Meet DAWN MORGAN | Public Relations and Marketing

We had the good fortune of connecting with DAWN MORGAN and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi DAWN, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Dawn has always had her own business. It was never anything she thought about, it just came naturally to her. When she was 13, she would go to the Beauty Shop with her mother on Saturdays, and out of boredom, she would clean up, offer the ladies in the hair dryers coffee and a magazine. That grew into the beauticians tipping her to come every Saturday and answer the phone, sweep hair, grab lunch orders, clean hairbrushes, etc.

When she was 18 she started her own clothing business selling clothes to busy business women in restaurants during the lunch hour. By the time she was 20, she had 14 restaurants a week clamoring for her service.

When Dawn met Anthony, he had been at Castle Amusement Park in Riverside, California for 9 years. Anthony had wanted to take his career a step further, but he wasn’t sure how. Dawn’s theory was they had nothing to lose by pitching his show to other venues and within the year, they had grown the Magic Business to over 600 shows a year establishing themselves at other venues, while keeping Castle Amusement Park shows in their same time slot. This May will mark 28 years of Magic at Castle Park with Anthony the Magic! Anthony currently has 4-6 venues he performs at on a weekly basis depending on the time of year. Dawn and Anthony also perform one- offs (show for one night only) at active adult communities, casinos, performing arts centers, hotels, and even in your own living room!!

Dawn and Anthony will be at Theatrikos, Flagstaff on April 4, 2023 and The Elks Performing Arts Center in Prescott on July 7, 2023.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
We try really hard with our magic not to be the same old, same old. Dawn comes from dance, gymnastics, figure skating, and she often marries other art forms into the magic. Often when a young magician sees someone doing a trick they like, they buy the trick and then copy the performance of the Master Magician. We put our own spin on every effect we doing making it completely our own. One night while watching, “Dancing With the Stars”, Dawn asked Anthony if they could do a Paso Doble and if he could rip off the skirt and vanish her at the end. He said it was doable and off they went to find a dance coach. Lucky for them, Buddy Schwimmer (whose son won season 1 of “So You Think You Can Dance” and daughter Lacey Schwimmer, was on”DWTS”) had a studio he taught at locally. Anthony had a prop master build the effect, Dawn had the dress made from one of the custom ice skating seamstresses, and Buddy built the dance. “It was our first audible aaaahhhhh” at the end of the routine and we were hooked. We were constantly trying to create new. Our show is more than us standing on stage doing card tricks, coin tricks, our show is an experience. We tell stories, we amaze you, we make you laugh, and we make you cry. You go on the ride with us.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Wow. We had that week last year for Anthony’s birthday. We went to see a concert at the AK Chin Arena, we went Salt Water Tubing and just cruised the river with the wild horses, I would go have chips, guacamole, and shrimp tacos at Cocina Madrigal. I would also eat lunch at Mad Greens. (It’s our favorite). There are so many venues with amazing artists. I would make sure I saw a show every night, like….Anthony Hernandez Illusions!!

We always say Arizona is like the “new Las Vegas”. It’s clean, it’s affordable, there isn’t a lot of traffic, and there is o much to do whether you are an outdoors person who likes to hike and cruise the river, or an indoors person who likes to shop and see shows, and the food at any restaurant has never disappointed us.

Last week we ate at PoPos Mexican Restaurant in Glendale and was blown away by their excellent service!!

If it is Christmas time, visit the Scottsdale Princess Winter Wonderland.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There have been so many people, movies, books along the way that have inspired us. For Dawn, definitely her mother who always believed in her and was a sounding board for advice when Dawn was “in a pickle”. In 1998 Dawn was in an accident and watched that season of “Oprah”. Suze Orman was on the show and bought the book, “9 Steps to Financial Freedom” by Suze Orman and that book literally changed her life!!

For Anthony, he has always been inspired by David Copperfield. It was while watching Copperfield on television Anthony decided he wanted to be a magician. Anthony’s grandparents were pivotal in securing him an amazing coach, the late Ralph Adams Senior, who taught Anthony his technique and magic skills.

During the shutdown, Dawn and Anthony were put completely out of business. They paid an online coach to increase their social media presence and to push them out the funk they had been in. Mago Lauritzen not only helped them rev up their business during the shutdown, but to also increase their prices at the same time.

Life is always full of inspiration, you just have to listen.

Website: www.anthonythemagic.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anthonythemagic/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-hernandez-bb98051b/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnthonytheMagic/with_replies

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnthonyHernandezIllusions/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/anthony-the-magic-riverside

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcmFajdln7aioRnKOyGDLqQ

Other: Google reviews: https://www.google.com/search?q=google+anthony+the+magic&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS781US787&oq=google+anthony+the+magic&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l4j0i22i30j69i60l2.2718j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x80dcaff34c8923ad:0xed88db2a718d8cce,1,,,, TIK TOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@anthonythemagic

Image Credits
Indoor Photos: Jim and Diana Lawrence Outdoor Photos: Kelsi Barnett Main Photo of Anthony: Haidar