Wilson dazzles with magic
FREMONT- The Fremont Community Theatre's final production of 2015 has a magical theme to it and will feature the sleight-of-hand of one of the area's up-and-coming magicians, a 12 year old girl with a dream to make it big with magic.
Madison Wilson will be performing her first public magic act in the FCT's "A Magical Christmas," a magic show for all ages that runs from Dec.18-20.
Wilson, a sixth grade student at St. Joseph's Junior High Academy, will also appear in the FCT's "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," which runs Dec. 4-6 and Dec. 11-13 at the theater.
"I love to perform in front of people. I love to put a smile on people's faces and make people wonder, 'how did she do that?'" Wilson said before a recent rehearsal at the FCT stage.
Lea-Ann Wilson, Madison's mother, said her daughter started out in a FCT summer magic camp when she was 9 and has worked on her craft ever since.
She said she and her husband took their daughter on a cruise when Madison was 4.
On that cruise, a magician pulled Madison on stage during his act and gave her a keepsake.
"Ever since then, she's enjoyed seeing how the trick is done," Lea-Ann Wilson said.
Madison said she practices magic every day.
In her favorite trick, Wilson has nothing in her hands and then produces a cane from out of nowhere. She said another favorite trick of her involves making silver balls appear in her fingers and then disappear from sight.
Floyd Collins runs the FCT camp and has mentored Wilson with her magic. He will also appear in "A Magical Christmas," where he said audience members will be taught a new magic trick every night of the show.
Collins said Wilson will perform a manipulation act during the show, one that he first performed successfully at her age. He described watching Wilson's growth as a magician to seeing the baton passed to a new generation.
"She picked it up within a matter of months and mastered it," Collins said. "She can perform these things as well as I can. That's amazing at her age."
Collins started a summer magic camp at the FCT in 2012.
He said students get individual instruction and put together a magic show at the end of the camp.
The magic instructor said Wilson's coordination and understanding of how an illusion works were advanced for her age.
"She's been kind of a prodigy in magic," Collins said of Wilson.
Wilson said her dream is to be a professional magician or to perform on Broadway.
In addition to her magic, Wilson also takes dance classes at Class Act Dance Studio in Clyde. She has appeared in several recent FCT productions, including "Annie," "Gypsy," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and "The Giver."
Diane Cepeda directs A Magical Christmas, and she noted Wilson's frequent participation at FCT shows during the 2015 season.
"She's here almost as much as I am," Cepeda said.
Cepeda said the upcoming production was unlikely anything the FCT had done in recent years with its stage magic show.
"A Magical Christmas" starts Dec 18 and 19 at 8 p.m., with the Dec. 20 show starting at 2 p.m. "The Best Christmas Pageant" starts at 8 p.m. Dec.4,5,11 and 12 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 6 and 13.
dacarson@gannett.com
419-334-1046
Twitter:@DanielCarson7