Foothill College physics instructors Frank Cascarano and David Marasco are gearing up to create fire using mirrors, drop eggs without breaking, blow smoke from their mouths, lie on beds of nails and break concrete blocks perched on a board balanced on their stomach.
It’s all part of “The Physics Show,” which they’ll be performing Dec 20-21 and Jan 3-4 and 10, 2026, at Smithwick Theatre on the Foothill campus in Los Altos Hills.
Sales of the $6 tickets will be used to fund performances for students at Title I schools. The shows are part of the college’s family outreach efforts to low-income, underserved and underrepresented elementary and middle school students in the physics/STEAM fields. They include a tour of campus, a free t-shirt and various physics games and activities.
“The Physics Show” has served nearly a quarter of a million attendees since its founding in 2007.
“Physics tries to explain the world we live in,” Cascarano told the young members of one audience, who were keen to try his magician-like maneuver that involved yanking away a tablecloth without toppling a plate, glass and candle perched atop it.
Cascarano says the show is “a nice way to give back to the community.”
“It instills that fascination about sciences, one that they would ordinarily never get the chance to learn. It’s what we want—for students to be curious and to wonder about physics things.”
For showtimes and tickets, visit https://www.thephysicsshow.com.