The Artist Series Presents Steve Trash - Big Green Show 1/16/2010

That's the eco-empowering message that green entertainer Steve Trash - Rockin' Eco Hero and Kid Comedian - brings to adoring fans all over the planet. Since 1984, Steve Trash has entertained over 20 million kids with live ecological illusions, magic tricks, and family-friendly fun appearing in live venues all over the world including Japan, Australia, Canada. He's even performed his magic tricks above the Arctic Circle. Steve Trash's Big Green Show will be performed at the Wilson Center for the Arts on Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 1:30PM for one performance only!

It seems that adults are enjoying the show too. Steve Trash was voted number 11 on the 2007 FAST 50 - Reader Favorites "list of entrepreneurs making the world a better place to live" by online readers of Fast Company Magazine.

Over his career he's appeared on CBS This Morning, ESPN's Outdoors, CNBC's America's Talking and on VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown. He's been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CBS Marketwatch, Film Threat, Movie Maker Magazine, Magic Magazine, Alabama Business Magazine, Boxing News, and he's even been featured on the cover of the kids' magazine The Weekly Reader.

Steve really enjoys performing both amazing close-up sleight of hand magic tricks like changing pieces of newspaper into money, and big illusions like balancing a woman on a wooden crutch four feet off the stage. Every trick he performs has an eco-friendly message.

Steve Trash (not his given name) was born in Texas and raised in Alabama. It was his Mom who first inspired his love of recycling and magic, buying him picture-filled magic books to help him with his severe dyslexia. He took to magic naturally, and by the time he reached college, he was well on his way to becoming one of the world's first eco-entertainers.

Steve Trash graduated with a degree in theater from the University of North Alabama in 1984, before taking his act to the streets - literally. He spent the next eight years working as a "busker" or street performer in New York, LA, Miami, and Tokyo. Steve would gather his trash tricks, head for the local park and perform for the locals and the tourists. It was a great way to polish his act making it funnier and better, and allowing him to develop his skills. Most importantly to Steve at the time, it made him the money he needed to pay his rent.

In 1990 Steve wrote, produced, and starred in a theatrical show called simply "Trash." The concept was to integrate his magic tricks with a scripted live play. It worked, and the show ran for eight weeks in Hollywood at Theater/Theatre. At one point during its run the Los Angeles Times declared the show "the best of the weekend."

Steve continued to tour nationally and internationally throughout the 1990's. During this time he also ventured into TV, which proved to be a pivotal point in his career. He created a kids program called The Steve Trash TV Show, which cemented his Rockin' Eco Hero and Kid Comedian persona. The show featured a set of magic tricks all designed to show kids the importance - and value - of recycling.

The Steve Trash TV Show aired on Comcast Cable Network where it was hailed as the "coolest eco show on TV."

But that program was just the beginning. Steve Trash is a creative dynamo, constantly developing tricks, live one-man shows, scripts for movies, ideas for stop-motion animation, artwork with trash, and TV show concepts. In fact Steve Trash created his own TV Production Company called Concrete Dream Pictures, which currently has severAl Green TV projects in development.

In 2009, his 30-minute video Kids Making Better Choices received the Outstanding Project Award by the Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils. It also won a national Kids First endorsement.

Much of the material for these shows gets worked out in his home studio in Frog Pond, Alabama - population 76 when Steve's on the road. Frog Pond Manor is an earth-birmed home (that means it's partially buried in the earth, which allows the natural insulating abilities of dirt to warm and cool it). It features all the eco-amenities you'd expect: on-demand gas water heater, a walk-in recycling closet, and of course a HUGE pile of junk out back that he assures his wife "I'm gonna use someday... I promise!"

In 2009, Steve Trash made a splash in a completely different market: toys. The Official Steve Trash Green Magic Set, manufactured by green toy maker Imagiplay in Boulder, Colorado, made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York City. This, the worlds' first green-themed and green-made magic set, won the American Specialty Retailers Associations "Share of the Fair" list of outstanding toys.

Steve Trash is a member of the National Recycling Coalition, the North American Environmental Education Association, the Coalition for Quality Children's Media and he's a founding board member of Keep the Shoals Beautiful, a non-profit organization with the mission of protecting and enhancing The Shoals area of northwest Alabama.

Most of all Steve Trash loves to entertain kids, spreading the message that yes, you can do something to help the environment - and have fun doing it.

STEVE TRASH'S BIG GREEN SHOW will be performed at the WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS (located at 11901 Beach Blvd. at the Florida State College at Jacksonville South Campus) on January 16, 2010 at 1:30PM for one performance only. Tickets cost $18.00.

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