May 16, 2017

Meet Andrew Noyszewski of Kidzmagic in Northwest Suburbs

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Noyszewski.

Andrew became interested in magic after his family saw a magician at the toy department at Marshall Fields in Chicago. He received a magic kit from his grandfather a few years later and from that day he developed a love of the “art of prestidigitation”, (magic). Now take notes because there will be a test later. Andrew moved from Chicago to Oak Park, IL where he attended OPRF High School and joined the high school magic club. While in high school he entered and won several magic competitions in comedy magic as well as in sleight of hand magic. He attended The University of Illinois at Chicago where he started a comedy troupe called “The Sometimes Circus”, performing magic and circus acts throughout the Chicago area. After graduating UIC with a degree in Child Psychology he started performing his acts around the Midwest. Andrew spent one summer touring with Garfield Goose and Company from WGN’s Garfield Goose show and also performed stand-up comedy at clubs like the “Funny Firm” in Chicago and local colleges. Andrew is an avid outdoorsman and has back-packed and canoed in much of the United States and Canada. He was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader for over 13 years where he taught camping skills, canoeing, boating, and magic skills to his scouts. He even led some high adventure canoe treks through the Canadian Boundary Waters with his troop. Since 2005 Andrew has been involved with children’s theatre where he helped start a local school theatre program and continues to help produce plays like “Annie”, “The Music Man”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “Guys and Dolls”, and many more. Besides helping to found the theatre group he is the master carpenter for stage production and set designer. Andrew is a firm believer in the importance of children’s theatre in elementary and high school. When Andrew is not performing shows for schools or parties you will find him with his wife Eva and children Matt, Wes & Veronika watching sunsets off their pier at their family lake house in Wisconsin. Besides boating and fishing as hobbies, Andrew is also a master carpenter and collects and restores antique cars. He is a member of The Society of American Magicians and looks forward to promoting the experience of magic for your children.

Andrew – kick things off for us – where does this story begin?

I grew up in Chicago in Humboldt Park in the 60s and 70s during a very rough time in that neighborhood. Lots of gang problems and was bullied a lot in grade school due to a bad speech impediment. My family moved to Oak Park for my freshman year of HS due to the problems in the neighborhood. Here I was a city kid with speech problems with no friends and low self-esteem. It was here that Oak Park River Forest High School recognized my speech problems and help me to correct them all (I can never be grateful enough for what they did for me). I had this magic set my grandfather had given to me that I really loved so I took a deep breath and overcame my social fears and joined the High School magic club. From then on my life was changed forever… I found a comic inside of me that was waiting to get out, I learned bigger and better tricks and illusions and by sophomore year I did my first ever paid magic show. I’ve been doing it full time and part time ever since. I have learned to be a magician, balloon twister/artist, fire eater, juggler, stilt walker, unicyclist, to name a few. I also perform as Santa Claus, Horrible Harry the Zombie Magician and many other characters. I have been back to full time the last 15 plus years and I specialize in Family/Children’s events. I perform everywhere from birthday party shows and family parties to schools, libraries and large and small festivals. I perform across the Midwest in large productions and have even done balloon twisting throughout the Bahamas for Royal Caribbean International. I am truly blessed because I wake up every day loving my work and I can’t wait to see the smiles and joy on the children’s faces. To go from an awkwardly introverted young man to a performer who can walk out onto a stage with a few hundred or thousand people with no butterflies and get them laughing and applauding for the next 45 minutes was and is a wonderful journey.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Like any small business owner it has not always been a smooth ride. My business is subject to people’s disposable income. During lean years ago times I have worked as a store manager as well a licensed home inspector and contractor. I am married to my beautiful Ewa for 25 years now and have 3 children with her. Matthew, Wes and Veronika. They have all helped me along the way. Affordable health insurance was always an issue and with 400-500 shows a year, my summers are my busiest so vacations sometimes suffered. Luckily we always had our lake house in Wisconsin to retreat to and I’m a boat nut so we have lots of motor boats, canoes, kayaks you name it to play with. People think I’m only working when I perform shows but there is a lot of behind the scenes time spent calling customers, doing contracts, and the everyday business paper work. There is also the countless hours spent perfecting your skills, building new props, writing new routines. Lots and lots of work, but, boy is it ever “fun” work…

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Kidzmagic story. Tell us more about the business.
I call my company Kidzmagic because I specialize in Family and Kidz entertainment. My bread and butter is probably the birthday party market and schools and libraries. Those shows are mostly magic with balloon twisting or just magic. I am also a top balloon twister in Chicago so I get lots of bookings for that by itself as well. I offer fire eating as an add on or act in itself. I also perform at many of Chicagoland’s hotels and country clubs as well as the zoos and restaurants. I offer so much more as well. You can have Santa Claus come to your party, I have dozens of characters I do from the Mad Hatter to my favorite “Horrible Harry the Zombie Magician”. I even have a classic 1990 Cadillac Hearse Horrible Harry drives around in. Horrible is so popular I started another company called Z.A.P. for Zombie Apocalypse Parties with my good friend Harris Kal of Harris Kal Productions. Harris is known for playing Bobby in the Happy Days TV show. We bring Zombie fun to everything from college campuses to corporate events. We’ll even invade you family party for a “little bite”.

I guess what set’s me apart from others and what I’m most proud of is my satisfied customers. I treat every party or event as if it’s the most important event I have. I take my advice from Walt Disney who insisted his parks were grand opening ready every day. Walt said that many of his guests may never be able to come back and he wanted each and every experience that had be the very best. That is what I strive for; that everybody I work with gets not only the best show, but also the most professional treatment. A lot of companies out there use weekend magicians with limited training and skills to cash in on the birthday or party market. My reviews speak for themselves that is why customers recommend me to others, hire me year after year and even change party dates and times so I can work their events.

We have also expanded into balloon decorating for events as well as kidz games for company picnics and schools and even arts and crafts for party events. I am not a face painter but I have face painters who offer cheek art, face painting, temporary tattoos and glitter tattoos as well.

Lastly I work with 4 adorable rabbits who travel everywhere with me performing at shows and having kidz and parents fall in love with them. CoCo Puffs, Milk Shake, Bubblez and Casper are all rescues and are the most trained and gentle rabbits you’ll ever meet. Sometimes I think I’m known more for being the “rabbit guy” than the magician I am.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck is nothing more than how you handle life’s challenges. If I never found my calling and stayed that insecure young man with the speech impediment I could say I suffer from bad luck. Instead I chose to follow my gut and stick with the magic and performing. You could say that that was lucky I did. Instead I prefer to be thankful that I followed my dream and through hard work, many mistakes, and a little bit of talent I succeeded. I think peoples greatest weakness or faults are is “they never tried”. And if they tried once and failed they gave up. If I gave up my juggling after dropping the clubs a few times I would never have learned how to juggle. It took lots of attempts and mistakes till I figured it out and became successful. We should all be more accepting of making mistakes and failing at times. It just adds to our learning experience, plus it probably makes for a funny story to tell at parties.

Pricing: