Scott Pepper stumbled into creating a magic venue in San Antonio. He used to work regularly on cruise ships. But when he moved away from performing on the seas in 2015, he sought a space in San Antonio where he could perform his illusion act called The Magicians Agency. The show’s premise was that a top-secret spy agency hired magicians to take on dangerous missions. That first year, he performed for three weeks. In 2016, he expanded to nine weeks, and in 2017, he worked 17 weeks. It was at that point Pepper realized his concept had some legs, and so in June 2018 he opened The Magicians Agency Theatre, a 100-seat venue on the top floor of San Antonio Plaza’s Reuter building, a four-story establishment built in 1891. Pepper performed his show there every weekend until 2020, when the pandemic shut him down.
“I rethought everything,” said Pepper about this time. “I lost my actors, I lost my assistants, because they all had to go and do other things. And that’s when we shifted into bringing more acts in, because it was hard for me to be the act and run the venue.”
The Theatre followed this model from early 2021 to August 2024. This past summer, however, he and other local small businesses were hurting because a 10-year construction project around the Alamo was keeping tourists away. Pepper considered closing down for good until an unexpected partner reached out to him.
A New Partnership
Historic Tours of America had set its sights on San Antonio. The company has operations in at least eight U.S. cities, including Key West, Boston, and Nashville, where it runs historical bus tours. They also own other tourist attractions, such as museums, aquariums, and distilleries, and as part of their expansion into San Antonio, they bought the Reuter building. The company reached out to Pepper—their CEO was reportedly a magic fan—and proposed they work together to reimagine the venue.
Pepper had always admired Walt Disney’s legendary creativity, which was supported by his brother Roy, who concentrated on the business. “The last six years of doing this, I’ve always been looking for my Roy,” Pepper said. “[With Historic Tours], I think I found my Roy.”
