Looking them in the Eye

Even though improv troupes use their audience for suggestions and ideas, there is still almost a separation present during the performance. As the audience comes in and they seat themselves or are seated, the house lights are up and everyone can look around. For the start of the show, the stage lights come up and the house lights go down.

This is for two reasons;

1. It focuses the attention to the stage and
2. It helps the audience to not be self conscious about laughing and/or yelling out suggestions to the stage.

Having performed on stage in traditional venues (comedy club or theatre, etc.), I can tell you this…the people seated up front are visible but the further back it goes the harder it is to see people. The people that are sitting up front are people that have been to an improv show before and know what to expect or they want to have a good time. Either way, it’s all good.

Now, on an outdoor stage in the middle of the day, there are no house lights…no stage lights…no one seating people…and no way to hide in the darkness anywhere at all…for anyone in the audience. THIS is MPIII’s venue for our outdoor shows.  When we would step out on the stage you could see everyone and they could see you. Whatever you did and whatever THEY did was clearly visible, thus them being more self conscious about contributing or laughing. If you have ever had to try and pull suggestions out of a crowd in a darkened club, you can imagine how much more creative we had to be.

This is not to say it wasn’t fun though. Part of the show, from the very beginning, is the host walking out on stage and giving the audience the introduction to our show and what was taking place. It ranged from “watch out for water balloons” to “if your kids get our jokes” innuendo warning. Also, being that some audiences were unprepared for an improv show, we had to start every show anew each and every time. Return audience members of course knew what to do and expect, but for the most part we had to treat each show as if it was filled with new people which we had to “teach” what we did and what their part was.  This was a important since most of them arrived with a “entertain me” attitude.

Next time you have a chance to talk to a standup comic, improv performer or stage actor, ask them about this topic and see what they tell you. I’m SURE it will be interesting.

~ Beavis