@Lou Smith I like to consider come in (which is the circus term for when the doors are open and the audience is taking their seats, but the lights are not lowered, and the official show has not yet begun) as part of the show. I give a lot of thought to what the audience is perceiving in that come in, pre show period. What is the music? What are the lights like? One of the things I like to do is open the doors as late as possible, as late as the venue wil allow. If people are going to be bored waiting, I want them to be bored outside of the theatre. When they come in, music is going, the lights are set, the stage is beautiful, and something is going to happen. In one of my shows I am greeting people and bringing them to their seat and playing with them. In another show (The flea circus) I sell miniature programs and other merch in a sort of flea market before the flea circus…. These openings are designed to engage the audience, and to make sure that they are not STARTING in my theatre from a deficit. But also, in both of these pre shows, I am engaging, and giving them the persona I want them to see which will feed into the rest of the show.

@David Smith I love the idea of cheering and jeering sessions. I did an elementary school version of Much Ado About Nothing playing Don John, and as the play went on, we started doing a pre-show in which we encouraged the kids to hiss when Don John entered, like a wrestler. It worked out really well to keep the kids engaged. I still think no matter what that first interaction with the audience is, it is vitally important for your relationship with the audience. And maybe the second most important moment is your exit. But that is grist for a different post!

Looks fantastic! Please keep us apprised here about how it is going, and if there is anything i or we can do to help! What have been some of the hard things about starting a festival like this for the first time? What have been some of the things that surprised you?

How is it going?

Thanks for sharing that John!

@Zane Dowling That is a great question, Zane! I think it is true but is also a bit of a cop out to say that it depends on the joke. In the good old days of Commedia Dell’Arte, the performers would have what they called their lazzi, or their routines. The old man Pantalone would have one where he would think there was a thief in the house, and have to hide his money before he went to bed. The hungry servant would have a lazzi of catching a fly and eating it. The Inamorati (the lovers) might have one where they keep on imagining each others deaths in worse and worse ways. These were all improvised, but quite polished, and in some of the surviving scenarios, you can see that they punctuated the action. Some of these guys were quite good at it, and had 20 or 30 minutes of potential material, but the ideal is to go on until just before the audience is about to get restless and a little bored. And that’s when you need to change it up. Because you never want the audience to be restless or bored, you want to invite them in, delight them, and leave them delight and wanting more. Knowing when that point is as a performer is a little bit trial and error, and experimentation. From a joke construction perspective, ideally you have a developed bit about some topic, and you develop material about that topic that turns into (over time and practice) a pretty tight polished routine. But there are multiple facets to the routine,and built into them you have a couple of segue moments that can allow you to transition out of that onto another topic if you have more time or if this particular audience is not feeling one of your routines, you might cut that a bit short, and transition early. It also depends also on what kind of jokes you are telling. If you are telling one liners, they should be short and fast, but not all the same rhythm. People will get bored if you do everything in the same rhythm and cadence. Change it up a lot. If you are more into a storytelling style, the story might be 10 minutes long, but with a few meanderings along the way. But you dont want to leave your audience not laughing for too long, so you should have quasi jokes along the way as well, to give them room to laugh, even if you are not at the central punchline of your story yet. I like to think there should be a mini laugh every 20-30 seconds, and hopefully a large laugh once a minute or thereabouts. There are too many exceptions, and yu can find somebody who strung an audience out for 6 minutes without laughing, but they brought them along into their story, and that counts also.

A passel more of people to welcome over the last few days! @John Nicholson , @Eric Decree @Ellie J. @Kevin Ilianxv @Luigy Machaca @Kain Masters . Welcome one and all to our little clown alley, behind the big circus tent. Feel free to make yourself at home, drink a virtual drink. Take a look around, introduce yourself in the START here topic, ask some questions, and feel free to start a topic if you have a question or want to talk about something specifically! Looking forward to getting to know you and figure out how I can help you achieve your comedy goals!

Want to give a welcome to some new members that have joined us! @Cheryl Fiedler @Sylvia Rosat @Santino Collins @Anji Young and @Amica Hunter Welcome to the tribe! It’s still a little quiet in here, but we welcome your questions, answers, and everything in between. Please introduce yourself in the START HERE topic!