When 12-year-old Jason Greenamyer first saw a magic act while visiting relatives in California, he was hooked. Jason traveled back home to Ohio and began studying magic and practiced the craft for years until he felt confident enough to launch a career. You might say the rest of the story is magical.
Today, Jason and his wife, Stacy, have teamed up to present a fabulous and unusual entertainment act called The Alans Live, which combines Las Vegas-caliber magic, intriguing mind reading and fun audience participation. The Alans — the name comes from Jason’s middle name — will bring their show to the annual Small Market Meetings Conference to be held in South Bend, Indiana, September 26-28.
Jason began working his mesmerizing art form on the cruise-line circuit and then graduated to corporate and private events. Then everything changed when he and his wife decided to partner. “Stacy joined me in the act three years ago as an entertainer,” said Jason. “When she made the commitment, we decided to take the route of a nontraditional magic act. Most times, when a wife is in the magician’s act as his assistant, they end up ‘cutting her in half,’” he said with a chuckle.
But what Stacy brought to the show was an extensive background in psychology. She has a master’s degree in therapy.
“We saw an opportunity for her to dive into being a mentalist,” Jason said. “What’s interesting about our act is that we have equal parts in the show, but we have different personalities. While I do a lot of sleight of hand, Stacy does expert mind reading and so on.”
Small Market Meetings Conference attendees will enjoy this imaginative, high-energy show, which will include some of them as well.
“Our biggest thing is doing audience interaction,” said Jason. “We really get people involved. The audience members may have gone through a full day of conferences and meetings, and later they get to see some of their colleagues up on stage having fun, not getting picked on but actually participating.”
The Alans can customize the act for any group that wants to be entertained. One example of that is when Jason and Stacy perform what they call strolling magic. It’s perfect for a cocktail hour setting where they perform tricks and mind-reading bits for small groups gathered informally. Their act is also ideal for “brain breaks” — timeouts scheduled during long, intense conference sessions or meetings and designed to combat fatigue and release tension.
The couple also runs a “self-contained act,” as they put it. That means they handle all show logistics themselves, from music to microphones to props. All that, they say, eliminates the need for a road crew and helps keep costs down for meeting planners who want to book them.
