Iolans will have a chance to see a performer who can do what many people wish their spouse could do and many others are grateful their neighbors cannot: read minds.
Mark Toland, a 2005 graduate of Iola High School who now lives in Chicago, will perform a mind reading show as a fundraiser for Allen County Community Foundation (ACCF). The event will be June 7 at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, 205 E. Madison Ave. Tickets are $10 each.
“All the ticket sales go to them [the Foundation] and hopefully it will help raise awareness of what the foundation does and help out Iola and the surrounding towns,” Toland said.
ACCF is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the community by building endowments that go to support local needs and opportunities.
Toland started learning magic tricks as a hobby when he was a child before he transitioned into the role of a professional mind reader. He now tours the country doing public and private shows. Most recently he wowed audiences at a wedding in Detroit, a comedy club in Chicago and for students at Harvard University, but there’s no place like home.
“I’m always happy to come back and do a show in Iola,” he said.
Toland’s show is unique from many other magic and trick shows in that it is not merely a performance for people to watch.
“My show is all audience participation-based,” he said.
Toland said incorporating the audience into a performance can make the same material different from show to show.
“The best part about it for me is there’s no fourth wall,” he said. “It’s a different show every night.”
He has been doing solo performances for about five years and has found that the audiences in big cities are not so different from smaller communities, like Iola. While some might have different tastes in humor, the amazement that comes with mind reading is universal.
“What I do can kind of be a universal language,” he said.
