Susan’s city scene

EXIT THEATRE PRESENTS FOURTH ANNUAL “FOG CITY MAGIC FEST.” Magic returns to the EXIT Theatre with the Fourth Annual “Fog City Magic Fest,” co-curated by Master Magician Jay Alexander and SFBG’s 2018 Best Magician of the Bay Christian Cagigal. Held at the magic-friendly EXIT Theatre, where festival co-founder Christian Cagigal has been an Artist-in-Residence since 2006, “Fog City Magic Fest” features a wide array of special guest stars from around the country. Highlights include solo storyteller and magician David Hirata’s historical excavation, “The Jap Box”; the welcome return of NYC’s Peter Samelson; the magic of fan-favorite Jade; the EXIT’s first-ever Close-up Magic event hosted by Ryan Kane; a Saturday afternoon kids’ show with YouTube’s Grumpy Princess; and “Fog City Magic Fest’s” signature closing night MAGIC SLAM! — the Iron Chef of magic competitions. Four magicians are split into two teams, are given one secret ingredient (OK, it’s really more like three ingredients), and get 30 minutes to create the GREATEST MAGIC TRICK IN THE WORLD! This year’s contestants are Danté Mancini, Brian Scott (Discover Magic), Brad Barton (The Lost Church) and David Gerard (PianoFight). Who lives? Who dies? Come find out. Jan. 23 to Jan 26. The EXIT Theatre is located at 156 Eddy St. in San Francisco. Individual tickets ($20-$30) and seven-show passes ($100) are available at http://www.theexit.org/fog-city-3/.

Susan Cohn is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the American Theatre Critics Association. She may be reached at susan@smdailyjournal.com.