-savvy generation raised on instant video streaming to come out and see a play. That’s why he built Trickery, an intimate venue in the heart of Chicago that he hopes will be a gateway drug for people, not just to magic, but for live performance as a whole. In the second part of our five-part interview, Rabkin talks about crafting a unique show to get people interested in magic, what he thinks does (or doesn’t) define Chicago magic, and the origin story of Hoppy, the Psychic Wonder Bunny.

For more from our visit to the magic destinations of Chicago, check out our video interviews with Mark Toland, Dennis Watkins, and Nick Roy, and our Magic Anywhere special, focusing on the unique, hands-on approach to Chicago-style magic.

It’s a bit strange to hear Aaron Rabkin, magician and owner of the Chicago venue Trickery, say he hates magic – but it’s not without reason. For Rabkin, magic is about impressing and entertaining his patrons, many of whom are laypeople, not other magicians. It doesn’t matter if he’s performing standards or the most technically complex trick he knows, as long as the end result leaves his audience satisfied. In part one of our five-part interview with Rabkin, he talks about what excites him about magic, what he tries to accomplish at Trickery, and how Fool Us has helped foster a wider appreciation of magic.

For more from our visit to the magic destinations of Chicago, check out our video interviews with Mark Toland, Dennis Watkins, and Nick Roy, and our Magic Anywhere special, focusing on the unique, hands-on approach to Chicago-style magic.

Following a spin through Charlotte, North Carolina, our Magic Everywhere video series hopped a plane and an El train to explore Chicago, Illinois. After visiting four of the Windy City’s magic clubs and chatting with several top performers around town, we’ve got a good picture of what Chicago-style magic looks like.

Hint: it all starts with booze.

Chicago has a rich history of good times and good entertainment, and was an early home of bar magic. As you’d expect with that lineage, the resulting style of close-up magic now practiced by many of the locals is brash and high-energy. It also usually favors lots of participation from the audience, whether they’ve had many drinks or none. With both sides ready to dish out the sass, you can expect a very good time in any of Chicago’s latest crop of magic venues.