As fog rises on the dark stage, a man lies on the ground and levitates to chest height as a table rolls under him. He comes down and lands on its surface, while Martha Bull '07 throws a white sheet over him. Next, he levitates 15 feet in the air. When he reaches his final height, Bull's uncle David whips the sheet away, and the man has vanished. After a few moments, Bull and the levitated man run back on stage to bow. In past shows, she has been the one floating in the air, but says she prefers dancing during the act.

"It's boring when you have been levitating since you were two," Bull said.

Marco the Magi's Production of Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company was listed as "the longest running resident stage magic show" by The Guinness Book of World Records in 2001. Now entering its 28th year, the Magic Company still exists in Beverly, Massachusetts and Bull goes home every Sunday to perform as part of its cast.

"I've been in it my whole life," she said. "It's such a big part of my life, it's hard to explain what part it plays. The entire show moves so fluidly, it's not about who's helping whom, just that we're out there doing our best."

Her godfather, Cesareo Pelaez, or "Marco the Magi," was a Cuban refugee who came to the United States and then went to Brandeis, where he studied psychology with Abraham Maslow. After traveling and pursuing other interests, he became a professor at Salem State College. It was here that the he gathered a group of his students and started the Magic Company.

"The thing about the Magic Company is that it's not a group of people who try to be stars on stage or perform for reasons of self-gratification, but rather everybody's interested in keeping a positive attitude toward life," Bull said.

The show, which is actually performed in two old theaters that the company restored, is done in a Vaudeville style, reminiscent of New York at the turn of the 20th century.

Acts in the show include animals, a combination of dance numbers including one with tap dancing scarecrows and cows, barbershop singing, a juggling act, music with trumpets and piano playing, magic tricks, levitation and metamorphosis, which involves people switching places. Bull appears in many of these, specializing in dance.

"I've been doing flamenco dance since I was young," she said. "I was inspired by my godfather."

When she was younger, Bull participated in more illusions. In one, she pretended to fall asleep in a child-size Ferrari while it was levitated into the air.

Currently, she dances in many acts and said she likes the flexibility of being able to improvise on stage, which is not a possibility with the illusions.

She does participate in one of the metamorphoses with her uncle, Le Grand David, and godfather, Marco the Magi. David puts Marco in handcuffs, then in a canvas bag and finally in a securely locked box. David walks across the stage and stands on a table, where he covers himself with a giant cloth. When it is pulled off, Marco, not David, is underneath.

Marco asks "Marthalena" (Bull's stage name), "Where is David?" She tells him David is in the box. Marco then asks the audience the same question.

"It is always really funny because some kids in the audience always say 'He's in the box, stupid!' as if [Marco] does not know," Bull said.

To finish the trick, the box is opened to reveal, as Bull and the audience have predicted, David, wearing handcuffs, in the locked box where Marco had been previously. Bull used to perform a similar metamorphosis with her sister, "Princess Marian."

Bull says that everyone works together to make the show a landmark in Massachusetts, as it is portrayed in many brochures. During the week, company members create the hand-painted sets and design and sew costumes, many of which are very intricate. For her, the company is like an extended family.

"I was very much raised by the Magic Company," she said. "I was born in February and, by Mother's Day, I was carried on stage for the first time, and [in later months], I crawled on stage when people weren't looking."

The Magic Company's theaters are fully working buildings that show movies during the week in addition to hosting magic shows on Sundays and select Thursdays. Some employees work full-time to run the company, but most do not - like Bull's parents, who also own a publishing company.

With a performance every Sunday to an audience of approximately two hundred and dance rehearsal on Saturdays, Bull is left with limited time on weekends. Growing up, she said she sometimes yearned to be "just like the other kids."

"Every kid wants to go to camp, but in the end it was always way more important to do the magic show," Bull said. "Now people think it's cool, but in second grade, I was definitely a big dork. It's probably for the best. It's definitely changed over the years."

During her freshman and sophomore years of high school, she went to boarding school and was only able to do the show intermittently. After boarding school, she spent her junior year in France. Upon returning, she went straight to college, skipping her senior year of high school. Bull said it is nice that Brandeis is close, but it was not the only reason she applied.

"The fact that Brandeis is close was a plus," she said. "I can go home, which is very grounding."

According to Bull, the members of the Magic Company know their parts so well that, to a certain extent, people can come and go, as she has done, and adapt the show to work around that.

"Everyone's flexible enough that all the roles can be adapted," Bull said.

She does not know whether she will continue performing with the Magic Company after she graduates from Brandeis, but Bull says she will always remain close with the members.

"These people will be a part of my life in some capacity for the rest of my life and who knows what shape that will take," she said. "Who knows what the future holds.