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S T O R Y PHOTOS BY CHRIS MORTENSON
‘A Death Defying Escape’ Judy Carter’s play blends magic and humor to heal the past By Paul Wozniak he idea that a woman could corrupt your sense of reality is very disturbing for a lot of people,” Judy Carter said. Having made a living as a magician and a standup comic, she should know. In an industry such as magic notoriously fronted by men, Carter is embracing her authentic self in her new play, addressing the elephant in the room and marching on. “The real secret is what a magician does and what I’m going to be doing on stage is manipulating people’s reality,” she said. Carter’s new show, “A Death Defying Escape” which began April 2 at the Hudson Guild Theatre with streaming available beginning April 9, intentionally defies easy description. Billed as having a “unique storyline” that features “Jewish humor, a lesbian romance, a clarion call for disability awareness — and jaw-dropping, audience-interactive on-stage magic,” it’s a little difficult to imagine what this production might look like, until one understands a little more about Carter herself. Put simply, Carter is a Renaissance woman. She has worked professionally as a magician, standup comic, published author and corporate keynote speaker. She was featured in the Los Angeles Times in 1961 for performing magic shows when she was only 10 years old. She
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overcame a speech impediment and was one of the first women to perform at the Magic Castle Close-Up Gallery in Hollywood, not without resistance. “One of the magicians literally picked me up, carried me out and threw me in the parking lot,” Carter said. She added “standup comedy” to her resume when the airline lost her luggage and tricks on a gig. She has appeared on over 100 TV shows and four comedy cable specials, as well as opened for Prince and performed in Vegas. The longtime Venice resident is also a frequent contributor to NPR’s “All Things Considered.” She even wrote the Bible…well, “The Comedy Bible” (Simon & Schuster). Drawing upon her many talents and occupations from magician to TEDx Talker, Carter’s latest venture attempts to blend elements of her past into a one-of-a-kind production for the present. Directed by Lee Costello, Carter’s one-person band of a show features real, on-stage magic as a metaphor for our ability to “escape” and move on from serious life issues. “In the play, I reveal secrets,” Carter said. “Not only secrets about my life, but Houdini’s secrets and how we can use his escape techniques to escape from things in our life. Because we all have something or someone we need to escape from. Whether it be escaping from the closet, or escaping from a Verizon contract or even
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Longtime Venice resident, Judy Carter, is a magician and standup comic whose new show, “A Death Defying Escape,” runs through May 15 at the Hudson Guild Theatre. just trying to get out of a pair of Spanx on a hot day. We all need to know. And that’s what this play is. This is a story that’s told with magic.” Describing the play as a “dark comedy,” Carter said the play includes many formative and often painful memories from her childhood. “Growing up with a sister with cerebral palsy, a narcissistic mother and an abusive father, I dreamed of becoming a magician,” Carter said. “I didn’t want to saw women in half, I wanted the power to put them back together. The power to make my father disappear and to levitate my sister, Marsha, out of her wheelchair.” That concept became this play. “It’s a three-person play, where I tell the story of escap-
ing childhood problems such as an alcoholic father, a disabled sister and a speech impediment,” Carter said. “And kind of knowing I was gay, but pretending I wasn’t.” She clarifies the show is biographical, but not a biography. “The main character has my exact name, but it’s not a one-person show,” Carter said. “It’s like nothing anyone has ever seen.” So why now? Carter said the inspiration of the show came from a mortality check-in. “My motivation was pretty much that, ‘Okay, what do I want to do before I’m dead?’” Carter said. “I almost got hit by a car. And my only thought was ‘I didn’t do that play. I didn’t write that play.’”
Carter said it took four years to write in order to research her own life, but also to ensure there was entertainment from start to finish. “When you write something based on your own life, it’s not enough to go ‘and this happened, and this happened,’” Carter said. “That’s called narcissism…I wanted to create a story that wasn’t just bragging about my life, or coming from ego. I wanted to have a message to other people.” Part of that message is about authenticity, even if it means reinvention. “When I first started doing magic, I had to pretend to be a friggin’ idiot so not to disturb people,” Carter said. Citing artists like Lucille Ball and Gracie Allen, Carter said
