Once while performing, Patrick Connor told a fellow juggler, “What we do is kind of silly.”
The entertainer responded: “No, no, what we do is very important. When we do a show, we elevate everybody’s mood.”
Connor, whose stage name is Fantastick Patrick, will spin a plate on his face while playing the ukulele and perform other crazy stunts on March 6 at the Orlin Trapp Auditorium in Waukegan.
There he hopes to elevate the moods of audiences as he has been doing for two decades either alone or with fellow entertainers at various venues around the world. He’s also been on television, juggling while impersonating Meryl Streep during the Emmys in 2019.
The show is sponsored by the Lake County Community Concert Association, which sells season and individual tickets.
Connor loves his work, he said, because “you don’t know when you’re performing if someone is dealing with a cancer diagnosis or their dad is sick, and maybe you made them feel lighter for a little bit,” he said. “That in itself is worth it.”
He includes music and audience participation in each show, tailoring it to specific crowds. His shows are suitable for all ages, he said.
Connor said his choice for life’s work was influenced by others while growing up. “There’s early childhood, that very special time in your life, plus high school and college, when we meet people who are very consequential in the direction of our life,” he said.
Still, it was a fluke that he learned to juggle. When he was about 10 years old and growing up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, his mom got a deep discount on tuition for a circus camp at a community college.
“It was three weeks long. I loved it. I learned juggling and riding the unicycle.”
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The next year, he attended the camp again. “They made me a star of the show. I made the front page of the newspaper. It was very exciting,” he recalled. “It instilled confidence in me. I wasn’t good in academics or sports.” But he could juggle and make people laugh.
He nurtured his performing skills by playing guitar and singing and acting in high school plays. His college theater teacher sent him to a conference where he was asked to audition for a five-man juggling show.
He juggled some batteries and was cast for four months.
Connor, who admits to still getting the jitters before going on stage, said his first year doing the five-man juggling show, “I was terrible. I was the worst person there. But I had committed to it.”
When he returned the following summer, he met Alex Clark and Dave Kaplan, and together they traveled Europe putting on shows. Clark will open for Connor when he comes to Waukegan.
“They breathed this life into me,” Connor recalled. “They had this energy. We teamed up and sometimes did solo shows. It was a big experiment.”
While in Canada, Connor watched a street performer who had the skill of gaining everyone’s attention, even just by the looks he gave.
“I thought, that’s magic right there. I want to learn how to do that,” Connor said. “Then began my life long quest to always get an audience’s attention.”
At his show, the audience can expect tricks they’ve never seen before, he said. “I combine music with circus skills, be-bopping with juggling or playing classical music on a ukulele while spinning a plate on my face.
“I’ve never seen anybody do it before, combining two things into a show and making it an audible, as well as visual experience.”
Connor also improvises, creating situations that require audience involvement.
“I like the audience to not feel like I’m doing the same show at each venue. I want it to be a new experience, an authentic experience for them,” he said.
Connor has traveled to do more than 100 shows in a year. He has a supportive family, he said, adding his wife is in the movie business and his 10-year-old daughter plays several musical instruments.
Connor admitted even with years of experience, he gets nervous before performing. “If you don’t get nervous, that shows you don’t care, someone once told me. I think there’s some truth in that.”
He said he takes his nervous energy and converts it to excitement for the show ahead. “And I’ll say a prayer before I go on.”
Fantastick Patrick
When: 3 p.m. March 6
Where: Orlin Trapp Auditorium, Waukegan High School, 2325 Brookside, Waukegan
Tickets: $30
Information: 847-281-5209, lakecountyconcerts.org
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.