 |
Chicago Visions Preface |
Selected Quotes
Eugene Burger
Beginning, middle, and end is what gives the audience security and safety. And it gives them comprehension. They comprehend what is going on, and they understand it. And there is a nice build to it.
I’ve always thought that if I am going to do a show for someone, like a friend, and not get paid for it, the show is either going to be one trick long or three tricks long. The reason it is going to be three tricks is that the first trick will be the attention-getter, the second trick will be longer and explain a little bit about who Eugene is, and then after the second trick, I get to say, “And I have one more mystery to share with you.” And so I never lose the audience’s interest.
One of my students and I worked out a show that he was going to do for an event, and when he came to his lesson, I asked, “How did the show go?” and he said, “Not really well,” and I said, “What happened? He said, “I added a fourth trick.”
Well, you see, what happens when you add the fourth trick is people begin wondering, “How long is this going to last?” Whereas if I’ve done one trick that got your attention, one trick that kind of gives you a sense of me, and now I say, “And I have one more mystery to share with you,” you know this is not going to go on all night, and you only have to sit through one more trick if you are hating every moment of this, and therefore you don’t lose the audience’s interest.
— From Eugene Burger, Chicago Visions