For many Boston College students dining in Mac this January, meals came with an additional side: magic tricks. 

Enter Alden Beals, MCAS ’29, and Jackson Dhane, MCAS ’29, with cards shuffled, split, and fanned out to tables throughout the dining hall. 

Their opening line? “Pick a card, any card.” 

United by their shared interest and skill in card tricks, Beals and Dhane began Purple Rain Magic this January to perform card tricks around campus and the greater Boston area.

“Once I did a trick and I found out [Alden] also knew some tricks, I was like, ‘Let’s make some up,’ like, ‘Let’s figure some more out,’” Dhane said. “This would be really fun to kind of go out and just do magic to people.”

What began as an on-campus venture has expanded to include official gigs at other universities, the duo shared. 

Their audience, too, has grown—in addition to students at BC and other Boston-area schools, the duo gave an impromptu performance to the TikTok sensation Angel Wiley, known on the app as “Chopped Chin,” according to a video on the group’s Instagram page.

Beals said that the inspiration for his and Dhane’s venture occurred in an unlikely place: El Jefe’s Taqueria. 

“We were in El Jefe’s a couple of weeks ago, and we got, we were just doing [magic] in line for people, and people were like really impressed by what we were doing,” Beals said. “So we were like, ‘Yo, wait a minute, there could be, like, a business here.’”

Despite forming a few weeks ago, Purple Rain Magic has already secured official bookings at events across Boston, according to Beals. 

“We got hired by some BU kids to go to a birthday party,” Beals said. “When we were going around Mac, a couple groups said they would let us know when they have a birthday party.”

Finding new opportunities to perform depends heavily on word of mouth, according to Beals and Dhane.

“Word of mouth spreads fast,” Dhane said. “You do one magic trick for someone, and all of a sudden, you have a group of five people watching you like, ‘Do one for me.’”

Engaging new audiences requires a willingness to promote their business.

“Last weekend, we went to one of the BC parties,” Beals said. “You kind of stand off to the side, and if people are walking by, you know, you just are like ‘Hey, you guys wanna see a magic trick?’”

Oliver Peck, LSEHD ’29 and Beals’ roommate, emphasized the pair’s courage in putting themselves out there in advertising and performing.

“I was also eating with my friends at dinner, and I saw Jackson and Alden just going around Mac at dinner time,” Peck said. “I actually, like, really applauded him for that, because it, like, that takes a lot of nerve to just go up to random people and do magic tricks.”

Beals’ interest in magic began as a child, he said.

“I’d always known a couple magic tricks growing up, like ones that I would just do at, like, family reunions or parties,” Beals said.

Yet, since arriving at BC and meeting Dhane, his passion for the craft has only grown.

A large component of developing their repertoire of skills is inventing unique tricks, Dhane added.

“We take, like, components of other tricks, and kind of combine them together and just try to create new tricks with it,” Dhane said. “You know, kind of trying to make it like a bigger and better trick.”

This development process involves two additional key players: Beals and Dhane’s respective roommates.

“Jackson practices his tricks on me,” said Peck. “I know, like all of his routines—I’m like his little guinea pig.”

Drew Webster, CSOM ’29 and Dhane’s roommate, shared similar sentiments. 

“I feel like I’m kind of like the guinea pig for Alden,” Webster said. “He’ll try and see if they work, or if I’m able to catch, like, where he’s doing sleight of hand.”

Despite all of the duo’s practice, tricks do not always go according to plan, Beals explained.

“They’ve gone wrong, and then you just have to, like, redeem yourself,” Beals said. “You play it off, it’s like, ‘Oh, here’s another trick,’ then you take your backup trick, and then you just do that one.”

Generally, their work has generated positive reactions, the duo said. 

Yet, they still face some negative feedback on social apps such as Fizz, Beals shared. 

“It really depends on who you ask,” Beals said. “There were definitely a lot of people that really enjoyed it.”

Purple Rain Magic provides the unique opportunity for Beals and Dhane to make money through their work, according to Webster.

“It seems cool,” Webster said. “It’s like a good opportunity for him to just make a little bit of money while doing something he likes.”

Peck also emphasized the passion that Beals, alongside Dhane, puts into the business.

“I think what he’s doing is really cool,” Peck said. “He found a passion, and he’s running with it. He’s turning it into a profitable business that brings joy, spreads joy.”

Beals and Dhane also inspire others, Peck shared.

“When [Jackson] was doing magic tricks on me, it actually got me to start looking at magic tricks,” Peck said. “I went on YouTube, and I went down, like, an hour-long rabbit hole of magic tricks.”

For the duo, Purple Rain Magic is the product of hard work and an eagerness to hone their skills.

“It’s just a lot of practice,” Beals said. “Before I started doing any magic tricks, like this year, I didn’t even know how to shuffle a deck of cards, and now it’s like second nature.”