McBride Magic & Mystery School

The McBride Magic & Mystery School is a private school located in Paradise, Nevada. Founded in 1992, the School offers classes, private instruction, and distance learning programs on theatrical magic, mythology, storytelling, and the healing arts.^[1]

Promoting “fellowship across differences,”^[2] the School serves amateur and professional magicians of all ages and from around the world.^[3] The School’s “Magic and Medicine” course offers Continuing Medical Education credits to health care practitioners, in conjunction with Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.^[4]

The School follows no official philosophy or “party line,”^[5] preferring “to create a space in which individuals can shine in their own right”^[6] as they take “conscious, strategic steps to experience more education.”^[7]

History

Jeff McBride Lecturing

In April 1992, professional stage magician Jeff McBride inaugurated his School at the Ananda Ashram in Monroe, New York.^[8] McBride’s stated mission was to offer learning about magic that was not to be found at “a regular magician’s convention.”^[9] His School began as an annual experiential retreat modeled on the Mystery School tradition. Mystery schools flourished in Greece and Rome in Late Antiquity.^[10] McBride’s School followed ancient tradition in five ways:^[11]

1. providing a retreat for contemplating higher and deeper questions,
2. non-exclusivity of membership,
3. addressing participants’ “inwardness” or personal direction,
4. initiation into a “genuinely new beginning,” and
5. commitment to keeping secrets.

In 1995, the School moved to the Dai Bosatsu Zendo Retreat Center in the Catskill Mountains of New York. In 1996, 1997, and 1999, it was located at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, New York. 1998 saw a move to La Casa de Maria Retreat Center in Santa Barbara, California.

By 2003, the School found a permanent home in Las Vegas, Nevada. While still offering an annual experiential retreat for magicians (The Magic and Meaning Conference), the vast majority of the School's offerings since 2003 are classes, courses, and other magic education experiences for magicians. These experiences attract students from all over the world and have cemented the School's reputation for providing magic education. As John Fisher, producer of magic for the BBC, said: "The McBride Magic & Mystery School is the world's most prestigious magic school." A music conservatory model predominated the Mystery School approach.

Curriculum

Since its inception, the McBride Magic & Mystery School has encouraged students, both beginners and professionals, to explore both the theoretical and practical sides of the magical arts. On the theoretical side, students might study “how the shaman of the past became the showman of today, and how the ancient and archaic origins of the magical arts transformed into modern magic theatre.”^[12] At the same time, the School is intensely focused on helping students gather the skills, experiences, and knowledge that is essential for helping them become more effective and excellent performers of magic. To achieve these educational objectives the School offers Master Classes, seminars, and focus sessions on such topics as Magic and Medicine, Mentalism, Women in Magic, and Street Magic. The School also offers an annual "Magic and Meaning Conference"^[6] that features presentations and performances by attendees that are used to create a highly participatory learning community. The Master Classes are patterned on the learning experiences used in music conservatories where dedicated students perform and receive feedback from masters in the field.

Discussions, workshops, and group projects confront core questions, such as: “Is there more than one type of magic? How do I make my performances more powerful? What messages am I conveying to my audience? Can I change the direction my art is going?”^[13] “Why perform magic tricks? How are these tricks related to our lives? What can our vocation in magic do for us and for our audiences? What is the relationship between the two magics — performance magic and ceremonial magic?”^[14]

Instruction encompasses such topics as:^[15]

By expanding the definition of magic and its creative forms of expression and performance, the McBride Magic & Mystery School guides students at every level to explore magic’s potential in a changing world. In recent years, the School has expanded its offerings to meet the demands for online education. It currently offers a Virtual School where students can download teaching units, Live "Locked Room Learning" classes with the faculty, and a weekly, live, web-based television program, Mystery School Monday.

Administration

Jeff McBride is the founder and President of McBride Magic & Mystery School. Named "Lecturer of the Year"^[16][17][18] by the Academy of Magical Arts (at the Magic Castle) and recognized by the Society of American Magicians and the International Grand Prix of Magic as “Magician of the Year,” McBride is devoted to the art of teaching magic. He is joined by Eugene Burger, Dean of the School, one of America’s most influential magicians and magical philosophers. The Associate Dean is Lawrence Hass (Ph.D), who brings his experience as professor of philosophy and theatre arts, and as performer, teacher, and award-winning author of magic.

Faculty members^[19] are magicians, theatrical professionals, and experienced teachers of magic, including Abigail McBride, Tobias Beckwith, Bryce Kuhlman, George Parker, and Robert E. Neale (Ph.D.).

Guest teachers and specialists have included Max Maven, Bob Fitch, Jonathan Pendragon, Alan Ackerman, Ross Johnson, Ricardo Rosenkranz (M.D.), and Jay Ungar (M.D.).

School policies and curricular issues are formulated through weekly administrative meetings.

Notable Alumni

References

External links

• Official website
• mcbridemagic.tv