LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — Before Dr. Todd Cooper performed magic for an audience, some of his earliest spectators were sitting in a dental chair.
Sometimes, it was a nervous child waiting for an appointment. Cooper found that a card trick or a little sleight of hand could provide a distraction, break the tension and occasionally get a laugh. It was a small part of his work as a dentist, but it gave Cooper another way to connect with people. And he kept doing it.
What started with tricks in the dental office gradually followed Cooper into restaurants, birthday parties and other gatherings around Southern Maryland. More than 15 years after becoming a dentist, Cooper is still treating patients during the day — but he has also become a professional magician.
His latest character is Detective Ace Smittee of the Magic Crimes Division, a detective with an unusual case to solve: Somebody has murdered a magician. Not really, of course. The victim is fictional. So is the crime. But solving it gives Cooper a chance to bring together the different pieces of an interest that began years ago in his dental office.
“It’s a magic show wrapped inside a murder mystery,” Cooper said. “But the audience is really the star of the show. They’re not just sitting there watching me do tricks. They’re part of the story.”
Where The Magic Started
Cooper has worked as a dentist since 2009 at Tidewater Dental, a practice his father founded in 1977. It was there that magic first became more than a hobby. The tricks helped Cooper interact with patients, particularly children who might be nervous about being at the dentist. Eventually, he became curious about what he could do in front of a different kind of audience.
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