The August Improv Blog: Festival Expectations, Sort Of

I've got to be honest here, it isn't for lack of trying to think of an expectation, and I don't mean that I expect nothing at all ... but I don't have a clear, solid answer to "What do you expect to gain from the upcoming Festival?" I don't expect more than I expect of any other day. Have fun, broaden my experience, get to know people. It's a new thing for me, and I don't have a basis for comparison. I was backstage with the Hypotheticals at 6:KCiF, filling pie pans with whipped cream for Cory Johnson's sendoff, but there's nothing relevant about that.

For the troupe, I hope to broaden our name-recognition. But that gets me thinking about audience, which gets me terrified, and I'm trying not to be that. I don't expect the paralyzing stage-fright to kick in, but I'm glad it's hard to see the audience with the stage lights on. 'Cause I still don't feel any drive to entertain people. Audience, schmaudience. Watch if you want, but I'll do what I do whether you watch or not, and it's better if I forget you're there. I like improv, and making art in general, as an exploration of the creative universe. The worlds that aren't, but are.

I'm in an off mood. Perhaps some Improv Fight Club (shhhh!) will cure it.

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It didn't especially, though fun was had - and I'll say no more. Anyway, I don't think I quite got my relationship with the audience sorted out earlier. I did once ask myself, while putting together a show (non-improv) that was going horribly, why it was even my responsibility in the first place to keep these people entertained. The question has stuck with me, if in a more theoretical light. Perhaps the Festival will shed light on new facets of the answer. How's that for an expectation?