Tell, don’t show! Welcome aboard!
I love it when improvisers take care of their audience!
Caring for your audience from the moment you walk on stage will make them feel safe. That safety will make them more invested in your scenes, bring more energy into your show and respond more when asked for suggestions. And they might return for your next performance!
Another word for care is facilitating. Here’s a simple trick on how to facilitate audience trust and safety:
Assume that the audience know nothing about improv for every show you do.
Then take the time to tell them what improv is and what your show is about.
Then do your improv.
But it’s improv!
It’s easy to forget that most people have no idea what improv is, even though it makes perfect sense to us.
That person watching their first improv show will love you for explaining it to them. Now they can actually make sense out of what’s going on and what they’re watching. You’re setting a premise. Then fulfilling it with your improved show.
Also keep in mind that many first-timers are terrified of being dragged onto the stage. That’s probably the main reason for the front rows being the last to fill up (thank you, 90’s stand up!). You can make that fear disappear by telling them it’s not that kind of show. How cool is that?
But it’s improv!
Telling before showing applies even more if you’re doing formats.
Even the most seasoned improviser can be confused and intimidated by an organic opening. Instead of saying “We’re going to do a Harold” you could first let them in on the process by explaining what you’re trying to accomplish on stage. You’ve got the time, and the reward is a more invested audience (digression: in most cases the audience really don’t care about the format anyways. They’re there to be entertained).
But it’s improv!
You don’t have to explain everything, just enough so that they understand what’s going on. Unless you want them to feel stupid. No-one likes to pay money to feel stupid more than once!
You’ve already got the returning customers, they don’t mind hearing it again.
But wait, there’s more!
Do you ask your audience for suggestions? Tell them why. And how you might be using them. You can even do an audience warm-up to make it even safer for them to shout out suggestions. Ask them questions they know the answer to.
Hi everyone! We’re the Jazzy Turntables and we’re here to do some improv for you. Can we have a suggestion to get us started?
vs.
Hi everyone! We’re the Jazzy Turntables!
We’re here to perform improvised theater for you, theater without a script. Nothing is planned and everything is made up on the spot! Some scenes might have a beginning, some might have an end and some will have neither.
For our show we’ll be asking you, our lovely audience, for various suggestions. We’ll then use your suggestions as inspiration for our improvised scenes and stories.
Let’s practice together. Can everyone, on three, shout out your name? What’s your name? One, two, three! — Cool! My name is Jazzy T. How did you get here today? One, two, three! — Nice! I rode my bike. What’s the meaning of life? One, two, three! — Yeah, we don’t know either, but maybe we’ll find out tonight.
To get us started, can we have a suggestion for _______?
Depending on how many suggestions you take during your show you can consider using relevant examples:
We might ask you for a relationship, like brother and sister, co-workers or mother and son. On three, what could be a relationship between two persons? etc.
…but that’s another post for another day.
Summary
Take care of your audience by creating a safe-for-all framework for them and your show. One way to accomplishing that is by telling them what you’re about to do, then showing them. Seeing is believing. This helps make the art form more accessible to everyone, especially those watching their first improvised show. And, audience safety and understanding might help their beautiful butts return to your seats for the next show.
Thank you for reading!
