By Peter Sclafani, Staff Writer
Harry Potter fans eat your hearts out: There is a new wizard in Hillsborough, and he has just been invited to magic school.
Before you ask, no, his letter was not sent to him by an owl, and he is not boarding a train to Hogwarts on the 9¾ platform.
Conrad Colon is going to a much more magical place than Hogwarts. He is going to Las Vegas where he will be attending McBride’s Magic and Mystery School.
Mr. Colon has been dabbling in magic since he was a young boy.
At age 4, his godfather showed him his first card trick. From then on, Mr. Colon’s childhood curiosity led to his obsession with magic. He spent countless hours perfecting his godfather’s card trick, and after his father bought him his first magic set, he knew he had found his passion.
”The best part of performing is sharing the magic experience with someone,” Mr. Colon said. “What people see is supposed to be impossible, and the impossible moment is such a powerful thing.”
Mr. Colon’s passion has driven him to become a better magician and performer. Where other people may see perfection, he sees room for improvement. He sees new ways to dazzle his audience, new ways to make his audience laugh and new ways to peak spectators’ curiosity.
At 19, Mr. Colon is the first person being sent to McBride’s Magic and Mystery School on scholarship by the Society of American Magicians.
He has won several awards for his endeavors in magic. He is part of the International Brotherhood of Magicians Ring 200 in Edison, New Jersey, which happens to be the same chapter famous magician and illusionist David Copperfield was a part of. Here he learns from seasoned magicians and teaches younger magicians the tricks of the trade.
Mr. Colon said he likes to think about how a magician as successful and famous as David Copperfield got his start in the same place he is getting his.
In 2008, Mr. Colon became the youngest member in the club’s history to win the Al Hillman Excellence in Magic Competition. In 2008, he became one of the founding members and the junior leader of the 4-H Magicians Guild of the Somerset County 4-H Program.
”I have a passion for magic,” Mr. Colon said. “The school will help me decide if I am going to continue performing.”
Mr. Colon said he has learned his art just by reading magic books, watching other magicians perform and, of course, a lot of practicing. He estimates 80 percent of his day is spent working on expanding his magic business.
”I call clients, try to find new ones, look up tricks and the rest of the time I practice performing,” he said.
Close-up magic and stage magic are Mr. Colon’s specialties. He said he enjoys close-up magic because it is usually done with a small group of people and he can get to know the people and see their reactions to his tricks.
However, Mr. Colon prefers doing stage magic because he gets to flesh out his performance and put himself into it more.
”People don’t normally get to see magic as storytelling or artistry,” he said. “I like performing because I can incorporate so many things into it and show off my art.”
Mr. Colon will be attending the magic school’s weeklong extended master class next March. Until then, he will be attending Raritan Valley Community College where he will study education.
If magic does not work out, he would like to be a teacher.
”I consider myself multi-passionate,” he said. “My second passion is teaching. I love teaching people about performing magic. My dream job would be to have my own show in a theater, but it would be cool to have a high school teacher perform a magic trick on your first day of class.”

