Over the summer I was hired to do a show for a street fair. I’ve done many of these in the past, but this one was a little bit different. When I arrived I was directed to my “stage” which was the middle of the street.
Doing a show in the middle of the street with no defined performing area is not a problem, I’ve done that before. For me the bigger challenge was trying to find a situation where the audience could be in the shade for the 45 min show.
There really wasn’t any shade that wasn’t blocking a business. I didn’t want to tell people to stand under a business’s awning, but I also knew that people would choose the shady spot to watch the show.
Once I started to talk up my show, people immediately filled the shady area directly in front of a business!
As my friend Skip Banks says, if you make the audience area comfortable, they’ll show up. They were a great crowd, and it was a fun show!
-Louie