PORT TOWNSEND — Close-up magic. Mind-reading. A seance. They’re all part of illusionist Joey Pipia’s HeadTrip experience, back this weekend after December’s sold-out show at the Chameleon Theater.
The perceptive Pipia — with daughter Phina by his side — will step up at 8 p.m. Saturday for this “one-act journey through the depths of the mind” at the Chameleon, 800 W. Park Ave. Advance tickets are $20 via brownpapertickets.com while information can be had at 360-774-2202.
Pipia, a magician, comedian and self-professed mind reader, will unleash a dozen special effects throughout the evening. The show begins with “a classic, yet completely original piece of close-up magic,” he promises. Then he’ll jump into another world: that of the mind.
When asked for some hints about Saturday’s production, Pipia hailed his performing partner.
“Phina is always amazing, and in this show quite so,” he said of his daughter.
She and her sister Sophie, after growing up in Port Townsend, have performed around North America with their theater troupe Generation Goat Rocket.
In HeadTrip, “we do a piece of classic vaudeville mind-reading that is rarely seen today, and is performed by just a handful of people around the world,” the elder Pipia added.
He also uses books and other everyday things throughout the show.
“The more familiar the object,” he said, “the more amazing it is when something out of the ordinary takes place.”
And then there’s the audience, without whose help the HeadTrip would not be what it is.
Pipia is also known for his Stage Left Vaudeville Show at the Oregon Country Fair, performances at Seattle’s Moisture Festival and for tours with the New Old Time Chautauqua and the Flying Karamazov Brothers.
To find out more about such activities as well as Saturday’s trip, see www.joeypipia.com.
