Rob Teszka

Our featured speaker for March is the charming and irreverent magician Rob Teszka who will share his fascinating experiences and struggles with creativity through the lens of the global theme PERSPECTIVE.

Weaving interesting stories and unusual ideas together with wit and skill, Teszka entertains at a variety of public festivals and private events, is the president of the Fraser Valley Magic Company, and has toured across Canada with his solo Fringe show. The thing he's most proud of though, is producing and hosting the monthly Parlour Magic Show, Vancouver's own variety magic show that just entered its 4th year!
Incidentally, Rob hated writing this bio for himself, because bragging is really quite unnatural for him. A favourable review once called him "a genuine eccentric". It's probably because he knots his own bow ties.

Every month we ask our speaker a handful of probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into their life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?

Sometimes, a person gets driven to express a Thing, by -any means necessary-. Creativity is the practice of solving problems that get in the way of fully communicating the Thing. My chosen medium happens to be magic, which is beautifully cross-disciplinary and lets you express even the impossible. There is a Thing that should not be: and yet, here it is. To bring my Things to life I have dipped my paintbrush into many disciplines: acting, engineering, standup comedy, improv, psychology, puppetry, clown, storytelling--and whatever else I've needed to express the Thing.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

Seeing live performance! My cup is always refilled whenever I go to a show, and fills most quickly when I'm at a festival and seeing all the shows I can. Especially the weird ones.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

Rob! It's me, you from the future! That feeling you feel, when in front of an audience? It's JOY. It doesn't have to be rare. You can find it in so many different ways. Don't let the bastards grind you down--you are allowed to pursue joy! DO IT!

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

Why not both? Have Erwin Schrödinger on. Ha! But for real: I'd be interested to see P.T Barnum, the infamous humbug and sideshow exhibitionist. I suspect he'd be wildly entertaining, but also insightful about North American showbiz culture, the way spin and bluster dazzle the public, and the real power of a fake story. Alas, he was waaaaaay more problematic than his portrayal by Hugh Jackman in the Greatest Showman musical would suggest, so it's probably for the best that we'll just have to imagine what he'd say.

How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?

I entertain by using lies to share truths—and am disarmingly open about the lying part.

What keeps you awake at night?

My goddamned phone. I am as a moth to its artificial glow.

What's your one guilty creative indulgence?

I like popcorn movies and prefer pulpy genre to literary fiction! For instance: my favourite movies are Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ghostbusters, and I love cozy murder mysteries and Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. I don't really watch movies or read books that make me feel sad or weird, and I guess I feel guilty about it because I'm seeking fun escapism rather than erudition? Heavens, what will become of my pretentious reputation!

What fact about you would surprise most people?

I'm a vaguely competent pianist and singer, and can convincingly accompany myself on the ukulele.