Only Try Not To Lose Them...

This post was originally posted in December of 2009 during the run of THE EIGHT, a play I was performing in. I'm reposting it here, even though it was an multi-actor play, because I think it offers some nice insights for the potential solo performer. ~BDM

I performed my monologue in THE EIGHT tonight and the audience was not into it. It wasn't that they were not into my performance, particularly, but they were not really into the whole show. They were really quiet, there was lots of shuffling, occasionally I'd see the glow of someone's phone shining up into their faces while they texted (I will politely step away from addressing this last piece of deplorable behavior here, because it needs a full ranting post of its own someday).

Here's what I observed both through my own experience of being on stage as well as watching my fellow actors handle the situation.

First off, it should be established that we are doing a monologue play. What this means is, essentially, a series of characters are paraded in, one after another, each giving a 4-9 minute speech directly to the audience. It should be noted, that in this sort of performance, with its lack of mutiple actors interacting with each other behind a fourth wall, on display for the audience, as it is in traditional theatre productions, here the audience actually is the other character the performer communicates with. In a way, it is a very direct sort of performance, in that the audience is activated. They are part of the performance: participants as well as observers of the performance.

It should also be noted we are performing comedy. Comedy is the easiest form to gauge as a performer if your performance is effective or not (i.e. it is making a genuine connection). In very stark terms, you know: they laugh if it is funny and don't if it is not. This is just a barameter, though. Sometimes it really is funny even if the audience doesn't laugh, after all, the audience is a mass, and therefore follows the laws of the masses ( which in the theatre has it's own rules: crowds laugh easier if the house is darkened and the stage is illuminated, there must be 10+ people in the audience to instigate "contagious" laughter, and a slew of other ones...).

We performed these monologues last week and people laughed and laughed, so barring some weird anomolies, we can reasonably assume that both the material (the play itself) and the presentations (the performance of the the play) are effectively funny.

So, when a performer expects one reaction (laughter) and gets another (silence) several things happen:

1.) The first response of most performers is to try a bit harder. This is similar to when a person simply speaks slower and louder if they think they are not being understood, such as when giving directions or (ironically) speaking to a foreigner who doesn't know your language. In acting, it often shows up as pumping the piece with a little more energy, or increasing volume. The thought is, fundamentally, "What's going on here? This is not what I was expecting from the audience."

2.) Next, the performer starts to question themselves and their performance. Maybe they made wrong choices? Are they doing something differently today that they did the last time they performed this piece? In essence, the thought is "It must be me. It must be something I'm doing/not doing that is preventing the connection, and therefore the reaction I expect."

3.) Often, the third step is an unfortunate Fuck You to the audience. Much like a little kid lashing out in spite when they don't get their way, a performer will turn on the audience in a subtle, but apparent, way. The performer will become antagonistic when it is clear the audience is not going to give them the response the performer was expecting. The thought is "I'm working my ass off up here for you, so if you don't like it, fuck you. In fact, you aren't even worthy enough anymore for me to do my best for. Here, take this watered-down fuck-you version of my performance."

This last step is a self-defeating one. It is futile in that the audience is not going to get on the side of a performer who is openly hostile to them. At the same time, the performer is going to be hostile because the audience seemly refuses to get on his or her side.

Years of improv have taught me not to go down the road of step three. The best bet is just do your job, deliver a performance that you, the performer, can be proud of, and try again with the next audience. Audiences are like blind dates. There is always a relationship, usually brief, and sometimes it is not all that rewarding for one or both parties.

Tonight, I went through step one and then downshifted into step two. I did not resort to step three. The audience did not ge tthe most dynamic, energetic performance of my monologue that I've ever done, but they did get a clear, solid performance. And they could take from that whatever they wanted. I felt kinda Zen about it.

My fellow actors ran the gamut. Some said "fuck it" almost immediately and gave sub-par performances to their "unworthy" audience (I call this zombie-ing through or phoning it in). Some were confused and saddened when they came off stage, wondering still, what was so wrong tonight? Some thought of it as a challenge ("I will succeed where you have failed") after the performers who came off stage before them didn't hit it out of the park.

All in all, it threw into perspective that oft-talked about, but seldom experienced aspect of theatre: unexpectedness. The bottom line is: Don't take anything out on the audience. In fact, don't come in with any expectations at all. You, the performer, can not control the audience or their responses and you certainly can't demand anything from them. You can only try not to lose them...

Originally posted on Brad's personal blog, Dec. 11, 2009 

Faye Lane's BEAUTY SHOP STORIES

I had the pleasure of catching Faye Lane's delightful solo storytelling/cabaret show Beaty Shop Stoies at the Addison Water Tower Theatre Out of the Loop Festival earlier this month. The whole show was just delightful and Faye is a warm, easy-does-it raconteur.

I met Faye last year at the New Orleans Fringe Festival (where I was doing my solo show, Chop) and interviewed her for the Stage Directions Blog. She was part of Andy Christie's The Liar Show, in which she was a regular storyteller. You can see a bit of that interview here. Faye comes in around minute 14:30.


NO Fringe Interviews Pt. 1 from Christopher Taylor on Vimeo.
 

According to her website, her original show Beauty Shop Stories has been in development for several years. And she's working on a memoir of the same name. Faye is a big part of the thriving New York storytelling and comedy communities and has been telling individual stories from the book on the stage. In New York alone, stories and songs from this show have been presented at Caroline's on Broadway, Comix, The Pulse Theater, Stage Left, The Time Out New York Lounge, 92nd Street Y Tribeca, Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, and most recently, in an extended run at the prestigious SoHo Playhouse.

In 2007, one of Faye's Beauty Shop Stories won the celebrated Moth StorySlam, hailed by The Wall Street Journal as “New York's hottest, hippest literary ticket.” And since winning the Los Angeles Moth StorySlam in 2008, (She's the only storyteller to have won it on both coasts!) she's been performing the stories regularly in Los Angeles as well. She's told stories in LA at King King, Tangier Lounge, Tongue and Groove, Hotel Cafe, BANG, and El Cid.

Faye Lane's Beauty Shop Stories is a solo show that sneaks up on you. Sitting in the audience, from her soft opening to a triumphant ending, the whole evening of theatre just washes over you. Faye is adorable and infinitely likeable. And she sings "purty." Her show is ultimately about faith, especially faith in one's self and the impression I left the theatre with was a big ole smile.

Check out her website.  

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Solo Spotlight On: Casey Smith's VIOLATORS WILL BE VIOLATED

Violators Will Be Violated is an unconventional, virtually wordless theater piece that has, according to the website, "more destruction, mayhem, murder, ambition and special effects than an action film but it’s only one guy, with no props or set, relying solely on the physical story-telling of an elastic, adorable, frequently hostile performer."

Violators Will be Violated, Created and Performed by Casey Smith and Directed by Jennifer Skinner. Winner of the 2009 LA Weekly Award for Solo Performance and presented at the 2010 NY Fringe Festival and the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Website and info here.

Sarah Jones at TED

The theme of this series of 2009 TED talks was invention, so they, wisely brought in a solo performer... the celebrated Ms. Sarah Jones.

In this hilariously lively performance, actress Sarah Jones channels an opinionated elderly Jewish woman, a fast-talking Dominican college student and more, giving TED2009 just a sample of her spectacular character range.

ABOUT SARAH JONES:

Tony Award-winning monologist, UNICEF ambassador, firebrand and FCC-fighting poet -- Sarah Jones assumes as many roles offstage as on. Her website has loads of info.

"Chameleon-like" barely describes the astonishing ease in which Sarah Jones slips in out out of the characters in her solo performances -- as many as fourteen personae in her off-Broadway hit Bridge & Tunnel. Critics marvel not only at her ability to perfectly mimic accents and mannerisms, but also to seemingly reshape her body down to pupils and dimples in the blink of an eye.

Jones' performances showcase a biting political awareness, and she has received commissions from Equality Now, the Kellogg Foundation and the National Immigration Forum to address issues of injustice and inequality. She is the official spokesperson on Violence Against Children for UNICEF, and performs globally to  focus awareness on child abuse.

"Jones, who is ... a sort of multicultural mynah bird, lays our mongrel nation before us with gorgeous, pitch-perfect impersonations of the rarely heard or dramatized." ~ New Yorker

Solo Spotlight On: YOGA BITCH by Suzanne Morrison

"Alternately side-splitting and stomach-curdling, writer/actress Suzanne Morrison's autobiographical monologue is savagely funny. . . . Through sheer force of talent and personality, she is able to shock and horrify patrons without sacrificing their implicit faith in the complete and total logic of each decision that she makes. Ambitious, ballsy, and hilarious, Yoga Bitch is surely the best one-woman show I've seen all year."

--Virginia Zech, Seattle Weekly

When Suzanne Morrison arrived in Bali for a two-month yoga retreat, she thought she was on the path to inner peace and killer abs. She imagined that she would return to the States a changed person, no longer cowering in the shadows of life but instead making like a scented candle and calling herself Tranquility. But the universe had other plans for her...

In her hilarious solo show, Suzanne Morrison explores her attempts to find her Higher Self in a strange world where blenders become possessed by spirits, Prada lust is at a fever-pitch, a milkshake can throw a guru into a rage, and everyone around her tries to make her drink her own pee. Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory, Yoga Bitch offers an irreverent glimpse at what can go wrong on the road to enlightenment. 

More info on Suzanne Morrison at her blog. More info on the show here.

Solo Spotlight On: ODYSSEY by Theatre Ad Infinitum

Odyssey - Winner of The Stage ‘best solo performer' award at the Edunburgh Fringe.

Lecoq-trained performer Geroge Mann and his director Nir Paldi of Theatre Ad Infinitum reinvent the timeless Greek myth. One actor. One hour. One man’s epic quest to reunite with his family and seek his bloody revenge. Passionate, highly physical and poignant storytelling brings this breathtaking adventure to life.

‘Best of the Fringe’ (Observer) and an official Fringe sell-out show 2009, this critically acclaimed tour de force continues to tour internationally. Odyssey is a journey that will ignite the imagination and awaken the senses… 'Theatre Ad Infinitum have moved to the front of the pack' (Guardian).

Odyssey is a co-devised and co-written piece directed by Nir Paldi and performed George Mann.

Website and info here.

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Dan Hoyle's THE REAL AMERICANS

Earlier this month I caught Dan Hoyle's show THE REAL AMERICANS at the Painted Bride Theatre in Philadelphia.

Besides the wonderful things I could say about both Dan's writing as well as his performance, I have to give him kudos for one moment of pure spontaneity. Somehow a dog wandered up onto the stage part way through his show the night I attended (was this a pet someone had brought in?). Just as the whole audience began to turn its attention away from the story to wonder "hey, is that a dog up there?" Dan acknowledged the canine with a quick ad-lib and touched based real quick with the audience - while still totally in character - and then continued with the show.

Also, here's a great peek behind the development process in this mini-documentary...



You can read more about Dan's show THE REAL AMERICANS on his website.