Will Mannsz seeks to amaze audiences far and wide with magic but he says the real magicians are the people he performs for.
Mannsz is a Longmont resident and a Vegas-style magician who tours the country performing for corporations.
His love for magic began at an early age when his dad bought him a magic kit and he climbed into a box and spent hours trying to reappear somewhere else, he said.
His love for magic continued throughout his life. In college, he studied acting and public speaking and was soon recruited by Tennyson McCarty to become a member of the former University of Colorado football star’s touring magic and illusion show, MAZE Ministries.
Mannsz performed at college campuses around the world, he said, before he took a break and took a job at a marketing firm. To others this may have seemed like an abandonment of his passion; Mannsz said he had a plan.
Mannsz was ready to begin his own show but didn’t have the business knowledge to pull it off, he said.
“I had the knowledge of performing, but I had no knowledge of operating a business,” he said.
After gaining the knowledge he needed, Mannsz left his desk job and is now pursuing magic once again. He launched his new business in 2019, just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although Mannsz struggled to keep things going, operating around strict guidelines during the pandemic, he now performs at corporate events with an occasional public event, he said.
While Mannsz is an all-ages-friendly entertainer, his shows are designed for an adult audience, he said. His shows include humor and inspirational anecdotes to grab the attention of mostly corporate audiences.
“The goal is to try to get adults to live out of the norm of their normal lives and live in the moment,” he said. “... if they can truly live in the moment, then that is where they find the magic.”
On Thursday, Mannsz performed a public show at Collision Brewing in Longmont. This show was special to him because it was for his community.
“For me, this is special because this is my home. Longmont’s my home. I think it is crazy that I am known all across the mountain region but I feel like Longmont doesn’t know who I am,” Mannsz said.
As Mannsz builds his business, he really just hopes to be a pillar of the community who helps to bring a positive light to the way people see the jobs they work in.
“I want to be seen in the community as a professional entertainer that can change the way your employees think in the community or the way we think about each other and how we live our lives in the moment,” Mannsz said.
