Ventriloquist works ‘gospel magic’
Posted on Saturday, May 3, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Religion/224632/
When Pam Medrez shares the Gospel, she often relies on the help of a dummy.
On a recent Sunday at St. Thomas Reformed Episcopal Church in Little Rock, her assistant was Stanley, the Ding-Dong Dodo Bird.
“Do you know what the greatest ship in the whole wide world is ?” Stanley asked.
“I don’t know,” Medrez told the blue-and-yellow-feathered puppet. “What is the greatest ship in the whole wide world ?”
Stanley stretched out his neck and answered: “It’s friendship !”
The pun drew smiles from three young churchgoers and the priest grinned, too. This wasn’t going to be a difficult audience.
Medrez, who uses the stage name “Mommy Magic,” is a Christian ventriloquist, magician and clown. She has performed at Vacation Bible Schools, church rallies and other religious gatherings throughout central Arkansas. Now, she also delivers the children’s sermon on the first and third Sundays of each month at St. Thomas, a small church in Hillcrest.
For Mommy Magic, serving God is a laughing matter.
“That’s where my heart is,” she said. “It comes naturally to me to pick up a puppet and start talking about the Gospel.... When people are happy and smiling, they’re more relaxed. Their hearts are softened, and you’re ready to tell them about Jesus.”
EASTER DEBUT She first performed at St. Thomas at its Easter service. The Rev. John Lohmann, the church’s rector, said looking out at the faces of the children and adults in the congregation, he could see her ministry was having an impact. “There’s something she’s able to capture by using those puppets,” Lohmann said. “No matter what I would do, it’s not going to sink in with the children as well.” The first time Medrez played a clown, she felt as if her prayers had been answered. The mother of three girls put on a silly wig and some loud makeup for her daughter Sonya’s fifth birthday party. She did a magic trick, made two balloon animals and was such a hit, a parent asked for her business card. “I had been praying and praying for years for a creative way to supplement my husband’s income so I could stay home with my children,” Medrez said. “It just hit me: This may be it.” She left her job as a medical transcriptionist, and over the next few years performed at birthday parties here and there. She refined her makeup, learned how to perform more magic tricks and taught herself to make more balloon creations including beaded necklaces and bracelets. She also continued to perform at most of her daughters ’ birthday parties. Having a clown for a mom was “kind of cool,” said her youngest daughter, Vanessa. “Everybody in my classes knew my mom was a clown,” she said. “Everybody was really excited about it.”
TEST AUDIENCE Vanessa, who just completed her freshman year at University of Central Arkansas in Conway, said she and her sisters were often her mother’s test audience. “Every time she learned something new, she’d run into my room to show me,” she recalled. “One thing about my mom, she always wanted me to be honest with her. If it was horrible, I could tell her, ‘Oh God, what is that ?’ And she’d take it well and keep on working.” About 10 years ago, Pam Medrez added ventriloquism to her act. She first practiced speaking without moving her lips in the car. She angled her rearview mirror, so she could watch her lips. At home, she rehearsed with a dictionary and tape recorder. She tabbed the words with B’s, P’s, V’s and W’s, made up sentences with them and then played back the recorder to hear whether the words were understandable. She continued practicing like that for about four months, sometimes squawking like a puppet soprano, other times booming like a puppet bass. One day when she was practicing a skit in the shower, her then-husband came home for lunch and heard what he thought was a man’s voice. “He stood in the hallway, and said, ‘What’s going on ?’” she said. “That’s how I knew I was able to go out and do a show.” She also credits Jim Henson, the owner of Mr. Magic & Novelties in Little Rock, with boosting her confidence in her ventriloquism.
‘ OUT OF THIS WORLD’ “She’s good at magic and she’s a good singer, but her ventriloquism is just out of this world,” Henson said. “Everybody in our [magic ] club is impressed with her.”
Medrez was the first ventriloquist to join Local Ring 29 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and recently received the club’s award for “Female Performer of the Year.”
Henson, a member of Mabelvale Church of Christ, also encouraged her to use her clowning and sleight of hand as her ministry. He said “gospel magic” is a vibrant field.
“It’s not intended to replace the Scripture, what she’s doing,” he said. “She tells the story in such a way that it’s easy for the kids to remember the story she’s trying to tell.”
Medrez said she still relies on performances at parties and festivals to pay most of her bills. But the church work is her passion.
She grew up in the Churches of Christ and developed Stanley, the Ding-Dong Dodo Bird, one of her earliest characters, for a Church of Christ rally in the late 1990 s. She also has performed at Baptist, Catholic, Methodist and nondenominational churches. She’s now a member of St. Thomas Reformed Episcopal Church.
Her early performances were mostly memorized. But after a while, Stanley kind of developed his own personality, she said. It’s what ventriloquists call a “split,” when a puppet seems to have its own mind.
In addition to Stanley, her characters include Patriotic Annie, another dodo bird; Norton T. Snickerdoodles, a middle-age man; and Elizabeth, a 3-year-old girl who tells Bible stories. She recently added Betty the Buzzard, a genteel Southern belle.
But Stanley remains one of her favorites.
“I always tell the kids that Stanley is a puppet and every puppet needs a hand,” she said. “One day I did a gospel show and this child kept saying, ‘I know what’s going on. That’s not real. That’s not real. ’”
By the time the show was over, however, she’d dispelled his doubts.
“He was the first one up for a balloon. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, ‘ He’s alive, isn’t he ?’” Pam Medrez as “Mommy Magic” will join Mark Lohmann, the Rev. Lohmann’s son, in performing at a Children’s Fun Day at 4 p. m. May 18 at St. Thomas Reformed Episcopal Church, 4411 Woodlawn Drive in Little Rock. Medrez’ s Web site is mommymagicclown. com