““Actor and 3rd generation, award-winning magician Dennis Watkins is remarkable.””
Click to listen to an interview with Dennis and WBBM’s Lisa Fielding.
Click the image to see Dennis Watkins on Windy City Live
Click the image to watch Dennis Watkins on Good Day Chicago
Click the image to see Dennis Watkins on CBS Miami
“Chicago’s Official Magic Man”
-Chicago Sun-Times
"The Magic Parlour" is a simple entertainment in the Ricky Jay Mold: old-fashioned trickery performed very well in an ideal setting by a man with a heart and a story who craves being close to his audience."
-The Chicago Tribune
“Watkins, a third-generation magician and mentalist, is a consummate showman—soft spoken yet wildly energetic, appealing to young and old alike.”
-Ed Tracy, Conversations with Ed Tracy (2025)
“…longtime Chicago favorite Dennis Watkins continues to astound audiences, seemingly reading their minds and committing other impossible feats with playing cards, dice and the other tools of the trade.”
-Robert Loerzel, WBEZ Chicago (2024)
“This show works so well because Dennis knows how to work his audience as few performers can.”
-Paul Lisnek, WGN Radio (2023)
“Watkins is a master at his craft — the magic tricks themselves, of course, but also at entertaining audiences.”
-Rachel Weinberg, Broadway World (2023)
“An absolute tour de force of mind-bending entertainment that left the audience in awe and wonderment.”
-Wesley David, Buzz Center Stage (2023)
“An intimate showcase for one trickster’s glorious deceptions.”
-Lawrence Bommer, Stage and Cinema (2016)
“…Mr. Watkins, a talented and warmly personable young third-generation magician, who amazes his audience with feats of mind reading and prestidigitation.”
-Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review (2015)
“Watkins, a top-notch magician, re-creates a number of illusions both classic… and unique, as in the astonishing Water Torture Cell escape.”
-Time Out Chicago (2012)
Dennis Watkins is featured in American Theatre Magazine. Click the here to read the article.
“Players 50 2025: Theater”
Dennis Watkins—“Descended from a lineage of magicians, Dennis Watkins has been called ‘Chicago’s premier resident magician’ (Chicago Tribune), and he has the chops to prove it… Watkins’ history of enchanting audiences is extensive, but he’s always innovating.”
-Newcity Stage
"The Players 2014: the fifty artists who are making the greatest impact on Chicago stages right now"
Dennis Watkins--This topnotch Chicago magician may be good at disappearing acts, but he’s even better at the inverse, appearing across Chicago and the country to perform his well-honed (and surprisingly funny) magic and mind-reading shows…
-New City News
“But what comes through clearly is Watkins’s gift for channeling both the acerbic and the transcendent as he walks the tightrope between showman and shaman.”
-The Chicago Reader
"Dennis Watkins dazzles in an enchanted evening of close-up magic."
-LA Splash Magazine
"Watkins' theatrical, mind-jazzing magical hybrid show, The Magic Parlour, is now in the beginning of its open run at the Palmer House Hotel in downtown Chicago."
-Broadway World
"Forget the over-the-top spectacles of David Blaine and Criss Angel. The most effective illusions are the simplest: an ordinary subject, a distraction or two, and an incredibly skilled performer."
-Miami New Times
“Death and Harry Houdini… soars on Dennis Watkins’ brilliance as a genuine magician and fearless stuntman.”