Last Sunday, Sue and I were invited to return to the Somerset County Jail in Madison, Maine to do a special Christmas service. They have the most beautiful chapel I've ever seen in a jail, or any institution, really. There are eight paintings on the cement block wall that look like stained glass windows. They are very realistic, and were painted by inmates.
After a nice drive together on a Sunday morning, we arrived at the jail and were escorted into the chapel. We set up our show, and the audience arrived shortly afterwards. We were very pleased that, along with some of the male population, every female inmate (a dozen in all) came out to the service. We had a lot of fun warming up the audience with my three ball routine followed by a mind reading effect in which I predict the name of a celebrity written down by an inmate selected at random.
As we moved deeper into the show, we did a variety of routines designed to share the significance of Christ coming to earth 2 millennium ago. There was clearly a church influence in many of these people's lives, and they really appreciated the message.
I ended with the dollar in the lemon effect. I use this one to teach the verse "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart." As we got to the climax of the routine, the woman who had been holding the lemon for the entire routine was called up to cut into the fruit for the big 'reveal'. I joking told her that I usually give the audience volunteer a knife to cut into it, but "The guy at the front desk wouldn't let me bring one in today." I encouraged her to peel it by hand. Without hesitation the young lady bit the lemon in half! Juice squirted everywhere and made a colossal mess. This was truly the high point of the show. She pulled the bill, previously vanished from an envelope held by another volunteer, out of the lemon and showed it to all. She talked to us afterwards, and said she knew how to juggle, so I let her have three balls to show me. She was actually pretty good, and I taught her to steal.
Two days after this gig, I got an e-mail from our contact there and he has invited us back for Easter. We'll be there.