Marshal Manlove, a stage hypnotist, entertained students with his performance and hypnosis experience in the Ponderosa room last week. The event was presented by the Loper Programming and Activities Council and organized by Ayden Brophy and Laura Carnahan, event programming chairs.
Carnahan said LPAC wanted to have another fun and engaging event since they had a lot of success with Step Afrika!, a step group that performed this past spring.
“He’s worked with a variety of crowds,” Carnahan said. “It’s fun because he has worked with students in his acts or even weddings and assisted living.”
Manlove was introduced to the field of hypnosis when he was a kid. He took more of a hands-on interest about 20 years ago when he started practicing professionally. He also said he uses his abilities to entertain, as well as help people with various issues.
Manlove is based in Delaware. He mostly performs in the mid-Atlantic region, but he is not limited to that area. Having performances from Maine to Florida, Las Vegas and now Nebraska, he has traveled near and far to showcase his talent.
“While I have some scripted things and some outlines I do all the time, it still is different every time,” Manlove said. “It’s unpredictable. That keeps it exciting for me.”
Manlove gives anyone who wants to participate in his shows an opportunity to do so.
“There are some things that I do to determine who makes better candidates for what is going to happen,” Manlove said. “I kind of have to feel out every crowd, but most of the time, anyone who wants to can.”
He started the show by determining these candidates through a series of prompted exercises for the audience to participate in. Manlove instructed the crowd to close their eyes and pretend to hold a stack of books in one hand and a balloon in the other. For many, when they opened their eyes after his instructions were complete, their arms had changed position significantly.
Manlove welcomed 14 students who volunteered to participate in his show. They sat in a row of chairs on stage facing the crowd. Slowly but surely, each participant fell into a state of hypnosis and responded to nearly everything Manlove said.
For over an hour, participants went through a series of activities and scenes, including the zoo, an ice cream truck and a fishing boat. He even convinced one participant that he could no longer speak English and had him perform a comedy skit for the crowd.
Maray Campuzano Saenz, a sophomore majoring in business administration and political science, was one of the 14 participants who was hypnotized.
“It was my first time getting hypnotized,” Campuzano Saenz said. “It was kind of a subconscious thing. I was never scared. If anything, I was more confused and I felt like I should have remembered more than I did.”
The event was engaging for both the participants and the crowd. Manlove encouraged the crowd to cheer on their friends on stage and came into the crowd several times.
Photos by Gabby Roche / Antelope Staff
