“These are perfect lessons for all magicians in how careful thinking really can improve our magic.” —Eugene Burger

“Parr explores the outskirts of the human imagination: folklore and fairy tales, poltergeists and psychic powers. A celebration of the weird and wonderful in everyday life.” — Capital Times

“An expert in audience participation.” — Milwaukee Journal

“See him or book him for an event. You’ll enjoy everything.” — Milwaukee Sentinel

“Parr has perfected the power of suggestion to a fine art.” — Evanston Review

“What I appreciate most is David’s thinking about our art. His book Brain Food has the qualities of what we can label a gourmet meal: good food, good drink, good company, and good conversation. I am quite taken with his style. His creations illustrate his engagement with the people in his audiences. So also do his conversations in this book. It is thoughtful, to be sure.” — Robert Neale

What will he teach?

Proof Positive An impromptu mentalism effect with imaginary coins. 

Swindle A bill transposition from my book Brain Food. 

Fortune8 A prediction effect with the folded paper toy known as a “cootie catcher”.

Psilocation A card is selected, shuffled back into the deck, and I’m able to find it while blindfolded.

Oldest Trick in the Book An origami bird is torn and then restored.

Dinner with the Borgias Also from Brain Food, this is a twist on Bank Night. Three guests choose one of four goblets. They discover that their cups are “poisoned” while mine is the only safe one.

Who is he?

David Parr is an actor, author, and magician best known for his theatrical performing style and his writing and teaching skills. He is the creator and costar of Chicago’s longest-running weekly magic show, The Magic Cabaret, which is now in its tenth year and was selected by the Travel Channel as one of the top nine magic shows in the nation!

In the past decade or so, David has been a featured columnist, proofreader, and copy editor for MAGIC Magazine. His thought-provoking writings about the art of magic have also been featured in The Linking Ring, The Magic Menu, and Genii magazine, as well as publications in Germany, France, Australia, and Sweden. Jon Racherbaumer included David on his short-list of “notable theorists” in magic, alongside Tommy Wonder, Juan Tamariz, and René Lavand. David’s first book for magicians, Brain Food, was a magical bestseller and continues to appear on lists of must-read magic books. A second book, The Magic Mirror, cowritten with Dr. Robert E. Neale, received great reviews and quickly established itself as a classic in the literature of magic theory.

David has provided guidance and instruction to magicians at lecture appearances across the US, including at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. He has also released a number of his inventions to the magic market, including Proof Positive, A Game of Life and Death, 7 Sins, and Slow-Motion Swindle. He recently released the ebook Paper Prophecies, in which he teaches three amazing prediction effects that can be performed with special props printed directly from the book! And he is about to release a new digital edition of his first book, Brain Food: Gourmet Edition, with revised and updated methods, scripts, and handlings for his classic menu of thoughtful magic!