Theater Show

"Escape Reality"

"...Unique ...engaging ...an awesome performance..." - Rave Magazine	Runs Indefinitely Friday & Saturday 8 p.m. $34 Saturday & Sunday 2 p.m. $24	"...a splendid performance ..." - L.A. Magazine
"...masterful... commands the audience's attention..." - CNN Showbiz Today		"Magicopolis makes us want to believe... fantastic!" - Eye On L.A.
"...Disarming, fresh, entertaining and delightful." - Outlook Magazine		"The show is personal and the magic superb." - Where Magazine

"Can you make me float?"

Bozena Wrobel's first exposure to magic on stage was in a Lake Tahoe casino where she saw Spill in a revue show. When the two met briefly after the show, Bozena asked Spill, "Can you make me float?"

"Mixing sketch comedy and magic acts, the husband and wife team of Steve Spill and Bozena serve up an entertaining family friendly vaudeville style show, complete with one liners, show girls and acts of prestidigitation that leave audience members pondering, "How did they do that?" - L.A. Weekly

Spill says, "When Bozena opened her mouth and began talking in her own peculiar brand of broken English, a great belly laugh burst out of me. It's hard to make me laugh. I observe, I smile, but when I'm really amused you can hear me a block away. Here was a stunning looking woman who was not only thrilling but funny. What a combination." Shortly thereafter, Bozena was back in Europe.

The two didn't meet again until a year later when Spill attended an actors' showcase in Beverly Hills in which Bozena was featured. Spill didn't recognize her as the woman he met in Lake Tahoe until she spoke. He again burst into laughter, momentarily disrupting the serious scene.

The pair spent the next six weeks falling in love, culminating in a Las Vegas elopement. Spill's dream of building a theater was a constant topic of conversation and the two have each laid the stamp of their different personalities on Magicopolis. In "Escape Reality" Spill answers Bozena's question: "Can you make me float?"

What would “Escape Reality” be
without a dangerous escape?*

In the early years of the 20th century Harry Houdini invented a new type of magic, escapology. Houdini's presentations of escapes from restraints of all kinds - ropes, handcuffs, straitjackets, trunks and anything else within which he could be contained were tremendously popular with audiences.

"... the show mixes illusions with a comic sensibility in a self-contained drama with skits that are highly entertaining for the whole family." - L.A. Daily News		"Escape Reality stars Steve Spill and Bozena Wrobel in a show that combines dramatic and comedic sketches with magic tricks that range from sleight of hand to elaborate large scale illusions." - Back Stage West

Probably one reason why this type of entertainment struck such a popular note is that what Houdini was doing, in symbolic theatrical form, was exactly what many members of the audience were involved in. They too were escaping, from ghettos of Europe into the promise of the new world, and from the farms into the cities that offered new opportunities. In his ability to escape from all restraints Houdini was, at least on a subconscious level, a message of hope to his audiences.

Houdini capitalized on an element of danger in his escapes from straitjackets while suspended high above the street or from sealed packing cases thrown into the local river. In "Escape Reality," the risk of certain tragedy is taken in an attempt to escape restraints in time to avoid the free fall of 39 sharpened steel spikes.

*Please note: This dangerous escape is not performed at the matinee show.

"...left us bewildered, bemused and totally speechless... incredible." - Entertainment Today		" It is Illusion. It is humor, poetry and philosophy. It is everything an evening in the theater should be." -Daily Variety

Does “Escape Reality” have anything
worthwhile to share with you?

"mix of comedy and Illusion creates lasting memories." - L.A. Times		" ... spectacular magic, visual effects and comedy tied together in an unforgettable way." - L.A. Weekly

Using a single length of thread and a candle, Bozena Wrobel combines a shot-in-the-arm-philosophy about renewal and redemption with some amazing magic that's moving and irrevocably life-affirming. The result is an entertaining mystery and a lesson on how to be happy even when life has other plans for you.

Extra Sensory Perception

"Magicopolis serves up astounding magic in a classy venue." - Entertainment Today		"...the caliber of the artists is first-rate, their performance, brilliant." - Southern California Guide

If there is such a thing as genuine ESP, and who can definately say there is not, it is certainly not the sort of power that is both infalliable and on call at a moments notice to entertain an audience. Steve Spill says he does not possess supernatural powers, however, after seeing Escape Reality, sizable numbers of of the general public believe in ESP as a reality, and an even larger number believe in it as a distinct possibility.

What Will She Wear Next?

" What Magicopolis gives audiences is a mesmerizing performance." - L.A. Magazine		"... the show mixes illusions with a comic sensibility in a self-contained drama with skits that are highly entertaining for the whole family." - L.A. Daily News

Bozena Wrobel has appeared in an alarming number of straight-to-video movies. Spill's three favorites are Bungle in the Jungle, Slumber Party Devils, and Attack of the Playgirl Pirates. Costumes from these cinematic masterpieces play an important role in "Escape Reality," but don't meet dress code requirements when Bozena is squished, sawed in two, disappears as Madam Zora or appears as an octopus.

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