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Engineers are stereotypically a skeptical bunch, and DMC prides itself on a talent pool consisting of grads from some of the best engineering programs in the country. This was the rather dubious crowd that third generation magician Mr. Dennis Watkins faced on the evening of November 17. The occasion? A triple-threat welcome party for Otto, Shannon, and Stephanie.


 
DMC’s Night of Magic began at the historic Palmer House Hotel where icons such as Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Judy Garland, and Frank Sinatra are touted as former guests. After a couple hours of hors d’oeuvres and drinks, everyone headed a few blocks over to yet another Chicago landmark, the Oriental Theater. It was under this same roof where legends such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Marx Brothers have brought down the house that Mr. Watkins performed to a group of almost thirty engineers and their significant/insignificant others.

The show took place in the lobby of the Oriental which provided a far more intimate atmosphere than if it had been performed onstage (theoretically, the close proximity to Mr. Watkins also made any slight-of-hand easier to detect). For an hour-and-a-half Mr. Watkins mesmerized, stupefied, bewildered, and delighted  with card tricks, razor swallowing, mind reading, and a slam-bang finish involving a six-foot balloon (see photo), a leaf blower, and a deck of cards. By the end of our Night of Magic, Mr. Watkins had accomplished the most impressive feat of all: causing more than one DMC engineer to scratch their head.