Puzzles, magic, fun abundant in ‘Enigmatist’ at Navy Pier in Chicago

What’s a 14-letter word for crossword puzzle constructor? Or, here’s an easier one: what’s an eight-letter word for illusionist? Or, what two words totaling 10 letters define someone who’s outstanding at both? The answers are cruciverbalist, magician and David Kwong, whose amazing one-man show, “The Enigmatist,” now playing at Navy Pier’s Chicago Shakespeare Theater through the end of June, is a must-see for anyone who enjoys challenging their brain and being truly awestruck.

Kwong’s show – performed for about 95 minutes without intermission in an upstairs space at the venue – begins with a spoon-bending trick that proves his initial point: “There is no magic in magic.” That being said, his background in illusion is significant: a Harvard University grad who studied the history of magic, the author of a book about principles of illusion you can use to captivate audiences, and the head magic consultant on the 2013 movie “Now You See Me,” just to name a few. While the combo of magic, mentalism and crossword creation (for The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, no less) may seem odd, Kwong makes the connection by simply posing the question, “What else is a magic trick but a puzzle?”

Audience members are encouraged to arrive a half hour before the show’s start time to try to solve four puzzles scattered around the walls of a “Puzzle Garden” area, the solution to each being a single word. As you enter the area, you’re given a “map card” by a “conductor,” and each time you think you have a correct puzzle answer, you bring the card to the conductor who – if you’re right – will punch a hole in a corresponding space on the card. You’ll bring the card into the theater with you (in fact, you can even exchange it for one with all four holes punched if you can’t solve everything). At your seat, you’ll find a brief program and another card and pencil to record the single-word answers to four additional puzzles sprinkled throughout the performance.

Kwong sandwiches those varied puzzles (audio, photos, etc.) within a story he vividly shares about real-life eccentric “textile tycoon” George Fabyan. Fabyan had a massive estate called Riverbank in Geneva, Illinois, over a hundred years ago, with everything from a Japanese garden to a private zoo to a research lab. It was as if “Hearst Castle meets Never Neverland,” according to Kwong. One of Fabyan’s obsessions was his conviction that Francis Bacon wrote all of William Shakespeare’s plays and also hid a code within the plays claiming authorship. Fabyan brought in scientists, Shakespeare experts and more to work on the estate. Two of them – William Friedman and Elizebeth Smith – became partners in life (“nerd love at first sight,” in Kwong’s words) and in work (cryptography, codebreaking, making famed advances), but as to their success in proving or disproving the Baconian theory, I’ll leave that to Kwong to divulge.

The Fabyan/Friedman/Smith tale is an intriguing story in and of itself, with a presentation accompanying the details Kwong shares. But you don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy this fun-filled show in which many of the audience members at stage-level café tables and in tiered rows of seats get the chance to be a part of truly astounding feats of magic, mentalism, memory and more that don’t need Vegas-style special effects to stun. These “tricks” involve everything from a kiwi to a locked box to flash cards to a cellphone to a dollar bill to Scrabble tiles to a created-on-the-fly crossword puzzle to elements of the periodic table.

On the night I saw the performance, Kwong wanted a volunteer with a cellphone. I was picked and became a key part of a multiple-phase trick that poked gentle fun at me, but ultimately surprised me several times, even after I returned to my seat. I have no idea – with all the combinations of various types of items that could have come together in a particular order – how Kwong did it. I don’t want to share more details of that particular sequence, but I’d encourage you, in general, to pay close attention to everything that goes on in the show, because you’ll be amazed at how all the individual aspects of the production come together in ways you never expect.

If you’re an avid player of Scrabble, Kwong gives tips on valid words recently added to the “Scrabble Dictionary.” He also shares the six letters you can combine with almost any seventh letter to give you a much-coveted “bingo” (using all seven tiles on your rack in one play). And he seeks audience help in putting together that crossword puzzle from scratch.

Kwong’s set isn’t elaborate – a bookcase with shelves of eclectic items (such as pictures, card decks, small sculptures), a screen/whiteboard area, a small table for close-up magic – but stay around after “The Enigmatist” concludes to see how even the contents of those shelves can entertain.

Kudos to production designer Brett J. Banakis, sound designer Brendan Aanes and lighting and video designer Joshua Higgason; their efforts definitely enhance the production values. I’ll put it this way: there are no big illusions in which anyone is cut in half, but it wouldn’t be the same show by far if you “cut” any of those three.

If you’re a magic fan, puzzle buff and/or logophile (lover of words), this is the show for you. “The Enigmatist” has had successful runs in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, and this unique show deserves to be seen by large audiences in Chicago, because it’s a fun, magical, engaging and puzzling performance. Trust me, I have no cross words about it.

• Paul Lockwood is a communications consultant at Health Care Service Corporation in Chicago, as well as a local theater actor, singer, award-winning columnist, Grace Lutheran Church (Woodstock) and Toastmasters member, and past president of TownSquare Players. He and his wife have lived in Woodstock for more than 23 years.

IF YOU GO

• WHAT: “The Enigmatist”

• WHERE: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago

• WHEN: Playing through June 30

• INFORMATION: 312-595-5600, www.chicagoshakes.com