Our job as artists is to make the audience feel.
Having my strength in comedy improv performance, I feel most comfortable defaulting to humor. At times, I’ve even gotten a sense of pride from my ability to come up with great one-liners in a split second. But Keli was quick to remind us that there is something deeper than comedy to each and every scene, and we ought not use humor as a crutch just because it’s easy to do or just because we love to make people laugh.
During an improv scene, when I’m paying close attention, there is the moment right before I make a choice in what I am about to say. And it’s true–I can go ahead and say the funny thing, or I can hold on another brief moment and uncover a deeper meaning that often tends more toward the profound. It’s a type of letting go that is really fascinating once you are aware of it happening.
Keli also pointed out that though it’s great to make people laugh, it’s our job onstage to move people–and moving people can mean bringing them to laughter, tears, disgust…
Moving people can also mean making someone so uncomfortable she feels the need to leave! Success! (Or, was my performance so bad that she couldn’t take it anymore? Still success! I moved her! I did my job!)
This lesson in getting to the point of our job as performers and artists helps us to break through our comfort and into uncharted territory, where the best art is made. Here, we triumph over the fear that keeps us predictable and confined in our options.
So, rock on and express yourself as an artist–but show the audience you are as boundless in your forms of expression as they are. Don’t just take the easy way out because you’re good at a particular skill. Keep that skill in your back pocket and use it when it burns not to, but remember there is more to you than that.
There is so much more to you than that.
Actors Love The Process 