Fooling Penn & Teller to Zoom Magician: Stuart MacDonald's pivot story

Beyond Networking with Brian Miller

Today’s featured Pivoter is Stuart MacDonald. Stuart is a rare bird. He’s a magician, but he’s really a character actor who happens to be a magician.

He's also won a ton of prestigious awards in magic and fooled Penn & Teller on the CW's hit show Fool Us.

You see, magicians, myself included, are typically just heightened versions of themselves. But Stuart creates characters with backstories, wants, and needs, and inhabits them fully. Why don’t more magicians do it? Because it’s really freakin’ hard.

In March of 2020, Stuart was the very last person to step foot on stage at the famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, before they shut their doors and the world went into lockdown.

Unlike most Pivoters this season, Stuart did not immediately turn to virtual in order to salvage his career. In fact, he hung up his magic act and started searching for a normal 9-5.

But nearly a year later, Stuart is still a professional magician, delivering some of the most inventive virtual shows in the industry. How did he get here?

This is his Pivot story.

Connect with Stuart

• https://stuartmacdonaldmagic.com
• Watch him fool Penn & Teller: https://youtu.be/lnObtoan-0g

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