Psychological Illusionist, voice-over artist, hypnotist and mystery entertainer are all names to describe Kent native Joshua Seth, whose Beyond Belief: An Intimate Evening of Psychological Illusion will be showcased at Kennedy’s, located in the lower level of The Ohio Theatre in Playhouse Square on Thu 1/27, Thu 2/3, Thu 3/3 and Thu 3/24.
Seth, who is billed as “one of the busiest illusionists touring the globe today,” will present a show that is a combination of psychology, intuition and hypnotic influence. TV Japan calls him “The #1 American Hypnotist,” American Entertainment Magazine says “he’s amazingly captivating,” and Campus Activities Magazine declared, “He’s the Rock Star of Hypnosis” and has “A high Energy, One-of-A-Kind Show.” In 2003, he won First Place at the Academy of Magical Arts’ “Magic Castle Olympics” for his mentalist act.
It’s been a long road from Kent to his present status. Seth, whose name back then was Joshua Freedman, graduated from Kent Roosevelt High School in 1987. While a tween and teen he appeared on stage at Carousel Dinner Theatre and Kenley Players. He received a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 1991. After being signed by a Hollywood agent, it was off to Tinseltown where he became a stellar voice-over personality, appearing in over 60 cartoons and movies, including many Disneyland radio commercials and Digimon, All Grown Up, Batman, Duel Masters, Gorgeous, Honeybee Hutch, Last Exile, Nightwalker, The SpongeBob Square Pants Movie, Wolf’s Rain and Akira.
Tiring of the Hollywood scene, he decided to use his talent to see the world. He has and still appears as a headline act on Princess cruises.
Seth, whose father was a hypnotherapist, fell in love with illusion when taken to see a Blackstone the Magician show when he was eight. He started to delve into the field. His present show grew out of the concept of mentalism, which allows him to work with the audience to influence people’s thoughts and create illusion. The Kennedy space is a perfect venue because it is intimate and allows for immediate interaction with the spectators.
He has taken his knowledge of people and hypnosis and written the book The Weight Loss Hypnosis Solution: Discover How to Lose Weight Without Diets or Willpower.
Seth has many fond memories of his Ohio years including Vince Cardinal, the theatre director at Kent Roosevelt, and being surrounded by a large and supportive family. In fact, the family roots, his belief that the Cleveland area has such nice people, and the area has “lots going for it” caused Seth and his wife, who is expecting their first child, to move back to the Buckeye state and settle in Bath.
If Beyond Belief: An Intimate Evening of Psychological Illusion develops a local cult following like the show did when performed at The Magic Castle in Los Angeles, Seth plans to revive it on a regular basis at Kennedy’s.
For more information on Joshua Seth or to obtain a coupon for discount tickets for the Kennedy show, go to http://BeyondBeliefShow.com. For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to http://PlayhouseSquare.org.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Roy Berko. Berko’s blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2009, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info. His reviews can also be found on NeOHIOpal and CoolCleveland.com.Roy Berko, who is a life-long Clevelander, is a Renaissance man. Believing the line in Robert Frost’s poem “Road Not Taken,” each time he comes to a fork in the road, he has taken the path less traveled. He holds degrees, thought the doctorate from Kent State, University of Michigan and The Pennsylvania State University. His present roles, besides husband and grandfather, are professor, crisis counselor, author and entertainment reviewer… Read Roy Berko’s complete bio here