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Mind Reading Show

Rider

One Line, for listings and marquees

Jonathan Pritchard reads minds. Live, in person, in front of strangers who are as surprised as you are.

Short Bio, for programs and event pages

Jonathan Pritchard reads minds. He's spent 30 years and more than 15,000 performances learning how, in rooms that range from corporate stages for BP, Pure Storage, and United Airlines to a three-month residency at Chicago's Knickerbocker Hotel. He spent 13 years with the James Randi Educational Foundation, and he auditioned for America's Got Talent, where he got three yeses out of four judges.

He makes no claim to being psychic. What he does is applied psychology, showmanship, and moxie, and it works best on the people who walk in certain it won't.

Show Description, for ticketing pages and calendars

Jonathan Pritchard reads minds. Live, in person, in front of strangers who are just as surprised as you are. He'll know things about people in the room that he has no business knowing. Names. Numbers. Memories. Things they haven't said out loud.

He does this for about 70 minutes, in a room small enough that you can watch his hands the entire time. Some people leave with a rational explanation. Most don't.

Stage Introduction, read this verbatim

"Ladies and gentlemen, he's spent 30 years learning to read people, and he's about to do it to you. Please welcome to the stage, mind reader Jonathan Pritchard."

Technical Requirements

This is a light show to mount. One performer, no set, no crew, and everything he needs fits in a car. Most rooms already have what's listed here. If yours doesn't, say so early and we'll work around it.

Performance Area

Minimum Footprint: 12 feet wide by 8 feet deep, flat and clear.
Riser: Optional. If the seating is flat and unraked, a low riser of 8 to 12 inches helps the back rows. No riser is fine in a small room.
Access: A clear path from the audience to the performance area. Volunteers come up throughout the show, so the route can't run behind seated guests.
Backdrop: Plain and dark is ideal. A curtain, a brick wall, or a clean wall all work. Please avoid a busy backdrop or a lit sign directly behind the performer.

Sound

Microphone: One wireless headset or lavalier along with a wireless handheld on a straight stand.
Playback: One input for music playback from a laptop (3.5mm or DI). Walk-in, walk-out, and a small number of cues during the show.
Coverage: Even coverage across the whole seating area. This is a talking show, so intelligibility beats volume every time.
The Room: House music off during the performance. No live music, DJ, or amplified event in an adjacent room while the show is running. Bleed from the next room is the single most common thing that hurts this show.
Operator: None required. Levels get set at sound check and stay there.

Lighting

Performance Area: A warm front wash, bright enough to read facial expressions from the back row.
House Lights: Audience held at roughly 30 to 40 percent, never blacked out. He has to see the room to work. A fully dark house kills the show.
Please Avoid: Color washes, moving heads, strobes, and haze. Nothing needs to cue during the performance.
Operator: None required. Set the scene before doors and leave it.

Power and Furniture

Power: One standard 110v outlet within 15 feet of the performance area.
Table: One small table, cocktail or bistro height (roughly 30 inches), set at the side of the performance area.
Seating on Stage: Two chairs or stools for volunteers.
Water: Two bottles of still water, room temperature, on the table before doors.

Day of Show

Load In · 90 minutes before doors

One person, one car, one trip. No dock or crew needed.

Setup and Sound Check · 60 to 30 minutes before doors

Room empty, please. Levels get set, lighting state gets locked, and the performance area gets dressed.

Hold · 30 minutes before doors

Jonathan is out of the room and out of sight of arriving guests.

Doors · 7:00 PM

Check-in is by name at the door, no printing required. Guest list is delivered the morning of the show.

Show · 7:30 PM sharp

Curtain goes up on time. Reviewers have specifically mentioned this, so it stays a hard rule.

Out · 8:45 PM

Jonathan stays in the room afterward to talk with guests, which is when your bar does its second-best business of the night.

Strike · 30 minutes

The room goes back exactly how it was found.
© Jonathan W. Pritchard