Elias “Lefty” Caress, an award-winning magician and sleight of hand expert, will be performing at Southern Utah University on Saturday, Nov. 7.
SUU Student Programming Board members planning the event wanted the best magician in the area, and Caress was their choice.
“He’s the top-rated magician in Utah, and that seemed pretty exciting,” said Courtney Shively, an SPB event director and senior at SUU.
Caress specializes in magic, hypnotism and sleight of hand tricks, the last earning him the nickname of Lefty.
“It’s funny because I’m not left-handed. I’m ambidextrous, but ‘ambidexy’ is a terrible nickname,” Caress explained in an interview with Tmeg Productions. “They called me Lefty for a cowboy act I did early in my career, and I just so happened to meet a lot of people who I became friends with at that event. So the name stuck.”
Caress has been a variety entertainer for 15 years. His career has involved performing for a wide variety of audiences. However, this was not always his full-time work.
“In the middle of the worst recession of my generation, I walked away from a secure job to follow my dreams,” Caress shared on Twitter..
Caress used to work as an engineer, but disliked the job and began exploring other options.
“It was a very boring job,” he told Tmeg Productions. “I started dabbling in live entertainment just to keep myself sane.”
This event is not Caress’s first time in the area, as he has previously been an entertainer at the Utah Midsummer Renaissance Fair here in Cedar City. Some of his other performances in Utah have been for audiences at Adobe, Utah’s Hogle Zoo, and the Utah Renaissance and Fantasy Festival.
Shively noted that Caress has been great to work with and seems excited for the event. SPB event directors are also excited, as they know this time of the semester is stressful for many students and want to provide an event that will bring some comic relief.
“I figure during midterms and things like this it’s good to just take a break,” Shively explained. “So I wanted to give students an opportunity to just have fun.”
For more information about the event, visit SUU’s calendar of events.
Story by Summer Smith
life@suunews.net
Photo Courtesy of Elias Caress
