Last Friday evening, third-year College student Stanley Lau was furious. Someone was threatening his friends.
"My friends were in pain," Lau said.
They had been bitten, squeezed and bruised despite Lau's best attempts to protect them. Lau's friends, of course, were a peach, apple, banana and orange; and their predator, hypnotist Tom DeLuca.
Lau was one of about 20 University students who joined famed college entertainer Tom DeLuca on stage at the Amphitheatre for an annual University show of hypnotic hilarity.
The Tom DeLuca show is well known around Grounds, and this year's was no less popular than others before it. An estimated 10,000 students packed themselves into the Amphitheatre, sitting on the grass, stone steps, surrounding brick walls and sloping hills.
Those who had saved spots up front were the most vocal in the minutes before and after DeLuca stepped onto the stage. Many dressed up in eye-catching garb, huge hats and even beachwear to grab DeLuca's attention as he scanned the crowd for volunteers. Some held clever -- or not-so-clever -- signs above the masses, hoping to buy their way on stage with words.
According to DeLuca, a well-phrased sign is a great way to win a spot on stage. This year, signs displaying Sharpied statements like "Today's my 21st birthday!," "I slept here last night," and "Tom, I want to be your after-dinner mint," won their holders the chance to be hypnotized.
DeLuca also said he looks for "seeming sincerity," in the volunteers he selects.
Once on stage, the chosen few students are "warmed up" by DeLuca. During this time, DeLuca speaks directly to his subjects, with his back turned to the anticipating audience with the microphone down -- for the most part.
"He told us to put our feet flat on the floor, our palms on our laps flat, to listen to him, count backwards," Lau said.
As DeLuca continued to speak to those on stage, he used a controlled, steady tone of voice and a constant stream of instructions to slowly work them into hypnosis.
"I felt really relaxed," Lau said, "and what's really weird is that in the middle of it, I kind of felt my arms, my shoulders and my legs kind of go numb."
Eventually the students on stage fell into a relaxed, sleep-like state, just as DeLuca commanded, and spotters stood behind them, helping their drooping heads and hands fall softly, and their completely relaxed bodies stay in their chairs.
At this point, the subjects were hypnotized and ready -- and sidesplitting antics were fast approaching.
Fourth-year College student Kate Malay, who held the 21st birthday sign, was one of the subjects DeLuca worked his mental magic on.
"I felt kind of lightheaded," Malay said, "and then once we were hypnotized I was fully conscious of everything going on around me, and the fact that this was a hypnotist show, but I was powerless. I was completely submissive to what he told me to do."
And it was what DeLuca told Malay and the others to do that filled the warm night sky above the amphitheatre with peals of laughter and thunderous applause.
In DeLuca's show, the hypnotized students are the stars, their subconscious comments the script and their display of real, "root emotions," as DeLuca calls them, the difference between acting and reality.
"[My favorite part of doing the show is] seeing the reactions of students up on stage," DeLuca said. "I like seeing the nice parts of them come out -- the different personality traits."
What DeLuca asked his subjects to do was comical. He told two men to perform classical ballet as if they had been dancing their whole lives. He told another woman the number six did not exist, only to tell her later that it had been returned to her vocabulary, inspiring her to react joyously when she heard the word for what she believed to be the first time. He told Lau that fruit had feelings, then proceeded to take a bite of Lau's new friend, causing him to react with anger and extreme -- almost poignant -- concern for his friends.
However ridiculous the scenarios produced by DeLuca's hypnosis may have been, the emotions showcased were genuine and oftentimes touching.
"I could see how intense she was ... so into it, so real," DeLuca said of the woman so happy to have "six" returned.
Similarly, Lau's compassion for the fruit, while encapsulated in a humorous scene, was honest and truly demonstrated the kindness and devotion he might easily show for his real friends.
"What was going on in my mind was ... I'm generally a guy that cares a lot about my friends, so [DeLuca trying to eat the fruit] really got me going," Lau said.
Third-year College student Garrett English, a member of University Programs Council, who helped "spot" the hypnotized students during DeLuca's show, described what he saw onstage as a loss of inhibition.
"They're much more free with -- not just their words -- but also with their actions and emotions," English said. "Most of the things that would normally regulate you are sort of out the window."
With inhibitions down, and other mechanisms of social control "out the window," being onstage in front of a huge crowd of one's peers could be a very intimidating experience. DeLuca's show, however, was as enjoyable for those he hypnotized as it was for the audience members laughing at the participants' subconscious displays. DeLuca said he thoughtfully and respectfully plans his shows so that the emotions and personalities of its subjects are brought out to shine, not cause embarrassment.
"You don't put people in jeopardy," DeLuca said. Therefore, he avoids questions that involve his participants' personal lives, keeping the show lighthearted and ensuring that the participants will look back on it with fond memories, not horrified chagrin.
"It seems like he likes to entertain people, but at the same time he doesn't want anybody to feel badly afterwards," English said, after his chance at an up-close-and-personal look at the show.
Both DeLuca and Malay also noted a feeling of camaraderie onstage. Malay, who sat next to Lau, remembered sharing a moment with him as he guarded his fruit.
"I lamented with him -- you know that you guys are in on this together -- it's that camaraderie factor," she said.
Both Malay and Lau said they look back on their 15 minutes of fame with a smile and a good amount of awe.
"The whole thing was just amazing," Malay said.
For Lau, the experience only fully sank in hours after his foray into hypnosis.
"It wasn't until midnight -- when I was in a friend's room -- that I was laying back like, 'Wow, I can't believe I was just on Tom DeLuca and I was the fruit guy!'" he said.
And for Lau, those 15 minutes of fame might extend past one night in the amphitheatre. After all, he's already received some fan mail.
"I got up early [Saturday] morning ...and there was fruit at my door," Lau said.
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