Magic man: For theater artist Dennis Watkins, magic was always in the cards
Dennis Watkins was around 7 years old when his grandfather introduced him to the passion that became his profession.
“My earliest memories of it are watching my granddad perform,” said Watkins, a magician and actor celebrating his 25th anniversary as a Chicago theater artist.
As a youngster, Watkins accompanied his grandfather Ed, the manager of a Dallas, Texas, magic shop, to magic conventions.
“That was my Disney World,” said Watkins, a founding ensemble member of The House Theatre of Chicago and star of the long-running close-up magic show “The Magic Parlour.”
Overjoyed, Watkins watched the veterans perform, but it wasn't enough. The budding conjurer wanted to make his own magic. For the last 25 years, that’s what he’s done.
As a youngster, he performed for friends and community groups, in talent shows and at churches.
“I'm a performer and I love my job, but socially I'm a little more introverted,” said the Oak Park resident.
For him, magic wasn't a party trick. It was a craft honed over most of a lifetime.
Encouraged by his parents, Watkins studied acting at Southern Methodist University, where he met House Theatre founder and artistic director Nathan Allen.
“Theater school gave me the tools to do what I do,” Watkins said. “I knew I wanted to be a magician, but I loved theater.”
Watkins and Allen began collaborating with their fellow SMU students.
“We knew magic was one of the ways we wanted to tell stories,” he said.
After graduation, the group — which eventually became The House Theatre — moved to Chicago where on Oct. 31, 2001, they debuted Allen’s biodrama “Death and Harry Houdini” featuring Watkins in the titular role. “The Terrible Tragedy of Peter Pan,” “The Sparrow,” “United Flight 232” and other shows followed, including “The Magic Parlour,” Watkins’ solo show.
Originally conceived as a one-time, House Theatre fundraiser, “The Magic Parlour” elicited enough interest to make it a weekly event, late on Friday nights at Chicago’s Chopin Theatre. That was 2009.
“We knew we had something we could build on,” Watkins said of the close-up magic show.
Broadway in Chicago impresario Lou Raizin, then a House Theatre board member, thought so too. In 2011, Raizin spoke to acquaintances at Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton about “The Magic Parlour” and within weeks the show transferred there, where it remained until 2023. That same year, “The Magic Parlour” transferred to 50 W. Randolph St., Chicago, in an open run co-produced by the Goodman Theatre and Petterino's restaurant.
“It proved to be a wonderful move for so many reasons. Those (Goodman) folks are remarkable,” he said. “Collaborators don’t always treat magic as art. They do here.”
Describing his performance as “vividly, palpably theatrical,” Goodman artistic director Susan V. Booth echoed Watkins’ observation.
She called the partnership “kismet,” adding that it’s important to expand the definition of what constitutes theater.
“Rather than bemoaning how few people patronize theater, maybe we need to look at our own practices,” Booth said. “Do we have enough welcome mats out?”
Described by one critic as “90-minutes of mind-boggling fun,” Watkins’ show consists of sleight-of-hand and other tricks, performed at arm’s length from his guests, around a table in an intimate, wood-paneled “parlour.”
“The space is alive with magic all the time right now,” he said, adding, “My granddad would have loved nothing more than doing magic around a table like that.”
Noting that his oldest child has expressed interest, Watkins hopes to pass on the Watkins family tradition.
“I try not to be pushy about it,” he said, “but I would love for him to do it.”
The Magic Parlour
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: 50 W. Randolph St., Chicago. (312) 443-3800 or TheMagicParlourChicago.com
Tickets: $93-$136