Anybody can give any ideas...

usually how many audiences you perform for?
do you do close up or stage ????
how much would you charge them???

I want to take my performance a little higher...
before I just used to perform in Café and bars usually walk around and close up...
but now many clients asked me if I can perform in their party...
another one is I want to start a dark theater production... maybe a show once a month... so any kindered spirit can give me any advice or idea...
thank you...

For me, I believe you can do a Bizarre act for a parlour setting that is intimate. I would prefer the less it felt like an "audience" the better, for their sakes, not mine. What I mean by that is lines of rows of chairs. Yuck. I would prefer for it to feel like they are sitting around a living room in an informal setting. The closer it feels like a real home, the less protected they will feel.

And in designing the show, do yourself a favor and create a range of emotions. If you make it dark and heavy all night, it can get tedious. That goes for any emotion. I feel the same about all comedy shows.

What you charge depends on a combination of the market, what you feel you are worth, and what they will pay. I don't know where you are at either. For me, I don't mind being expensive. Eugene Burger says if they don't drop the phone out of shock he starts wondering if he is underpriced. I don't know if you are ready to go that far yet, but don't be afraid to charge close to market rates. Call around and see what the going rates are in your neck of the woods.

As far as the dark theater, see if you can get a good venue that you can control. Perhaps you could work with the owners of a suitable home to create this production. A great venue can bring you more notorioty.

Thank you clifford for the ideas...

for the informal setting at least how many people would you recommend? would it be okay if dinner is included???

about the dark theater I was planning for a stage play... or a ghost hunting, like a walk around tour in the campus... can you suggest any reference for this?

do you have any assistant or you work alone???

Sinnead,

It is difficult to answer your questions simply because there
are so many possible answers and they are all interrelated.

While I like to keep bizarre type performances as intimate as
possible, that does not mean that they can't play in a stage type
environment. At Theater Macabre we started a show every 30 minutes,
and had up to 40 people per show (with two going at once). We charged
$7.00 per head an made our money though volume. You must remember that
we were catering to the haunted house crowd, so we had to keep the prices
low.

On-the-other-hand, if you are doing a smaller, more intimate gathering
that lasts longer, then you will want to charge significantly more. I am
planning an evening of haunted entertainment, with dinner, at the moment
and I will charge $100 per couple. I have seen others charge double that.
As Clifford said, it depends on what your market will bear. Remember, however,
that your market means more than just where you live. Is your show designed for
high school or college students? For theatre patrons? Pricing to attract one
will likely exclude the other.

As I said, your question is a complex one. It will take some research and
probably some trial and error to get it right. Good luck with all of your
upcoming ventures.

Dave

There are no rules, this is art! Do what seems right to your sensibilities. A dinner theater would be great, I would think. How many people? Depends on the size of the venue.

See Spirit Theater or Manifestations material. Also, do some web research some of the "Haunted Tours" going on in some major cities like Boston or LA.

I have a partner I work with, "Berteig the Bearded" (he'll kill me for that or I also do a show alone. I don't need a lot of stage crap so an assistant is not needed. If I want to go all out, I might want a light and sound tech though.

Hello Sinnead

Your thoughts and ideas are exactly what 'The Black Magic Theatre Show and Seance' is all about.

You need to be flexible in your approach.

Corporate functions - up to 200 people. The 45 minute show is adapted so that everyone can see. Mostly the same presentations, diferent props. Many of your audience will have been drinking.

Corporate functions up to - 40 people. 45 minute show, more intimate, you can scale down the presentations a little.

Private seance - 4 to 12 people. 45 minutes to an hour (no longer). Many of the same effects but on a smaller scale. You can use effects such as 'Scales of Death'. This is played more seriously with all guests seated around a table. Some poltergeist activity can also be arranged.

Add the right music, candlelight and atmosphere and you are halfway there. This is harder to do with the larger fuction. You WILL need voice amplification for the larger shows.

Charges:

Well there is the $64,000 question!

The better the reputation you have the more you can charge. It depends also on the client. IBM will not want a $250.00 act. Mrs Brown and her 6 friends will not want a $2,500 seance.

If I could answer that question for you then I'd put it in writing and sell the answer! : )

If you'd like t pm me I'll make you a few personal recommendations.

Best of Luck

Keith Hart

TOny ANdruzzi once said that the more people that there are present, the less impact you have. That is a fact when you do bizarre magic and séance work.
In "Spirit theater" there's a section devoted on how to seat the people and why...
As for your fee... In the beginning you should find a balance between asking enough and asking not enough. This largely depends on your customer. It's real hard in the beginning, but after some experience with negociations, you'll get the knack...
It still is the part that I don't like, though...

The Red may have to pay for that one, after I pay for my neglect of this forum for these past several months. I can only blame the "real" world for sucking so much of my time away from my proper work....

On the some approximation of the original topic, I am convinced that you can do Bizarre themes in nearly any context. It does depend on your performance persona, because the bizarre works best when at least one person is taking it seriously. I don't mean that it has to be a heavy, bloody, Lovecraftian nightmare kind of thing, but part of my goal in performance is to have my victim experiance a miracle.

As The Red says, rows of chairs are not as conducive as one-on-one in a quiet corner, but I am positive that you can even do bizarre stuff in completely mundane places such as restuants.