The audience -- the great unknown

Every audience is different. Everybody knows that. We've had some lively ones and some dead ones. We've cracked some folks up and we've offended others.

The Austin audience was definitely in our corner. We live in the only blue county in an otherwise red state, and folks here are all too happy to vent.

The New York audience was mixed. The 18-30 somethings thought we were the funniest thing to ever come down the pike. Many of the middle agers were too cool to be amused. The 65+ crowd ate us up. That's just the way it was.

The big test, though, comes next weekend when we take this little political tirade called Puppet Government to Dallas, a city not known for its liberal leanings. Who will come to the show? Will we make new friends? Piss off some folks? Open some eyes and hearts? Receive death threats?

These would be easy things to worry about. But I'm going to print something here that one of our cast members shared with me a year or so ago, something she 'borrowed' from another director here in town. I have no idea who wrote it, but I thank whoever it was.

Cast members, I know you read this blog, so this is for you. Audience members, this is for you, too.

To do something really well is rare, and the doing of it is, or should be, its own reward. Hopefully, the audience will appreciate this gift you're giving them: the gift of yourselves. But -- and this is a dinger, this is -- you don't have any control over what the audience does, so you can't expect them to give you anything. Appreciation is hard-won. In order for them to give it, they have to give of themselves as well, in the same way each of you is giving. They have to allow themselves to commune with all of you. But they're tired, they've had long days, many of them are probably getting up in years, so they're totally unprepared in many ways for what you have to offer...

Do you want them to give to you? Of course you do. That's why you're here. To connect, to commune. If that's what you want,... then do what you came to do, do it consistently, for and with each other, and they will give. The easiest way to get someone to give is for you to give first, and here's the tough part -- without EXPECTATION of return. What you should be expecting is not for them to give, but that each of you, individually, will be there for all the others, individually, and tell this story as well as you've been telling it. That is the greatest reward -- the work you do well together. Play for each other, WITH each other, and tell your story well and they probably WILL give to you. Not 'will' but 'PROBABLY will.' And don't hold it against them if they don't. The story is the hand you're holding out to them that says, "Come with me." Whether they choose to take it is unimportant. Some people no longer wish to travel. What's important is that the offering is made.

Gosh, I wish I had written that. And I really appreciate the Dallas HUB Theater taking a risk with us. But hey -- isn't that what theater is all about? Taking risks?

Are you dead... or DANGEROUS?