New York, NY
Hayden
Childress
A very honest liar
Featured on Penn and Teller: Fool Us, Bloomberg, Timeout New York. Creator of Urban Illusions NYC
See Hayden's NYC Show
Featured on Penn and Teller: Fool Us, Bloomberg, Timeout New York. Creator of Urban Illusions NYC
See Hayden's NYC ShowEvery weekend 20 strangers gather in a basement in New York's East Village wondering "what did I just buy tickets to?". A dark room, free black coffee, haze, VHS tapes, unreliable memories, and a performance many audiences describe as "I can't comprehend what happened... it was right in front of me!"
Urban Illusions is Hayden's NYC residency show. 20 seats, honest lies, magic tricks. Tickets start at $95. Every weekend in lower Manhattan.
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Hayden Childress is based in New York City and is the creator and sole performer of Urban Illusions, a 20-seat close up magic show running every weekend in the East Village of Manhattan. The show runs off of word of mouth and has garnered a cult following.
Hayden sees magic as an artistic medium and not just a puzzle. His influence in magic comes from outsider perspectives on performance and a background shaped by indie music, analog art, and an obsession with cultural gaps between perception and reality. His work has been covered by Bloomberg and Timeout New York, and has appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us on the CW network. He has been commissioned for private events with groups such as Google, AirBnb, Microsoft, and Gatorade.
Outside of magic Hayden shoots analog photos, writes and publishes his own music soundtracks, and enjoys the gift of being conscious while drinking 5 coffees a day.
Whether it's mingling close-up performances that escalate throughout the night, a banquet with 500 guests, or a full sit-down show for 20 people in a private room - Hayden tailors each performance to the moment.
Booking inquiries - info@haydenismagic.com. Please include date, location, and event details.
Original compositions written and produced by Hayden Childress. Available on all streaming platforms.
Ironically, as a professional magician, honesty is important to me. Magic is an honest art form: we say we'll deceive your five senses as art. You know you're about to see a lie - a trick - and despite that, you feel something real. The lie is two-sided, because you've agreed to be lied to in order to experience it. Fun!
Mentalism is simply a genre of magic themed around the mind. Imagine I asked you to pick a word from a book instead of a card. That's mentalism.
It's a common myth that mentalism involves psychology or body language. It's a fun myth - it gives a satisfying answer. But the truth is there's no such thing as an expert of the mind who reads people like Sherlock Holmes. We do not exist.
A forest painting doesn't lose its beauty once you realize it isn't actually a forest. And I don't think a mind-reading trick loses its thrill when you realize I'm not a psychology expert - I'm just a normal guy who tells lies.
I rarely start with a trick I find interesting. I look for inspiration elsewhere. Certain types of music inspire me, just watching people navigate through the world inspires me, looking back at my own life and the questions I had about reality or truth - that is what pushes me first, and the specific trick to push that idea along comes last. The world is already so wonky to me - the magic trick is just my representation of that!
I've created my work to be experienced in real life, and putting it in short video form on a telephone dilutes the magic.
That said, I'm not anti-video - I have a TV performance on my site and I'm working on a short film based on Urban Illusions. If you're seriously interested in working together but want proof I'm as legitimate as I say, send a message and I'll send a raw, unedited clip or two that expires after 24 hours - just like a magic trick.
Right now I'm focused on my residency show, Urban Illusions, in New York City. Four shows every weekend, tickets $95-$145. Come see for yourself.
Yes - if it's the right fit. Send a message, tell me what you have in mind, and I'll see what we can do.
Yeah probably - but I enjoyed answering it, so maybe it wasn't so useless after all.