The MAZE to perform

Students at the University of South Dakota have the opportunity to be mesmoriezed by the magical performance brought by The MAZE.

The MAZE is a presentation full of illusion, intuition, psychology, humor and mystery that also discusses the ideas of truth and reality. The MAZE is a free event sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ and will be presented at the USD Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. at Aalfs Auditorium in Slagle Hall.

First-year graduate student Matthew Heiman has been in charge of directing the teams that set up the show. He also planned the event with The MAZE team. Heiman said The MAZE is similar to the stunts done by Chris Angel.

“The illusionist essentially looks to confuse his audience and uses illusions to do that,” Heiman said. “It encourages the discussion of reality and truth and things like that.”

The MAZE also focuses on entertainment, Heiman said.

“It has that creepy and kind of edgy feel to it as well as being entertaining throughout parts of the show,” Heiman said. “It also brings up an intelligent discussion. The point is to get people talking about issues of reality and truth that we don’t normally think about as college students all of the time.”

Sophomore Zach Firsick will be helping out with the security team when The MAZE arrives.

Firsick said The MAZE is an exciting show that is not only about the tricks, but is also a lot about life in more ways than circus stuff.

“It’s really something that tests your mind in more ways than one,” Firsick said.

Heiman said the presentation is a great opportunity for CRU to reach out to campus.

“It’s great to be intentional about causing the discussion of what is reality and what is truth, as well as having an incredibly entertaining show,” Heiman said.

Sophomore Jake Hemminway is in charge of the promotional advertising for the event.

Hemminway said there are posters all around campus advertising the event and a Facebook page.

“We’re also going to try to get more attention to the event by handing out postcards the day before and the day of,” Hemminway said. “The day of the event, the illusionist for The MAZE will be doing street magic and we’ll be walking around getting attention that way, too.”

Hemminway has seen videos of the The MAZE on the Internet and that the show is mind-blowing, he said.

“It makes you wonder what truth really is when you see this guy perform,” Hemminway said. “It’s going to be a really good show.”

The MAZE is a show that students are likely not to see anywhere other than Las Vegas, Firsick said.

“This show is something that people are going to be talking about before, during and after the event,” Firsick said. “It’s definitely a must-see because it’s such a big deal. It takes quite a bit to get The MAZE to a university. They’re a group that is constantly booking shows and is busy every week.”

The show is so enjoyable because The MAZE is one of the top-five rated shows that can be brought to college campuses, Hemminway said.

“It’s important to bring that to a college campus just because there’s so many different views. It gets really hard to tell what is truth and what is not so to bring that up and show that in this kind of an event is going to be awesome.”

Reach reporter Emily Niebrugge at

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