Think on Your Feet

Attending to Your Audience: Who, What, When, and How

I still remember a show I did off-Broadway that killed my soul. It was with my improv troop. We got up, put on an “amazing” performance, but the audience never clapped, laughed, or even moved. I’m sure they made an active choice not to clap or laugh. At one point, during an overdramatic western in the style of the old cowboy movies, another performer, pretending to be a tumbleweed, rolled across the stage. There was not a peep, much less a chuckle from the audience. It was as if all the joy was pulled from the room. The rest of the show was in the toilet, and so was the second show that same ...