Choaties Hypnotized Hypnotist James Mapes Entrances Audience in the Paul Mellon Arts Center Main Theater
By JungHa Lim '09
News Staff Reporter
“Just relax. Focus on a spot on the back of your neck, focus and relax…. Now focus on a spot on your right shoulder, focus and relax… then move your focus to a spot on your left shoulder this time, focus and relax….”
Many students in the PMAC theater fell into a deep, enchanted trance as the voice of hypnotist James Mapes captivated the audience on Saturday, October 13. Eager to see one of the most anticipated performances of the 2007-2008 school year, Choate students remained huddled by the PMAC doors a full hour before the performance despite the unexpected cold. When the doors were finally unlocked and the excited students were permitted into the theater at last, they were not disappointed.
When the tall, black-clad figure of James Mapes emerged onstage, the chattering audience became deafeningly silent. Capturing the audience’s attention at once, Mapes started his performance with an intriguing story about the flawed origin of the word “hypnosis.” He explained that although the term originated from the Greek word “hypnos,” which meant sleep, this was actually a grossly inaccurate description of the actual nature of hypnosis. Hypnosis, according to Mapes, was not simply a form of sleep; rather, it was a heightened state of awareness, a state of complete and total relaxation.
The rest of the performance, almost two hours long, went by in a blur. Even after the show, the audience found it extremely difficult to pinpoint a single spectacular moment of the show. Maybe the pinnacle of it all was when every single hypnotized person on-stage burst into peals of spastic laughter for no apparent reason. Or would it be that time when David Lim ’09 was incarcerated in a virtual box, unable to reach the several hundred dollars that Mapes was waving teasingly in his face? Or would it be the moment when Mapes stamped his feet twice on-stage for the second time, and the hypnotized members of the audience burst out of their chairs, giggling with glee at the pleasant sensation on their rear ends, and glanced at whoever was behind them, smiling coquettishly? Would it be when the hypnotized students on-stage spontaneously danced in a frenzy, handling everything from ballet to the twist to street dancing with remarkable ease? Perhaps the highlight of the day was the regression in time, when Amy Hackett ’10, Nitin Kumar ’11, and Melody Travers ’08 unintentionally recollected their pasts? The debate continued late into the night and even several days after.
The response of the audience was overwhelmingly positive. Sarah Gromet ’09 had nothing but praise for the performance, claiming that it “was truly an amazing act, and those who didn’t see him missed out massively.” Janell Boone ’09 compared this year’s act to the hypnotist performance last year, explaining that “he was more professional than the guy who came last year, which made him that much better.” Furthermore, Ashli Austin ’09, who was one of the hypnotized students, added that she was “genuinely hypnotized” and that she “really [liked] that he ended on a positive note and didn’t negatively influence anyone.” Many people expressed doubts about the art of hypnosis and insisted that the students who were hypnotized were simply very skilled actors. However, the actual people that underwent hypnosis confessed that they had indeed achieved the heightened state of mind that James Mapes had so emphasized.
Just before he ended his performance, James Mapes offered a suggestion to those that were hypnotized: the next time they see his show; he ordered them to come up on-stage, plop into a chair, and fall asleep the next time they see him perform a specific demonstration involving a lemon. Who knows? Maybe ten, twenty years from now, a few of us will attend his performance again. And maybe a few of us will be drawn up on-stage again, this time against our will, and slip into subconsciousness. Maybe.
