Mind Games

Illusionist John Rotellini, a native of Sheridan, Wyoming, mesmerized CSC students at his magic show Monday night at Memorial Hall.
Rotellini said that he has always been amazed by magic, especially as a child, but he opted for sports as he grew older.
When he was in high school, Rotellini’s friends showed him a card trick and refused to tell him the secrets of the trick. Rotellini became so curious that he went he his local library and read through numerous magic books that revealed the tricks of the trade. He began to realize that the street magic the professionals, such as Criss Angel and David Copperfield, used were based on the classic magic tricks he reading about.
“He would record magic shows and go frame by frame to study everything,” said Carrie Rotellini, Rotellini’s mother. Carrie stressed that although he was self taught, Rotellini mastered his magic.
Rotellini began performing around his community at various events like birthday parties and boy scout troop meetings. Eventually, he wanted to attempt the big magic tricks like making motorcycles disappear.
With access to the machine shop, Rotellini and his friends began to build props from wood and metal to use in a magic show. Rotellini went to his local theater and questioned how much it would be to rent for two days. Rotellini and his parents gathered the money and prepared one of the largest shows that his hometown of Sheridan had ever seen.
Rotellini and his friends pulled off two sold out shows along with a publicity stunt that involved him driving blindfolded through rush hour traffic. They managed to raise over $10,000 for the charity, Kidd’s Kids.
While Rotellini loved big magic tricks, they became harder as he didn’t want to travel with the large equipment. Rotellini’s act began to change when he met a mentalist, someone who performs mind magic, in college at the University of Wyoming, Laramie.
After an estimated 10 years of performing magic, Rotellini is now a successful magician who currently resides in Las Vegas. He said he has traveled to various countries on three different continents while meeting great magicians who have helped him along the way.
“It’s been really weird, and crazy, and fun and my job is a lot more work than a normal job because my job is not just on stage,” said Rotellini. “ But I love it. And I get to help all sorts of people get away and have fun and [I get to] do a lot of charitable and philanthropic stuff.”
Rotellini was excited to bring his “loud, weird and crazy” show to CSC. He has a variety of shows but the show he presented incorporated “a lot of magic, and a little bit of reverse psychology.”
The illusionist managed to get students involved while using his mentalist magic.