Stage Freight, Theater, College Term Papers.com


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Back to Subjects - Theater

Stage Freight

Stage Freight Sarah feels totally confident as she looks over her lines for the final time before the curtain opens. She landed the leading role in her favorite play, Romeo and Juliet. She practiced and rehearsed over and over again to perfect her character; she is ready. As the curtain raises and the play begins, she watches the audience; “Where did all these people come from?” she asked, “I didn’t expect this many!” She starts to feel a tingle, a tingle in the back of her neck. It spreads down her shoulders and to her arms and finally her hands. thump thump, thump thump, thump thump; her heart is racing in her chest. Sarah sits down, frozen with fear. Stage fright is an acute nervousness associated with performing or speaking before an audience. It occurs in almost every single actor and public speaker as she walks out on stage or up to the podium. Sarah was experiencing stage fright. She, a very talented actress, was in her senior year in high school and was not prepared for such a large audience. She can eliminate stage fright in a few simple steps. These steps are harder for some and easier for others, it just depends on the person and their ability to concentrate, but trying to get rid of the problem is half the battle. Gaining confidence is a major step of getting over stage fright. Going out on stage is a wondrous feat of strength and talent; it requires concentration, focus, and most of all, confidence. Confidence carries the actor out on stage and tells her she is about to give the best performance of her life; it helps her ignore the audience and perform as if she was alone with the other actors and no one was watching. This can be achieved by repeating to oneself, “I am not going to screw up. I am not going to miss my cue. I am not going to break character” etc. However, stage fright also causes extreme nervousness that can lead to the breaking of self-confidence. If an actor finds herself getting extremely nervous or if the attempt at raising her self-confidence does not work, she can try to calm herself down by thinking of things that make her happy and excited. These thoughts take the mind away from what is going on and soothe the actor into a more calm state suitable for performance. Sarah closed her eyes and tried thinking of different things that could possibly calm her down. She thought of her dog back at home and how he would run after the tennis ball she threw; she thought of her friends and all the fun they had when they went dancing. Sarah grew a big smile on her face until she suddenly heard someone from the stage calling “Juliet!” She opened her eyes and jumped up. It was only her name being stated, not her cue. She was relieved. Smiling in relief, Sarah looked back out on stage. She saw the actors and saw the audience, and began feeling that tingling sensation in her hands once again and immediately sat back down. She tried closing her eyes and thinking of those happy times as she did before, but it did not help anymore, she was too startled from hearing her name. She got up and paced back and forth back stage trying to think of what she was taught to do in this situation, “What am I going to do?” she asked herself, “What am I going to do?” Sarah remembered what one of her teachers had told her... “the main cause of stage fright is anxiety (which she tried overcoming earlier). Anxiety is ‘a state of intense apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation, often to a degree that the normal physical and psychological functioning of the affected individual is disrupted’. Although an elaborate definition, it hits on key points: because of nervousness, physical and psychological skills are inhibited. Such examples of this could be slurring of words or even frozen stillness of the actors body. To overcome this, one must prepare, prepare, and prepare even more”. She thought to herself.... “Okay, I have already prepared for this night. I rehearsed at every rehearsal, I memorized my lines, I went over them every night, what else can I do?” Sometimes being totally prepared and knowing exactly what you are going to say does not completely alleviate that tingling feeling in your hands, the butterflies in your stomach, or the loss for words. This comes from an intimidation that the actor creates in her head about the audience looking out at her. This is not necessarily a lack of preparation but more of lack of concentration, or focus. Focus is another key thing an actor or a speaker needs in order to overcome stage fright. Focus allows the actor, once onstage, to be able to concentrate on the script of the play and the actions there in. When an actor has complete focus on the play and lets her character take over her body; she is more likely to perform in a more controlled and calm manner. And if for some reason something does go amiss, then she will be more likely to quickly make up for it than if she were not calm and collected. Likewise, when the actor also realizes the audience is in a stationary location and that they are not going to move in closer and surround her, she can guide her focus back to the action on stage and continue with the performance. However, Sarah’s problem stems from before she goes onstage; the apprehension about being onstage in front of hundreds of people. To overcome this she needs to warm up her body to be ready to go on stage. Deep breathing exercises help relax the actor as well as loosen up her chest and diaphragm to be prepared to project her voice. Sarah remembered her teacher saying this but she had a limited amount of time before her cue. Throwing her last bit of hope into this she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Sarah imagined the worst possible scenario that could ever happen out on stage, became scared and then laughed at her imagination. When she opened her eyes she peered at the audience one last time before she was to enter. She thought to herself... “I was scared of that? Oh come on Sarah, you’re becoming a wimp!” Sarah’s entrance came soon after and she walked out on stage and looked out at the audience to deliver her line. What she had not thought of earlier was that there are lights that shine down on her from the ceiling; they almost blind her, she could not see the audience. She held a secret smile within herself and continued with her performance. When the play was over, Sarah looked back on the events prior to her cue; she felt a little embarrassed that she let something inhibit her from doing what she loves. She was proud of herself for remembering what all she had learned and she hoped that she would not have to deal with that fear again. “However,” she thought, “There are more stages out there, ones larger than this one. Oh who cares! If i could overcome this, then I think I can handle a little more stage fright.” Sarah gave one last look at the mirror in her dressing room, picked up her roses and left the auditorium smiling. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1262