Millikin’s Class of 2017 were amazed with First Week’s opening activity. Nate Staniforth astounded the incoming Freshmen with a series of very skilled illusions, which left them all sitting in Kirkland Fine Arts Center wondering how he did any of them in the first place.

Nate Staniforth, a magician, has had much success in his career. He has designed an illusion for famous magician David Blane and will be hosting a brand new show about magic on the Discovery Channel.

In Staniforth’s opening act, he had three volunteers from the audience choose a number from one to 10. Once each audience member said their number aloud, he pulled his hotel room key out of his wallet and on it were the three numbers the members of the audience had chosen.

His second act was much more suspenseful. Eight audience members were called to the stage to witness Staniforth swallow first a piece of thread, and then several sewing needles. The audience watched on the edge of their seats as Staniforth reproduced the same thread, this time with the sewing needles threaded.

The show continued with Staniforth having two more volunteers coming to the stage. The volunteers were asked to draw a picture on an index card and initial it. Then they clasped the card in their hands. He asked them to focus very hard on how the paper felt in their hands, and when he asked them to reveal their pictures, they had been swapped. The illusion left the audience and volunteers in shock.

Staniforth then introduced an illusion he claimed was for the skeptics in the room. First a volunteer was brought on stage and was given something to hold, she was told she was not allowed to look and to sit until he returned to her. Staniforth then borrowed a dollar from an audience member. He had the audience memorize the serial number and a few members were told to initial it. Once this was done, the dollar was torn in half and placed in an envelope.  Staniforth then tore up the envelope, and stated that the dollar was now in the hands of the audience member he first called to stage. The young woman unclasped her hands and there was the initialed dollar matching the torn corner from the first dollar.

After this act, Staniforth took a break from the show to display a video in which he depicted some of his smaller illusions performed at various colleges, including a few which were recorded around Millikin’s campus earlier in the day.

In his second to last illusion of the night, Staniforth had the Freshmen audience sign an index card, fold it and then place it in a hat.  An audience member was called on stage to draw a name at random. Once the name was drawn, Staniforth had several audience members stand and one by one he eliminated them until finally guessing the young woman’s name as Lonnie, when in reality it was Lannie, matching the card which was drawn earlier in the act. At the beginning of the illusion Staniforth stated, he wouldn’t nail the name down, but he would come very close, and close he did.

For his final act, five audience members were called to the stage, he asked them to close their eyes, and reconstruct the room, remember who they came with, and create what they couldn’t remember. He then asked them to see an orange sign at the back of the room and to imagine them walking to it until they could see a number on the poster. He told them they should see a number from 1 to 100. Staniforth began to dismiss the members from the stage until he was left with 1 person. He asked the person to open his eyes and tell him the number. The volunteer told Staniforth the number he saw was 71 . Staniforth then opened the sealed envelope revealing the number 71. Audience members were wowed as Staniforth closed up the show.

Nate Staniforth has a web series you can view at natestaniforth.com, and a Twitter account you can follow him at nate_staniforth. The show was an exciting night for Millikin’s Freshman class and anyone else who had the privilege of seeing the show. It was a great way to welcome the new students and kick off the 2013-2014 school year.