Professional magician and illusionist Aiden Sinclair will incorporate domestic violence themes into a magic show at the Gryphon Theatre. A portion from each ticket sold will go to the Albany County SAFE Project.
“From a Padded Room,” a touring illusionist show, will make a stop Friday in Laramie to raise awareness and funds for prevention of domestic violence in the area.
“Domestic violence in Wyoming is three times the national average and the national average is already appalling. Nearly every 90 seconds, a woman is assaulted in America, and one in four women either have been assaulted or know someone who has been assaulted,” Sinclair said.
The idea to incorporate social issues with a magic show began when Wyoming artist Forrest King asked Sinclair to perform magic at one of his public paintings.
King is an artist whose passion is painting about social issues. This comes through in his painting “Battered Bride,” which is a painting of a bruised woman in a wedding gown.
King usually works on the painting in public settings as a way to raise awareness for social issues.
After performing at King’s public painting, Sinclair decided to make a touring show out of it to help benefit local Safehouses.
“The first time we did the show was at an art gallery in Cheyenne, and an 18-year-old girl came up to me and she was inconsolable because she and her mother were saved from a situation they were in by a Safehouse,” Sinclair said. “We put a lot of energy into this because we want it to be successful because it does have the ability to save lives.”
Stories about patients from Colney Hatch Mental Hospital also will be incorporated into the show. Men would often commit their wives to the hospital as a way to avoid divorce in 19th Century and early 20th Century London.
Men could easily commit their wives. All they needed were testimonies from a doctor and a friend claiming the woman was insane. So many women were committed to mental hospitals during this time that 75 percent of the population at Colney Hatch was female.
Colney Hatch was tied into the show because of the abuse people suffered after they were committed, especially since committed women often were abandoned by their husbands.
While at the asylum, patients received electroshock therapy in addition to cyanide and cocaine. Women also were given cold plunges to calm them down if they were screaming.
Even though there are aspects of magic in the show, Sinclair said this will not be a traditional magic show and will take attendees to a dark place, as audience participation is an important part of the show.
“We want to show people what it was like to be in an asylum, and we use magic and illusions to bring the stories to life,” Sinclair said. “We want them to be able to feel what it would have been like to live in one of those cold cells.”
Audience members will be asked to participate by holding personal belongings from some of the patients as well as cemetery and patient registries to bring the stories from the past to the present.
Sinclair says this show can help people because domestic violence is an important issue for everyone, but it is very important to a college community.
“Domestic abuse in college is incredibly high. Women go to school and they’re without the support of their family and they don’t generally tell anyone if they’re in a violent relationship because they’re afraid of how it will make them look,” Sinclair said. “Unfortunately, people don’t pay much attention to domestic violence until it hits mainstream media and by that point someone is usually already dead.”
Safehouse Services take in people who are currently involved in violent relationships and give them a place to live free of charge until they feel safe enough to leave.
“Most of the time people worry more about themselves, but Safehouse is one of the most selfless agencies there is. Domestic violence goes different ways. Female-to-male violence is the minority, but it does exist as well as same-sex relationship violence. Safehouse doesn’t care what kind of relationship it is. They will take you,” Sinclair said.
Even if people are unable to attend the event, Sinclair urges people to share the event on their Facebook pages.
“You never know. By sharing this event you might trigger someone to get help at their Safehouse location and get them out of a bad situation,” Sinclair said. “People are always sharing things that make people giggle for a second, why not share something to help someone?”
