Students get charged up at annual hypnosis show

| Caitlin Martin reporter |

Fryendz Wallace spent his night on Wednesday playing the role of a member of the Laughter Police by the name of Officer Laughs-a-Lot.
With a serious demeanor, he handed out tickets to members of Terry DaVolt’s audience who showed even a hint of laughter at the High Voltage Hypnosis Comedy Show in the Overman Student Center.
The Student Activities Council hosted DaVolt’s self-proclaimed “energizing, electrifying, and amazing” show in the nearly full Crimson and Gold Ballroom.
After coming out of the hypnosis, Wallace, freshman in psychology, said that he felt great.
“It was just nice,” he said.
The show began with DaVolt, clad in a bright purple suit jacket, choosing around 30 students to join him onstage and become the stars of the show. While under hypnosis, the participants acted out seeing a funny movie, becoming a jockey in the Kentucky Derby, relaxing and sweating on their favorite beach, and even freezing in a blizzard in Alaska.
DaVolt also made the participants see things that were not really there such as their favorite ice cream, a pet bird on their finger, and a voodoo doll that led participants in a series of dance moves.
“There were a lot of the same things in it, but with different people it’s always a different show,” Ashley Keller, sophomore in math said.
DaVolt has been putting on hypnosis shows for 15 years, but has been performing for nearly twice that long in shows such as the Ringling Brothers Circus. DaVolt attended clown college and then moved on to other endeavors such as developing a Wild West variety show and touring with country music group Brooks and Dunn in their Neon Circus and Wild West Show.
“My favorite part is seeing the reactions,” DaVolt said. “Every show is different … We can do the same, what I call daydreams, skits, but we’ll have different people and get different reactions and have different fun.”
Throughout the show, DaVolt puts an emphasis on his volunteers feeling relaxed during and after the show.
Adam Townsend, senior in commercial graphics who was hypnotized at the event, said, “I feel loose.”
SAC puts on events like hypnotist shows solely for the entertainment of students.
“I think it’s wonderful,” said Sarah Nistler, junior in math education, “especially for the new students because it really gets them involved and gives them lots of opportunities for all their different interests instead of just keeping it to sporting events where if you don’t like sports then you don’t have an option to get involved.”
But DaVolt says the real entertainment comes from the actions of the participants.
“The volunteers are the stars of the show,” said DaVolt. “The show’s not about me; it’s about all of my volunteers.”