The ability to project your internal state outward so the audience can receive it. Distinct from Presence (internal attention) — a performer can be deeply present internally but invisible to the back row. Stage presence is the bridge between inner truth and audience experience.
Johnstone in Impro: "Good actors project their inner state without comment. The audience reads them because they are readable, not because they are performing readability."
Physical tools:
Vocal projection: Not just volume — it's directing sound outward using breath support and clear articulation. Many improvisers under-project because they're playing to their scene partner rather than sharing with the audience. The note "share it with the audience" is one of the most common director notes.
Using the full stage: Inexperienced improvisers cluster at center stage. Strong stage presence uses width, depth, and levels (sitting, standing, kneeling, lying down). Varying levels creates visual interest and communicates status and relationship.
Cheating out: The instinct is to face your scene partner directly. The skill is to angle the body toward the audience while maintaining connection with the partner. Basic stagecraft borrowed from theater, but essential for improv.
Stillness as power: Constant movement reads as nervous energy. The ability to stand still and hold space is itself powerful stage presence. Johnstone: high-status characters move less, take up more space, hold eye contact longer.
Sightlines: Awareness of what the audience can see. Not blocking other performers. Understanding spatial dynamics — upstage-center is the power position, downstage corners are intimate.
Status and stage presence: Johnstone's status work maps directly. High-status signals project presence: taking up space, moving deliberately, holding eye contact, speaking in complete sentences, keeping the head still, pausing before responding. Low-status signals diminish it: contracting, fidgeting, breaking eye contact, trailing off. These are signals, not personality — a performer deploys them consciously.
The mechanics: Warm up the voice before performing. Ground through the feet — physical grounding creates vocal grounding. Breathe — shallow breathing undermines both presence and projection. Commit physically — half-committed physicality reads as tentative; full commitment reads as confident even if the choice is "wrong."
TJ Jagodowski: "The audience doesn't know what you meant to do. They only know what you did. So do it fully."