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Every actor gets stage fright at one time or another. The important thing is dealing with it. In this episode, the Geeks discuss why we have stage fright, in performance or in auditions, and suggest a few ways to overcome this performance-killer.
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Great episode! I’m almost caught up!
I’m going to disagree a bit with the practical jokes backstage. It is a very fine line, and one I don’t think actors themselves can cross, but I DO like Directors that can make a running joke work, and the director is in a position to “pull a prank” on someone who it won’t bother and will take it in the spirt it is intended.
Here’s an example. I directed Communicating Doors and had an absolute pro playing the female lead. She was simply amazing, beautiful and talented but couldn’t get over her stage fright of having to change clothes on stage in front of everybody.
I loved my set, including the fully working bathtub on stage. The end of act one has the bad guy drowning the heroine in that tub just before the blackout. Prior to the bad guy’s entrance, the heroine is filling the tub. The stage fright was so bad, the actress was completely shutting down during the intermission in anticipation of the onstage partial nudity.
So the second night, I pre-filled the tub an put 10 goldfish in the tub before the show started. The whole crew was in on it and kept it quiet, and the big scene arrives, and you’d have never known that the goldfish were in there. Went off as great as ever.
However, THAT intermission the actress tracked me down, threw a goldfish at me, couldn’t believe I did it. I laughed. She laughed. The other actors laughed. It was the most fun intermission ever.
And she was COMPLETELY unafraid of the strip scene. She didn’t think about it, and when the show started up again, she was too busy (she very rarely left the stage) to think about it.
So we had a laugh, we had a relaxed lead actress for the rest of the run, and I had the perfect “threat” to hold over everyone. Don’t freak out our I’ll goldfish you. (Surprise! My cast gift was a big box of Goldfish crackers)
I’d never have done that to a new actress. I’d have been furious if another actor or crew had done it. But I needed to do something to help my actress. And the prank was what I did. Since then, I’ve gotten the reputation of pulling a prank backstage. And since none of them have ever been mean, dangerous, or designed to throw people off their job of acting, it’s all in good fun.
My last “prank” was as a Technical Director. I designed a set for To Gillian on her 37th Birthday. And it had a mean little twist that made me giggle. The entire show takes place on the beach behind a house. Instead of building just the back of the house, I built a house, and put a huge window right next to the door. And the door itself had a huge window in it. So instead of a place to hide waiting for a cue… the actors had to cross 16 feet of dressed stage space before opening the door. They had to get in character LONG before their cue lines, cross to the door on time, and make their “entrance” on cue.
Again, let me say that the amazing actors of that play managed to have whole mini-stories going on inside the house. Instead of arriving from the door with muffins for everyone, they opened a box of muffins and arranged them artistically on a plate. One actor read the paper in the chair in the house. They really took to it as a challenge… what would the character do when they “aren’t” on stage… but they are.
I giggled at everything they did, knowing they wouldn’t have been doing it if I’d given them the set they THOUGHT they were getting.
This is a great story. Goldfish defeats embarrassment! We’ve had some nastier pranks in the past — a lot of them involving food (jalapenos in the sandwiches, for example)., which can be a real problem on stage.
Great episode! I’m almost caught up!
I’m going to disagree a bit with the practical jokes backstage. It is a very fine line, and one I don’t think actors themselves can cross, but I DO like Directors that can make a running joke work, and the director is in a position to “pull a prank” on someone who it won’t bother and will take it in the spirt it is intended.
Here’s an example. I directed Communicating Doors and had an absolute pro playing the female lead. She was simply amazing, beautiful and talented but couldn’t get over her stage fright of having to change clothes on stage in front of everybody.
I loved my set, including the fully working bathtub on stage. The end of act one has the bad guy drowning the heroine in that tub just before the blackout. Prior to the bad guy’s entrance, the heroine is filling the tub. The stage fright was so bad, the actress was completely shutting down during the intermission in anticipation of the onstage partial nudity.
So the second night, I pre-filled the tub an put 10 goldfish in the tub before the show started. The whole crew was in on it and kept it quiet, and the big scene arrives, and you’d have never known that the goldfish were in there. Went off as great as ever.
However, THAT intermission the actress tracked me down, threw a goldfish at me, couldn’t believe I did it. I laughed. She laughed. The other actors laughed. It was the most fun intermission ever.
And she was COMPLETELY unafraid of the strip scene. She didn’t think about it, and when the show started up again, she was too busy (she very rarely left the stage) to think about it.
So we had a laugh, we had a relaxed lead actress for the rest of the run, and I had the perfect “threat” to hold over everyone. Don’t freak out our I’ll goldfish you. (Surprise! My cast gift was a big box of Goldfish crackers)
I’d never have done that to a new actress. I’d have been furious if another actor or crew had done it. But I needed to do something to help my actress. And the prank was what I did. Since then, I’ve gotten the reputation of pulling a prank backstage. And since none of them have ever been mean, dangerous, or designed to throw people off their job of acting, it’s all in good fun.
My last “prank” was as a Technical Director. I designed a set for To Gillian on her 37th Birthday. And it had a mean little twist that made me giggle. The entire show takes place on the beach behind a house. Instead of building just the back of the house, I built a house, and put a huge window right next to the door. And the door itself had a huge window in it. So instead of a place to hide waiting for a cue… the actors had to cross 16 feet of dressed stage space before opening the door. They had to get in character LONG before their cue lines, cross to the door on time, and make their “entrance” on cue.
Again, let me say that the amazing actors of that play managed to have whole mini-stories going on inside the house. Instead of arriving from the door with muffins for everyone, they opened a box of muffins and arranged them artistically on a plate. One actor read the paper in the chair in the house. They really took to it as a challenge… what would the character do when they “aren’t” on stage… but they are.
I giggled at everything they did, knowing they wouldn’t have been doing it if I’d given them the set they THOUGHT they were getting.