ABSTRACT
During their first few moments onstage, many monologuists attempt to establish a sense of time and place: “When I was seventeen I spent three months traveling through Germany and Italy. . . .” Or, “I love sitting on the roof of my apartment building at night staring up at the moon. . . .” The goal of your first few moments is to forge as many different links with the audience as possible, emotional, conceptual, narrative, and so on. Bear in mind that no matter how engaging a performer may be, during the first minute of almost any monologue the audience is still settling in. Even though they may be consciously focused on you and your words, on an unconscious level they are actively assessing and integrating a million and one details about the performance space, your attire, the lighting, the seat they are sitting in, and so forth. So though on one hand you would like your first few moments onstage to be as powerful as possible, realize that most audiences nonetheless will take at least a few minutes to get on your bus.
