Magician and mentalist Kevin Li drew a large crowd at a CAPE-hosted event in The Last Chapter Pub on January 5. This was CAPE’s fourth event of Welcome Back Week for the Spring term.
Students filed into The Pub for the 8pm show. When the show began, the space was packed.
“My initial expectations for the event was about 80 people, but my expectations were exceeded tremendously,” said CAPE President Nicholas Gaston (’23). “We had, I think the max amount of people there were 145, so definitely way more than I expected.”
Prior to the show, Li did close-up magic in the dining hall, increasing interest among students for the show.
Throughout the performance, Li called up students to participate in magic tricks using a deck of cards and other props. In one display, Li asked a student to solve a Rubik’s cube. Other displays involved Li guessing what card students were holding.
After the performance, Li took the time to take photos and sign autographs. Attendees such as Angelina Mankee (’25) shared their thoughts on the performance.
“With what I saw, I was shocked and thrown off everything because I [had] never really actually watched a magic show in person before. This was my first experience watching a magic show,” said Mankee. “Seeing the Rubik’s cube switch mid-air…blew my mind. [The show] was amazing, and I want to see it again.”
In preparation for booking a show, Gaston and other CAPE members went to a regional conference hosted by the National Association for Campus Activities in October, where they saw Li perform. After the performance, Gaston contacted Li in November.
However, Li was unable to perform the whole hour-long show, capping his show at 40 minutes.
“Sadly…an hour after he landed he told me that TSA had taken some of his magic props and he only would be able to do a 40-minute show. A little frustrating because we paid for a full show, and he promised he would make up for it with…some close-up magic,” said Gaston. “We ended up coming up with an agreeance to do the [close-up] magic in the dining center, and then he would do his 40-minute show. He almost did it for an hour-long, which was really good. He really hyped up all those people in there, and everyone really loved it.”
Li also recapped his overall thoughts on his performance at SNHU.
“I love to perform for students, so when SNHU reached out to me, I immediately said yes,” said Li. “This is actually my first show of the new year, I said that at the start [of the show], and I’m just so excited that I got to do this show with everybody. I would love to come back and share more magic that everyone hasn’t seen yet.”
Gaston shared his thoughts on the outcome of Li’s arrival. “He did pictures as well as signed people’s stuff, which he did not have to do because it was not in the contract, so that was really cool of him to do that,” Gaston said.
Students interested in joining CAPE can attend weekly meetings in the Pub on Mondays from 6-7pm. Additionally, students can follow @capeatsnhu on Instagram for the latest updates on upcoming events.
