Sam Sandler, known as the nation’s top deaf magician, will perform at 1 p.m. Friday, May 10 at Sussex County Community College’s Performing Arts Center. The show is free. (Photo provided)
Sam Sandler, known as the nation’s top deaf magician, will perform at 1 p.m. Friday, May 10 at Sussex County Community College’s Performing Arts Center.
The show, offered through the college’s Campus Life Office, is free and open to the public.
Sandler, who hails from Philadelphia, lost his hearing in 2009.
“That first year and a half, I didn’t handle it well,” he said. “I withdrew from magic; I withdrew from everything. I was a full-time single dad at the time. I wasn’t making enough money to pay my bills that year and a half.
“At one point, I sold my furniture to buy food for my daughter. I lost my house to foreclosure and was homeless all of a sudden as a single dad; that was pretty much the lowest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Sandler says his journey into deafness sparked a surge of creativity as he navigated the absence of traditional auditory cues relied on by other magicians.