We are not isolated performers, putting on a show with unlimited budget for noone to see. The audience is there, a breathing part of the theatre, and is one of the most important considerations in any theatrical piece. They can be provoked, abused, amused, shaken or pleasantly entertained but the key in all of those verbs is the subject. Unless you know your audience you cannot do anything to them. Jokes fall flat and. questions are lost in translation. They provide the context and constraints we must live within, or purposefully break, to produce our art.
Oh, and if your piece doesn’t resonate with your audience you make no money and are forced to do dinner theatre for the free meal o.r starve to death.