TO EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC
Think back to when you were a kid and saw a magic show for the first time. Remember that feeling of surprise, happiness and wonder that flooded your brain during each trick?
Whether it was pulling a coin out of someone’s ear, guessing the card you picked or even literally pulling a rabbit out of a hat, for many of us, those magic tricks created long-lasting memories.
It’s those feelings and memories that inspired Master Magician Paul Noffsinger to chase his boyhood dream of becoming a professional magician.
Eight years ago, Noffsinger sat behind his desk at his full-time job in finance wondering if this was his fate for life. Counting numbers, shuffling paper, going to meetings, sitting in a sterile lunchroom, eating from plastic containers of food brought from home, only to return to his desk to start the whole process again.
While many of us have asked ourselves the questions “Is this it? Is this what I am supposed to be doing?” Noffsinger not only asked those questions, but also answered them.
“No, sitting behind a desk was not what he was supposed to be doing,” he thought.
So on March 22, 2015, the former financial professional and soon-to-be (unemployed) magician penned his resignation letter and left that sterile lunchroom for the last time to start The Mystery Collection.
For five years Noffsinger
Paul Noffsinger is the founder of The Mystery Collection.
• What: The Mystery Collection presents: Paul Noffsinger, An Evening of Intimate Mysteries and Illusion
• When: 7 p.m. Friday, March 24
• Where: Atlas Theater, 709 16th St., Greeley
• Cost: $35per person for general admission, $75per person for VIP, age 18 and older
• For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to www. themysterycollection.com.
worked to hone his skills and show, performing in local restaurants, at small venues, for large corporate gatherings and at friends’ houses. He had planned to launch a tour of the show on March 22, 2020 to mark five years of The Mystery Collection, but we all know what happened: COVID.
One year of waiting to celebrate turned into two and then three. Finally, Noffsinger is able to bring his magic back to Greeley to
help create memories with The Mystery Collection 8th Anniversary Show at 7 p.m. Friday, March 24 at the Atlas Theater.
Noffsinger will be joined by comedian and host Ryan Dougherty, Joey “The 90s Magician” Gschwind and High Plains Writer in Residence and magician Rob Walker.
If you’ve never been to one of The Mystery Collection shows, don’t expect to see Noffsinger standing on stage whipping out trick after trick. While attendees will see tricks, it’s the storytelling aspect that draws you in — and that’s when the real magic happens.
“There are only a handful of secrets in magic. There’s only 26 letters in the alphabet, but everyone writes them differently,” Noffsinger said. “I’m looking forward to this show and I’m going to do some stuff that I haven’t done in a while. This will probably be my only public show in Greeley this year.”
Noffsinger will be unveiling a new piece in his arsenal at the show, based off of his fondness for the game “CLUE.”
“I have literally been working on a CLUE routine since my days of sitting behind a desk. It has been a bit of an obsession. I love CLUE. I have a dozen CLUE themed tattoos, printed hundreds of CLUE