Overcoming 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 n...

... middle of paper ...

...nd 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.