He’s a professor, magician — and winner of an elusive international award

Touring magician and Cal State Long Beach theatre arts professor Christopher Bange first found his passion for illusion at age 9, when his aunt taught him a magic trick.

His aunt, whose great uncle was a magician, showed him how to break a match stick in half and then magically restore it.

In July – four decades after his aunt sparked his interest in magic – he took home the Karrell Fox Comedic Excellence Award, which the International Brotherhood of Magicians had not granted to a magician for 18 years.

The award, named for 20th-century American magician and television performer Karrell Fox, is given to a contestant who displays “a sense of comedic timing and wit over and above expectations,” according to the organization’s website.

Established in 1922, the International Brotherhood of Magicians is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the art of magic, with members in over 88 countries.

Each year, the organization holds a convention with competitions and vendors.

Bange said he has visited many of those conventions over the years, but this year’s convention in Tacoma, Washington, was the first time he decided to enter one of his acts in a competition.

That act, called “Super Funtimes Magic” , involves Bange playing a silent clown who makes miniature umbrellas appear out of nowhere along with other sleight-of-hand illusions involving cards, his hat and a handkerchief.

He first started learning magic 35 years ago.

Starting when he was 14, Bange would spend six hours every Saturday working at a combination video store/magic shop in Toledo, Washington called Video Magic.

Over seven years, he learned everything there was to know about each magic trick the store sold.

“That job made me,” Bange said.

To this day, when he visits the retired store owner in Florida, Bange never hesitates to perform a trick for the store owner and his friends.

In the summer, when he’s not teaching acting, mime or theatrical mask work at Cal State Long Beach, he tours various cities in the U.S. and Canada performing magic shows that he writes himself.

Sometimes that involves writing a 40-page script while other times he performs in front of a director and together they flesh out the character and the act.

Bange said it usually takes him about 20 performances to get a grasp on the character and illusions he pulls off in each show.

Past shows have included: Is This Your Duck?, The Red Nose, Have You Seen My Dog?, The Excursionist 1 and 2, The Medicine Show, More Bange for Your Buck!, Breaking Bange and Not this Time!

He has performed them in theaters from Vancouver in the western portion of Canada to Ottawa, just north of New York.

Bange, who was raised in Chehalis, Washington, spent years performing in theaters throughout Seattle before moving to Long Beach to pursue a master’s degree at Cal State Long Beach.

Despite that vast experience of stagework, until recently he didn’t enjoy the act of performing.

“Most of my life performing was bound in anxiety,” Bange said. That changed when one of his teachers taught him to focus on his love for magic and performing instead of the anxiety brought on by performing.

Starting in November, Bange will be the opening act for The Garage Theater’s upcoming show “The Steam-Powered Rocket Ride to the Moon!”

You can see him perform at The Garage Theater at 251 E. Seventh St. from Nov. 15-23 and Dec. 5-21. Each show begins at 8 p.m.

The post He’s a professor, magician — and winner of an elusive international award appeared first on Long Beach Post .