Joining the ranks of 180 years of entertainers...

Last Friday evening I had the privilege of performing for the Littleton Lyceum in Massachusetts. What made this special for me was the fact that this Lyceum has been in existance since 1829. For those that do not know what a lyceum is; Wikipedia defines it as a "public hall used for social events". *Founded in 1829 when Littleton, MA was a rural farming community, the Littleton Lyceum is the oldest continuous lyceum in the country. Rooted in the past, with an eye to the future, the Littleton Lyceum adds to the quality of life of each and every citizen. With the financial support of regular subscribers, two endowments and many local businesses, the Lyceum brings affordable, enlightened entertainment to the residents of Littleton and surrounding towns. Although this show was performed in the high school auditorium, it did not detract from the notion of what history was taking place. Not that my act itself was historic but I was honored to continue the tradition.

What made this show memorable was the vast age difference of the volunteers, 12 years old was probably the youngest and a gentleman in his 60s was the oldest. (I hope I did not insult him with this guesstimate of his age. He could have been a little younger or a little older). Anyway I would like to thank all those that came out and watched, laughed and/or participated.

On a side note, being that I enjoy history, I was wondering what different type of acts over the last 180 years was hired to perform for the lyceum. I know there have been singing and dancing acts, poetry reading, lecturers and many type of variety acts and I am aware of other hypnotists, but coming from a background as a magician, I am curious to research what famous magicians performed for Littleton residents. I am very sure that during the early 1900's magicians such as Howard Thurston and Harry Houdini toured regularly on the lyceum circuit. I will research through magic history to find out.

To find out more about the Littleton Lyceum please visit their website at http://www.littletonlyceum.org/ and tell them Steve Wronker sent you.

The coming months of May and June have shaped up to be the busiest May and June in my 22 years of performing. May is a great month because it is the beginning of the all-night prom shows, campgrounds shows, senior week performances and at the end of the month the kick-off for the high school all night graduation parties. It's a really crazy schedule with some senior week shows starting at 8:30 AM and the graduation parties (a few nights 3 shows) starting at 11:00PM, 1:00AM and 3:00 AM. Yes you read that right, performances throughout the night. As each year passes and I get another year older, these shows are still as fun as when I started doing them in 1988. The only thing that gets to me is the drive. Some shows are a 3 hour drive each way. I do a lot of napping in my car. But boy do I love May and June.

I think I'll take a short nap now for practise... so until next week,

See ya !

*taken for the Littleton Lyceum website