Overcoming Stage Fear

Here’s a note from a reader, which elicited today’s subject:“The audition process can be HECK! …My biggest hurdle? FEAR. Yikes! I’m guessing and hoping that more and more auditions will help tame that monster. Do you have any tips for me?”Fear is the deadliest of all performing traps. Let’s hold a mirror up to the monster called “stage fright.”A word of comfort—or warning: Do not think fear is restricted to those who perform before a live audience. An experienced actress I know booked a very small role (really only a couple ofshort lines) on a national TV show, and yet she fumbled and stumbled over the short speech, requiring numerous extra takes for a simple scene with only 6 or 7 words.Why the stumble? The scene was with the star (who she said was very nice to her) but our actress became so anxious or overwhelmed that her fear interfered with her memory. This was before TV cameras. Not a theatre full of people! Fear is a creepy crawly critter who invades all media.There are lots of ways to challenge the monster. Here are a few:Ask yourself: “What am I afraid of?” Failure? Forgetting lines? All audiences? Only specific audiences? Rejection? Not being good enough? Pinpoint the areas. Be honest.If the entire process of auditioning/performing is paralyzing, I strongly urge you to put it into perspective.What does that mean? It means this: Are you and your loved ones healthy? Do you have food, clothing, shelter? THESE ARE THE BASICS. Once these are taken care of, then please realize that some stage fright is part of the territory of performing, thateveryone experiences it in varying degrees from a wondrous electric bolt of energy to an incapacitating self-destructive paralysis. But understand this and understand it in bold print: Performing/auditioning is not a matter of life or death! Put it in proper perspective.Do not let fear control your behavior. It’s acting or singing or dancing – not brain surgery. No lives depend on it. No governments topple because of it. Hold onto reality whenever stage fright crawls into terror. Put performing and auditioning in their proper perspective. It ain’t life and death!Speaking strictly personally, I experience very little performance jitters most of the time–maybe because I delayedacting for so many years and the sheer JOY of it slays the fear dragon. I love the small electricity of energy that occurs just before performance (whether on film or on stage). I am proud to have finally silenced the voices that said, “You can’t do this at your age!”There is nothing to compare with the thrill of opening that audition door and knowing I am setting off to battle. Or the heady delight of hearing, “And—-ACTION” and knowing the camera is on ME. Maybe the jousting knights of old felt that way. Since the entire battle is with myself, how can I lose? I AMIN CHARGE OF ME.So maybe that’s part of the answer—JOY. Let the JOY of performance zap the fear of performance. Why would anyone go into acting if they didn’t want to be seen or heard? That’s real masochism! So delight in being seen and heard, rather than fear it.I am not a psychologist but would like to recommend a valuable book I bought in London: Dr. David Roland’sThe Confident Performer. There are several other books specifically addressing the subject of performance fright. Skim them in the bookstore and buy the one that seems best for you.What else to do about this monster? We go back to PREPARATION. Memorize the words to the ridiculous point! “Of course I know this line. It has 10 words in it. I have memorized several plays.” Those words are dangerous! Whether 10 or 10,000, all words, every line must be memorized and then re-memorized and then memorized again and again and again. Any line glitch can tumble anyone into the pit of fear. Only knowing the lines as if you wrote them can rescue you.I once worked with a national star, who was a lovely person and first rate actor. In the middle of a scene where only he and I were supposed to be on stage, here trots on another actor who unfortunately had a hearing problem and was too proud to wear a hearing aid. He misheard what was being said on stage and popped in too soon. The mistaken entry startled the star, frightened him into a tailspin of memory lapse.How could this be avoided? People ARE going to drop lines, exit or enter in the wrong place, a phone doesn’t ring, lights go awry. And you are hurtled into terror UNLESS YOU KNOW YOUR LINES beyond “normal” knowing of lines.I did a small scene in a national TV show with one of the stars who would improv constantly. My JOB quickly became not acting. My JOB turned into trying to keep hold of the lines I wassupposed to deliver! I personally couldn’t ad-lib. I had to stick to the script. It would have been an impossible nightmare if I hadn’t known my lines PERFECTLY. As it was, just getting those lines out right, in spite of all the improv, became a challenge. Ultimately it was fun, mostly as a challenge to see if I could NOT allow the star to throw me into a tailspin! Without all that obsessive preparation to hold on to, that scene would have been a minefield.So read the lines over and over and over and say them aloud about 50 times and write them down. If you have been blocked,once you get home walk through your blocking as you say the lines. Fear of forgetting lines is one of the greatest causes of performance fear. Over preparation of lines—another way to combat fear.However, for every suggestion there is an exception! I read of a major actor who had done the same show for three years on Broadway and yet the few days before opening out of town he suffered terrible anxiety and stage fright. Go figure!Another weapon that falls under the PREPARATION umbrella is FOCUS. Force all thoughts on the job at hand. It takes energyand will to focus. But realize that it also takes energy and will to create fear. No one handed you a “fear pill.” You created it yourself. So take a FOCUS pill instead.An actor told me of a play she was in with a man who memorized all his lines before anyone else. He was “off book” all through rehearsal. Unfortunately, from opening night to closing night because of fear he constantly forgot lines, jumpedahead, or just stood there, not giving cues. His fear affected everyone on stage. My first reaction on hearing about this was:“Stop being such a selfish, self-indulgent baby and start thinking about your fellow cast members.” NOT FAIR. Fear is deadly. And selfish.Another thing that helps hold the monster at bay is very easy: TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY. Sleep, breathing exercises, yoga, and my own favorite: orange juice. Orange juice? I drink it before and during performance and take a last sip just before entering the audition arena. WHY?Orange juice helps maintain blood sugar level which is affectedby stress. A drop in blood sugar often increases anxiety. Candyfloods the system too fast. Go the orange juice route. Also havesome protein about an hour before an audition. Avoid caffeine. “Mens sana in corpore sano” – A sound mind in a sound body.“Be a better actor” via 3rd year high school Latin!More: Stick on those headphones and listen to some music youlove. Or run your lines over and over so that you cannot think about being afraid. Or exercise a bit. I have seen actors stretched out on the floor like snow angels, breathing and trying to relax before performance.One question that finally must be asked: Why choose to perform if the fear is overwhelming? Yes indeed, it should diminish with more and more exposure to auditioning and performing. But what if it doesn’t?If the fear interferes with your ability to perform well, then either seek professional help—a therapist who specializes in performance anxiety—or rethink your professional goals. Instead of performing there is directing, assisting, stage managing, camera work, costumes, props, designing—all the great backbones of our profession. These vital jobs do not giverise to the same fears that the performer faces.And now for the strongest weapon against fear.My deepest belief is that if you are passionate about acting, that same passion will insist, will demand that you perform. And that insistence, that demand, will slay the fear dragon. Let that passion to perform be greater than destructive fear. Being a performer is NOT EASY. It requires a demanding drive which ultimately conquers a faint heart or self-destruction.So don your PREPARATION armor, stay FOCUSED, gulp down the ORANGE JUICE, mount the steed named JOY and gallop off to confront and conquer the monster of fear. And remember, it is a battle that can be won.