Children's Museum Contract Renewed

Good news. I was just getting a little sad that the shows at the Portland Children's Museum were ending, but I got an e-mail this morning asking me to extend the run for four more months. This will be great because it will give me more time to polish this show. I may even expand into a larger-scale illusion. One thing I do want to set as a goal, however, is to set up a "through-playing" soundtrack for the show. It has been very awkward to start and stop my own music for the show and having a timed soundtrack would work very well.

Newspaper Article

Two weeks ago I sent out a batch of press releases to all the local papers in the area. I got one printing in the Hillsboro Argus. I was on the inside of their Arts and Entertainment section. Just to keep things in perspective, the front page featured a picture of a dog wearing pink goggles and a hat.

Here is a copy of what was printed:

Hillsboro magician sets kids' museum shows
Friday, July 28, 2006

Hillsboro magician Richard Green will share his magic with children every weekend in August at the Portland Children's Musuem.

"Magic is very important to the perspective of young children," says Green. "Your imagination rules and everything is magic. It is my dream to remind children that their imaginations are important - that those magical things that happen in their dreams are as important and valuable as anything that may happen to them in their day-to-day lives."
Green has performed magic for nearly 40 years and gave his first performance at age 5. Since then has performed thousands of times in places from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco and now in Portland.

Early in 2006, Green formed Small Miracles Entertainment, a company dedicated to supplying family-friendly entertainment in the Portland Metro area. He presented "The Theater of Wonder" at the museum's 57th birthday event.

Green will perform Saturdays in August at 10 a.m. and noon in the Imagination Theater. The show is included with admission to the Portland Children's Museum. For information, contact the museum, 503-223-6500 or www.portlandcm.org. To contact Green and Small Miracles Entertainment, call 503-888-8827 or www.smallmiraclesentertainment.com/.

Update and next step

It's been awhile since I've posted here, but that is because I've been busy working, so that's a good thing. Here's what's been happening:

I was able to work things out with the Portland Children's Museum and am appearing there every Saturday through the end of August. I do two shows a day (10am and 12pm) and they have been very popular. The theater fills up every time.

I've gotten the show pretty well set now, though I did have some trouble getting some of the props I needed. Now it is just a matter of honing everything to be fast paced and surprising.

I've been sending out a lot of press releases about this show, but haven't had a lot of luck getting into print. A new batch went out today and hopefully, I'll get something from them. I highlighted the fact that I am from a particular Portland suburb.

I've also designed some marketing material (postcards, flyers and such) for the birthday shows. I've been getting a few bookings from them, but things have been a little slow.

My next step is to start finalizing the comedy show. I have a performance on August 19th where I will premire it. I want it rehearsed to be very fast paced and wacky. It is a little more high-energy than I am used to, but since I look pretty slow and thoughtful, the hecticness of the character could be very funny.

Children's Museum Sucess

The shows at the Children's Museum were a huge success. When I arrived, I was worried. The museum did not seem very busy and the puppeteer who had the theater before me only had a few very young children in her show. To make things worse, about 10 minutes before the first show, I tripped over the power chord to my stereo and it crashed to the floor, breaking into pieces! For a while I thought I would have no sound for the show which meant that three of my routines couldn't be done, but at the last minute I was able to get the music started again and was ready to work.

The first show filled up quickly and the audience was very enthusiastic. I ran a little long and then offered to make balloon animals for any of the kids who may want one. Every kid did and I barely was able to set up for the second show. I had the doors to the theater closed and spend about 5 minutes getting set up. When the doors were opened there was a long line waiting to get in and we had to make extra seating space to fit everyone in. The second show went very well and afterwards I was again mobbed to answer questions and make balloon animals.

The third show was exactly the same. I was told aftert he shows that this was the most popular show they ever had in the theater and hoped I would perform again at another time. Since my intention is to have a permenant place to perform, I think these shows were very helpful.

Patent Book Almost Finished

I finally finished the work on the Patent book for Lybrary.com. Hopefully this will be available soon. The whole project started out as a little research project and ended up taking 2-years. It has lots of cools stuff, however, so I can't wait to see the finished product. The whole book has about 2500 pages. Here's the cover:

Show this weekend

I did a fund-raising party for the Lance Armstrong LiveStrong fund on Saturday. I did my standard show, but added a couple of kid's pieces in anticipation of the Children's Museum this weekend. I also spent some time making balloon animals for the kids. (This is new stuff to me and was the first time I did it at a party. I told the first kid that I could make a dog, a sword, a flower or a funny hat. He wanted an aligator! When I told him I didn't know how to make one, her asked for two inflated balloons and he would make his own. He never did make an aligator, but he did have fun with those two balloons for quite a while.)

The show went pretty well and I got quite a few laughs, but I still don't feel like I'm giving a complete show. The structure doesn't build to a climax. This is something I need to work on.

The shows this weekend will only be about 25 minutes each, so I will try to give the set a definite structure if for no other reason than to boost my confidence.

Schedule Set

I just finalized the agreement with the Children's Museum. I will perform 3 shows in the Imagination Theater at 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30. The shows will be 20 minutes with a Q&A time after each. I will also be able to promote my business with my own materials at each show. This should be a good opportunity. I'll post some pictures when it's over.