Building a cabaret audience beyond family & friends is difficult and the real trick is to create more friends! Every show you present should, as a side goal, be an effort to know everyone in your audience personally. Instead of rushing off to the "dressing room" right after the show, make it a point to meet and greet every single member of the audience - and if they have been to a previous show, greet them by name and thank them for coming back. Takes some memory skills, but it is truly an effective technique.
And invest some time (and as it turns out, very little money) by getting involved with some of the open-mic and socializing opportunities. I'm not talking about piano bars - I mean events in your community where cabaret lovers and performers hang out. Here in NYC you can find and create new friends at such places as Trudi Mann's weekly Sunday Brunch at Butterfield 8, Mark Janus' weekly Salon at the Algonquin, Jennifer Wren's twice-monthly Big Night Out at Broadway Baby, Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland, Brandon Cutrell's After Party at The Laurie Beechman, Joe Bachana's MetroJam at the Metropolitan Room - and I'm sure I left out several more. Boston's BACA used to have monthly open-mic nights (I'm no longer on their mailing list so I'm not sure if they continue), and Washington DCs DCCN has monthly open-mic as well.
Don't have such events in your community? Why not get together with some others and start one? Most of them are cover-free or have a small cover charge, and all of them give you an opportunity to network.
HUGS
STU
