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Jesse Brodhagen couldn't have been older than 9 when he saw Tucson illusionist turn a balloon into a rabbit

"He would blow up a balloon, put the balloon in the box and pop the box and a rabbit was there," he recalled. "That was probably the first magician I ever saw and being as little as I was, like, wow, this is so cool."

That one trick set the life path for the now 17-year-old homeschooled high school senior.

On Saturday, Aug. 16, he will join nearly a dozen Tucson magicians for , presented by the Tucson chapter of the .

It will be his first-ever performance before an audience that is not exclusively family and friends.

Is he nervous?

"Oh yeah, for sure," he said last week as he worked on the classic "Zombie Ball" trick he plans to do with his time on the Temple of Music and Art stage.

Veteran magician has done more shows than he can count in his 40 years of performing magic, but this will be his first Stars of Magic.

It also will be before his biggest magic audience; C. Tofer, aka theater director and longtime Tucson actor Christopher Younggren, mostly does table side close up magic in private homes and local restaurants, including at the Roadhouse Cinema's sister venue  Lanes, Games and Gastropub.

"It's more what's called parlor, or even close up," he said, describing his artform as more one-on-one interactive magic. "It's a more intimate style of magic, more suited for smaller groups. I think magic is most interesting when the spectator is involved rather than just a passive observer. I think it stays with you longer."

Which could explain why Younggren has never been on the Stars of Magic stage in its 36 years.

That's changing this year after he got an invite from veteran Tucson illusionist John Shryock, who curates the annual showcase for the magic club. 

"Every magician in Tucson who's a performer should do Stars of Magic at some point," said Shryock, who has been a part of the show since its start in 1988.

In fact, Shryock's performance at that event launched his professional career, landing him a show at Hollywood's storied Magic Castle.

Back in the 1970s and '80s when when Shryock was growing up in Tucson, the city had a vibrant magic scene, much of it centered around Williams Magic & Novelties shop on East 22nd Street. The shop was open for 25 years when owner Emory C. Williams Sr. closed in 2013; he reopened a few years later at , 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road, where his son, Emory C. Williams Jr., continues to run the store.

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Williams Sr. died last year. 

The younger Williams said the shop, open from 6 to 9 nightly, is no longer a magnet for local magicians; he said he mostly sells novelties to tourists.

Tucson magicians instead are turning to TikTok and online vendors for the latest tricks, Shryock said, and some like Jesse are finding that camaraderie in the Society of American Magicians magic club.

That's where Shyrock first met Jesse, who recently joined the club after spending years scouring magic books at the library and taking his cues from other local magicians he had seen perform. 

"I've only been a member for a little bit, but they've all kind of really helped me out and kind of given me advice and ... a lot of support," Jesse said. "It's been awesome. That's what I like about magic; I love the camaraderie. I like being able to share what I know and have them help me out."

Jesse and Younggren are the two newbies on the Stars of Magic lineup, which fits Shyrock idea of bringing in new faces each year to grow the event.

Performers are given performance times based on their experience, with most not going over 10 minutes. Jesse, the youngest magician on Saturday's lineup, figures he will get around 4 minutes, just enough time to perform his floating ball trick.

"I've actually been working on it for a long, long time, really trying to perfect it," he said. "There's a lot of mime in it and a lot of acting to make it really entertaining so I've worked on trying to choreograph it to music and work on mime skills and stuff like that."

"What was so great about Jesse is, he showed up at the first rehearsal session ... and the improvements he made every time he showed up was just really fun to watch," Shryock said.

Younggren might have time for more than one trick, but his main focus, he said, is a new twist on a classic rope trick.

"I don't want to say too much about it because it's a variation on an old standby," he said. "But it's a new method that I don't think anybody's really seen before."

Jesse and Younggren join a cast that includes:

• Stars of Magic coordinators and veteran illusionists  and his wife/assistant Mari Lynn, longtime regulars on storied stages including The Magic Castle, Caesars Palace and Warren & Annabelle's.
• ´¡³¦³Ù´Ç°ù/³¾²¹²µ¾±³¦¾±²¹²ÔÌý, whose repertoire includes card, coin and sleight of hand tricks along with puppetry, mentalism and juggling.
• Engineer/moonlighting magician  teams up with the Shyrock's teen daughter Jasmine. Maybe the pair will revisit last year's box trick.
• Retired Tucson baker  specializes in up-close and interactive comedy magic.
• Herford ventriloquist and comedy magician  has performed his clean comedy-magic show around the country.
• Expect to see throwback classic magic tricks from .
• Award-winning illusionist Ross the Magician (Ross Horwitz) takes his cues from the master, Houdini.
•  (Mike Bekedam) was inspired by his teaching career to take the path to magic, mesmerizing young kids with his sleight of hand and close-up tricks.
• Alan "The G-Man" Vanderploeg really was once a "G Man." The retired FBI agent has been dabbling in magic and juggling for more than four decades.

Stars of Magic, now in its 37th year, is the state's longest-running magic show and one of the biggest; some 15,000 people have attended over the years.

Saturday's show begins at 7 p.m. at the Temple of Music and Art, downtown. Advance tickets are $22, $16 for kids 12 and younger through ; it's $26 and $20 at the door with proceeds benefitting the non-profit Society of American Magicians Tucson Assembly 136.