How can I deal with stage fright?

Imagine yourself doing it perfectly; flawlessly. And, think that someone who you dearly love is in the audience waiting to see their favorite person. Then, take a deep breath and walk on stage as if it were Broadway, and give your heart to it!

Honestly, when the lights are on, you really don't see most of the people out there. They are just a blurry mass. Afterwards, you will almost WISH someone took a picture from the view of the stage so you could actually see what they looked like. You really only see they first few rows. So if you just don't look at them, and just concentrate on the distant "blurry mass", it's a lot easier that way. I used to be in an all-girl rock band, and I remember I experienced MORE stage fright when we played in a small bar with 10-20 people versus huge crowds of 2000 or more. You could SEE the faces of those 10-20 people. All you saw in the big crowds was just a CROWD, like leaves on a tree. But even in those small venues, just enjoy the moment. Don't think about what they are thinking. Just have fun. We did one show in a pretty seedy bar and all the people were OLDER MEN who were drunk off their asses. They heckled us all really badly. Our lead singer was almost brought to tears. But it was for good money so we struggled through it. One of my older brothers was there, so we felt somewhat safe, but it was still scary. (And we had fudged our ages to be able to play there.) By the end of the night, though, it was hysterical. The EXACT SAME DRUNKS who were heckling us earlier were now singing our praises. We were all the best musicians they'd ever heard. They were even dancing. And some of them bought us flowers from this woman who was selling roses for $5 a pop. It was a reality check to how you shouldn't let audience reactions bother you. We always remembered that gig every time we got nervous about a bigger gig. And you know what, it happened time and time again. People just want to be entertained. If you're having fun doing it, they buy into it and have fun with you too.

Stage fright is actually a wonderful thing for a performer and the key is rather than trying to overcome it is learn to channel it.

The nerves and anxiety you get when going through stage fright provides a powerful source of energy that is important to any performer. The danger as you mentioned it is that the energy can be translated into speed where you're talking too fast or in the case of acting, moving too wildly. What you need to train yourself to do is relax when you're actually on stage, keeping you natural but still filled with all this energy that you can bring to other aspects of performance like emotion and passion. Embrace your fear and break a leg!

Make sure you know your stuff - if you don't practice and you aren't comfortable with what you're saying up there it adds another level to your fear. If you have friends in the class (who won't make you uncomfortable or try to make you laugh), you could direct your gaze at one or two of them to make it feel like you're just having a discussion (especially if they're in different parts of the room, it makes it look like you're "engaging the audience" when you're really not)...or pick an item or two on the back wall and watch those and don't look at ANYONE if that's more comfortable. Judging by your writing, you seem to be very intelligent - I'll bet you're better at this than you think you are. Have confidence in that!

well...not to be a bummer, but it's much easier to over come fright with giving a speech, than to performing an entire play. If you're really interested in theater than i suggest that you do some other thing like directing of working with the stage craft crew. I hope you overcome your fear!

Hi there!

You definitely have to believe in yourself. But I realize it’s easier to say than to do, so I will try and explain it to you better.

What's really important is that you first of all are as well prepared as you possibly can be. Practice and make sure you know your stuff!. Practice. Practice. Practice. That alone will help you to feel more confident.

There is something else that your drama classes and your teacher can help you with and that is a concept called ‘public solitude.’ If you can, take a GOOD acting class. They will teach you that. You learn how to develop public solitude, which is really feeling comfortable in any situation and being able to block out everything around you. While as a speaker you can’t block out your audience, the exercise and acting classes in general will help you to feel more comfortable in front of a group.

Something else that is crucial is that you need to focus on what you want and not on what you don't want. You need to focus your mind on what a great speech will be like and not on the things you are afraid will happen if you mess up.

Why? What will that do for you? Let me give you an example.

If I tell you right now, "Don't think about a yellow elephant! Don't think about it!"

What's the first thing that comes into your mind?

You don't have to tell me, because I already know. It's the yellow elephant isn't it? Why is that? Because that's how the human brain works. That's how your brain works. In order to forget something, our brain first has to understand what it is supposed to forget. How does it do that? By first bringing it to the forefront and creating an image around it.

So what does that have to do with your feeling comfortable while speaking? Everything!

If you tell yourself before you go into the speech or during any performance itself things like; "I hope I don't mess up. I hope I don't get nervous. I hope I don't forget anything. I hope I don't freeze in front of the group.", you are putting yourself in a position to think about what you don't want. Your imagination will go there and recreate that image of all those negative things you keep telling yourself. Your focus is on the wrong things!

So now you know what you have to do? What kinds of things will you tell yourself the next time you go into a speech? Positive things! Good things! You will give a great speech! You will be very comfortable in front of your audience! See yourself doing that. If you have to, close your eyes, breathe deeply before you go on stage and visualize yourself being brilliant. How confident will you be while you are singing? You know your songs. You are in the song. You feel it! You can see that you feel what you are singing! You are confident and you will be brilliant!

When you talk like that to yourself, you will feel your posture change. You will be erect and your shoulders will be back if you really feel it and if you really believe it. So BE confident and FEEL confident and you will BE the best that you can be.

And breathe!

Some last tips:

Remember to keep eye contact with the ENTIRE audience and not with just one or two people in the group who make you feel comfortable while you’re talking. If you do this, you will engage everyone.

Pay attention to your tone of voice. If you can, record your speech and listen to it. Then ask yourself if you would be interested in what you are saying if you were in the audience. If the answer is yes. OK. If the answer is no, fix what’s wrong with your tone and do it again.

Pay attention to your gestures. Don’t be a stiff board in front of the audience. And don’t fidget.

Stand still! Doesn’t mean you can’t move, but don’t pace.

Keep your hands free. If you hold something in your hand while talking, it distracts the audience from your message.

If you use visual aids, make sure that you REFER to them and that you DON’T TALK TO THEM. Talk to your audience.

If you are using a flip chart and you have to write while you speak or draw something, stand to the side while you write, so that the audience can see what you are writing while you are writing it.

Still on the subject of visual aids, since we live in a society that reads from left to right, it is better to stand to the left (from the audience’s view) of your visual aid. This will hold their attention to you and less to the visual aid.

To overcome nervous energy, speak at a louder tone of voice, use gestures and BREATHE deeply. Be conscious of that.

Hope that helps!

Tony

http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/

Start slow. Ask your parents if you can practice in front of them. When you become comfortable in front of immediate family you may want to move on to close friends. Just continue practicing in front of friends and family, when you get comfortable in front of a number of people move on to a larger number. Also, if you wear glasses but don't desperatley need them, try not wearing them during a performance. It helps a lot when you can't see your audience that well.

well when i was younger i watched little bill

&& all you have to do is breath in [huuu] breath out [fooo]. if that dnt help.. just pretend that no one's there, like you're all alone just talking for the hell of it. lol.

HOPE YOU GET OVER YOU STAGE FRIGHT SOON!

p.s. i get stage fright too when i have to speak in class but i try not to worry about all the ppl around..after awhile you get used to it.

Don't picture the audience naked, it doesn't work. It just grosses you out sweethart. Think of the most embarreing time of your life, or find a way to relax. GOOD LUCK!

Just try to split your personality into onserver and performer. Observer notices the signs of fear in performer's voice and advises to change intonation and rhythm. It worked well for myself.