Marty Hahne on Performing for Nursing HomesInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

Nursing Home Shows are Rewarding

Marty Hahne is not just a great performer (and as you'll see a great writer). He and his wife Brenda run Dazzling Magic and are the keystone in the Kid's Show Magic Realm. Today, Mr. Hahne talks about a slightly more mature audience.

I remember playing one of my first nursing home shows back in the late 1970’s, while I was still in college.

At the time, I had about 15
good, solid routines in my repertoire, and in my youthful exuberance I
thought I was ready for any type of show.

In came an audience of
about 30 elderly residents. The activities director dampened my spirits
somewhat, when she said, “I’ll put the awake ones down front.”

The appearing doves seemed
to go over well. The card trick didn’t. When I revealed the selected
card, no one remembered what card had been originally taken.

The most interesting
response came with the needle through balloon effect. The trick worked
fine, but at the end, when I popped the balloon, the entire audience
jumped in their wheelchairs. I shuddered at how I nearly caused several
heart attacks in the room.

After that humble
beginning, I thought nursing home shows weren’t for me. However, as the
years progressed, I got more and more calls from activity directors,
and decided to give the nursing home circuit another try.

Presently, I only do about
a dozen nursing home shows a year. I still prefer the kid show and
family show market, but nursing homes are good for a change of pace.

The pay is usually on the
low end, but the shows are easy to book, and can be used to fill in
some of the open areas we all have on our calendars.

Plus, even though the pay
may not be great, you get rewarded with the feeling that you’ve cheered
someone up, even if it’s only for a little while. Sometimes we don’t
know the impact we’ve made in someone’s life.

When I decided to do more
nursing home shows, I knew I needed to approach the shows differently
from when I began in college. I needed visual, colorful effects that
were easy to understand. Then it dawned on me—the same type of routines
I used in a kid show would probably work for elderly residents.

My nursing home show runs
about 40 minutes. Many times, the activity director will ask for an
hour show. This is because they always book musical acts to play for an
hour. I stick to my guns, and politely explain that a show of 40
minutes of magic will be plenty.

I also produce a rabbit in
the show, and afterwards I go around the room to the residents and let
them pet the rabbit. This takes 10-15 minutes, so I am there for about
an hour. No activity director has ever complained that I did not do
enough time.

I use a mixture of solo
effects, and audience participation. The audience participation effects
are ones that can be worked right in someone’s hands, without making
them stand up. If I find someone sitting in a regular chair, instead of
a wheelchair, I may have him or her stand up, and even come up front to
help me.

Sometimes, I also will use the activity director or a nurse to assist.

I almost always use a sound
system. My battery powered, compact sound system is ideal. Many
audience members may be hard of hearing, so the extra amplification is
a big help.

I try to keep my show
compact, and keep the setup time to about ten minutes. You will find
that most nursing home audiences will arrive in the performance area
about an hour before your show is scheduled to start. So, plan on a
type of show that you can set up with audience members staring at you.
I try to preset many of my effects before I even leave my home.

There may be a piano, large television or stereo system in your performance area,

so the compact show is
essential. I limit my show to a suitcase table, and possibly one other
small side table, mounted on a tripod-type stand.

The show opening is crucial
to get the attention of the audience, and it sets the pace for the
entire show. I open my nursing home show similar to a kid show. I have
the audience practice clapping, and I teach them the magic word. I use
a simple word they’re all familiar with: bingo! That’s right, I tell
the audience that whenever I need help with the magic, they should all
say the magic word “bingo.”

I don’t know why, but it always gets a smile.

I open with the vanish and
reproduction of a long colorful streamer, to “test their eyes.” Then
the streamer turns into a cane. The streamers are known as “Thumbtip
Streamers,” and they are very showy. The streamers are 36 inches long,
and multicolored.

It is very impressive the
way a long streamer like this can be vanished in a standard thumbtip.
Of course, the cane is a standard appearing cane.

I also enjoy using the
Vanishing Coke Bottle, because it is a familiar object, it’s visual and
it’s easy to understand. Another visual trick that works well is
Abbott’s Super Botania.

You drop a single flower
into an empty tube, and the flower turns into a huge bush of flowers.
David Ginn published a great routine in his book, “School Show
Presentation,” entitled “The Tree of India.”

Audience participation
effects break up the solo routines. The number one audience
participation trick I perform is the Paper Hat Tear. I usually work
this by going into the front row of seats, and having someone who is
seated help me.

This trick is easy for the volunteer to assist with, because they only need to tear a piece of paper.

The Mis-Made Flag works
well, too. I hand someone three silks, and they simply hand the silks
back to me. The audience enjoys the humor when I “accidentally” drop
the blue silk, and the reversed flag gets a big laugh. I use the
classic kid show prop, the Breakaway Wand, and it goes over very well
with the senior audience.

The Linking Rings is a showy, easy to follow routine, and I will call up the activity director or a nurse to be my assistant.

The highlight of the show
is the production of a live bunny rabbit. Following the show, I go
around the room to each audience member and let them pet the rabbit.

I always get lots of
positive feedback from the nurses and activity director. In fact, at
one show the nurse became very excited, because her patient reached up
to pet the rabbit, using a hand that she hadn’t moved in months.

If you don’t seem to be
getting much response during the show, don’t take it personally. The
audience members are usually on medication, which can make them sleepy.

Plus, they might not be
feeling well, or perhaps they are hard of hearing. They may not clap
because they can’t move one or both hands.

I remember one show I
performed in an Alzheimer’s unit, where the audience response wasn’t as
good as I expected. Afterwards, the activity director was just beaming,
and told me how much everyone enjoyed the show.

One of the patients had
smiled during the show, and the director told me it was the first time
she had seen him smile in over two years.

Nursing home shows may not
pay as well as some markets, but you will get paid with the
satisfaction of knowing you’ve made a positive difference in someone’s
day.

I hope these suggestions will encourage you to give nursing home shows a try.