Joseph Culpepper, MA, PhD performer • magician • magic consultant

    Joe Culpepper has been bending and breaking the laws of time, place, and space since the age of fourteen when he began practicing magic as a performing art. His directing, performing, and writing credits include: The creative direction of “Tripmas 2015” for Duncan/Channon (San Francisco), “The Gentleman Joe Variety Show” (Toronto), “Flowers from Paradise” for the book launch of Claire Battershill’s award-winning collection Circus, “Soldi” as the Great Mustachio (Lunacy Cabaret, Magic Tonight, Shine Cabaret and Abracadabaret/Toronto), co-divisor and magic consultant for Show and Tell Alexander Bell (Summerworks / Ars Mechanica / Toronto), “Experimental Magic Manifesto 2.0” (Performance Studies International / Stanford University, California), co-divisor and magic consultant for Charlotte: Life or Theatre? (Ars Mechanica / Toronto), “The Brazen Head” (Massey College’s annual Feast for the Founding Master/ Toronto), “Telephony” (The Great Hall / Long Winter Series / Toronto), “Magic Sounds” (Glen Morris Theatre / Toronto), “Exits and Entrancs” (New Gendai Workstation / Toronto), “The Sense of Touch” (Dead Herring / New York), “High School Reunions are Weird” (MothUp / Toronto), Gank in Brotherhood of Leet, “The Sage Duban” in Hallowe’en Vaudevilles (Toronto) and “‘Spiriti miei infernali, obbedite!” in ScrABrrRrraaNNG: A Cabaret of Futurist Performance (Toronto). As a magic scholar and historian, Joe has published articles in The Walrus, Genii, Magicol and Frame. He has presented his research at the prestigious 31 Faces North gathering (Toronto), the Maison de la Magie (Blois, France), the Magic Collectors’ Association (Chicago), la Universidad de Alicante (Spain), Grand Illusions (Sacramento, California) and once hoaxed an academic conference at York University. Joe’s doctoral dissertation — "Reception and Adaptation: Magic Tricks, Mysteries, Con Games" — earned him a PhD from the University of Toronto in 2014. He currently works with students and graduates at the National Circus School of Montreal to adapt magic effects to their disciplines. He is also a co-founder and the magic consultant for the experimental theatre troupe Ars Mechanica.