Stage fright. It’s something we all have likely experienced at some point in our lives. Even the best actors, the most experienced performers in the world get nervous every once in a while!

In this article, I’m going to explain the signs of stage fright and three specific steps you can take to fight it the next time you experience stage fright, which are grounded in some of my own personal experiences as a performer.

(You won’t find any advice here to envision your audience in their underwear – I promise!)

What Are the Signs of Stage Fright?

Wondering if you have ever had it? Here are the official symptoms of stage fright (or performance anxiety,) according to Vanessa Van Edwards and her team at the Science of People:

• Racing pulse and rapid breathing
• Dry mouth and tight throat
• Trembling hands, knees, lips and voice
• Sweaty and cold hands
• Nausea and an uneasy feeling in your stomach
• Vision changes

And you may not experience all of these, you may only experience a few. I know when I am nervous, it affects my voice in a major way. (As you can imagine, this is not great before singing auditions…) Stage fright, or performance anxiety, affects us all differently. But the important thing to realize is that it can be treated (and in many cases, prevented completely!) Here are three actionable ways to fight stage fright.

1. Focus up

Stage fright often stems from our fear of the unexpected, and the chaos that surrounds the unknown. We get distracted by the “what ifs” of the outcome, instead of focusing on the present moment. We become obsessed with the future… before it even happens! This makes us uncentered and unfocused.

And unfortunately, this comes across in our body language and physical appearance as well. When we are not living in the present moment, and focused on our immediate goal, people are able to perceive that.

To remedy this element of stage fright, the solution is to create clarity for yourself on what you are trying to achieve in this scenario. Vanessa Van Edwards shared that she learned this tip from master performance coach, Don Green:

To find clarity in the performance anxiety process, create one singular intention, and prioritize it in your mind. You should do this as early as hours (or even days) before the anxiety-inducing event, so you can begin repeating it in your head and out loud, and internalizing the message.

Keep the intention completely positive – use positive, affirmative language (like “I will” or positive-command based phrases like, “Stay focused and breathe from my feet”). Stay away from any negative words (like “don’t”) in your intention setting.

Personal Experience: Setting Intentions as an Actor

Before I learned about this technique from Van Edwards and Green, I realized that I had been using a similar technique in my own audition preparation process:

In the world of acting, it’s very easy to “play” a certain emotion. For example, if you’re in a scene where you’re portraying a women who just found out she was stolen from, it’s easy to “play” angry: to cross your arms, raise your voice, stomp your feet etc… all the signs that we innately associate with anger.

However…

One of my favorite acting coaches that I’ve ever had, DeAnna Driscoll, taught me the power of using “actions” to act truthfully (it seems so obvious, right?) Real emotions stem from actions, and one of the most powerful things you can do as an actor is play actions instead of emotions. (This approach has some similarities to the respected “Meisner technique” of acting, in which the actor detaches from emotions to act more truthfully in the moment).

So instead of playing “angry,” the more authentic way to think about the scene above to to use an action, like “to demand” justice or “to accuse” a suspect, or even “to resolve” to find a solution.

Playing an action is always a stronger choice than playing an emotion because it allows us to perform more authentically.

I like to take this concept into auditions with me, whether it’s a monologue, scene read, or vocal audition, and choose my “one action” or “one word” ahead of time, so I can remain true to in in the process. I find it’s much easier to remain committed to one action, one word, and it helps keep me focused and more calm throughout the process.

For example, for the past week, I have been preparing for a vocal audition and my choice is “to revel.” (I’ll let you know how it goes!)

To sum up – focusing on one intention helps to calm us, provide clarity, and soothe performance anxiety. Try this tactic the next time you experience stage fright!

2. Affirm something you believe in

One of my favorite tips that I’ve ever come across for calming stage fright and performance anxiety comes from one of my favorite books, “Presence” by Amy Cuddy. In the book, Cuddy explains the power of self-affirmation to help reduce anxiety and improve performance. She explains:

“Scores of several experiments have looked at self-affirmation inside and outside the lab, showing that it helps with raising grades and reducing bullying in schools, with quitting smoking and increasing healthful eating, with decreasing stress and improving the effectiveness of couples therapy outcomes, with sharpening negotiation skill and performance, among many other things. In fact, self-affirmation seems to work best when the pressure is on and the stakes are high.”

(Like, for instance, prior to an audition or other performance-anxiety-inducing scenario).

Cuddy continues:

“…before heading into a situation where we may be challenged, we can reduce our anxiety by reaffirming the parts of our authentic best selves we value most.”

Amy Cuddy, “Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges”

These findings are grounded in studies completed by Cuddy and her team, where the participants “affirmed their personal core values — not values or abilities that were relevant to the task at hand.”

So, for example, if the study participant was preparing to give a speech, they didn’t need to affirm “I am good at speech-making.”

Rather, they just needed re-affirm something true about their authentic selves, such as. ‘I value being creative and making art.’ They needed to connect with something that was true for them, something that made them happy, and affirmed who they were, in an authentic way.

You can reap the benefits of these findings by practicing the same things the next time you are experiencing stage fright. Take a few minutes to think about things that are meaningful to you: what you value and hold dearly. Then verbalize those values, or those qualities out loud.

Personal Experience: Calming Nerves Through Affirmation

I actually can recall a specific experience where I employed this technique (without knowing it), and realized afterwards what a difference it made on my level of performance anxiety (as well as the strength of my performance).

I recently was in a musical production where I had a solo that started the entire show. It was a vocally challenging song, which was nerve-wracking enough, but the fact that it also basically set the tone for the entire show to come could have been quite an overwhelming undertaking. And some days, I doubted myself more than others, and inherently, this self-doubt would manifest in my performance, and make me get inside my own head (and in my own way).

During tech week (which is the week before a show opens where you’re figuring out all the technical elements, like lights, sounds, costume, set changes etc), I was hanging out at the back of theatre prior to starting a run of the show, getting ready to sing. We were waiting for something to get finished, so our sound guy (who is a lovely, lovely person) started asking me about a recent video that I had posted on my Facebook page announcing Poised & Professional. He wanted to know more about my project, so I spent a few minutes, excitedly (probably passionately) explaining to him what Poised & Professional was, what I was hoping to accomplish with it, and why it was meaningful to me.

Then, pretty quickly, we got the signal to start the run, and my song began, and on I went.

It was only after I finished the song and I realized that it was one of the best times that I had performed it yet, that I connected the value of what happened right before the song, and the power of that self-affirmation, to the quality of my performance and my levels of confidence.

So, the next time you are experiencing stage fright, talk to yourself about something you value and believe it – something you know to be true about yourself. This will help to ground you in your core beliefs, and recenter you before your big moment.

3. Breathe deeply

When we are nervous, we unconsciously begin to take shorter and more shallow breaths. This exacerbates the existing symptom of stage fright of “racing pulse and rapid breathing,” and only make us feel more unsettled.

To counteract this symptom, and fight stage fright, force yourself to take slow, deep, mindful breaths. Close your eyes, and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. You can double up on tactics here by mentally repeating your intention (step 1), or your persona affirmations (step 2), as you take these deep breaths. This will help to naturally calm the body, increase the flow of oxygen, and slow your heart beat.

Personal Experience: Using Breath as a Vocalist

As a singer, breath is crucial to optimal performance – breath fuels the voice. To be able to sing in a supported, healthy way, you need to breathe deeply – deep into your belly and diaphragm.

There are many different approaches to breathing in the world of singing, but in the interest of keeping it simple, the tactic that I employ most frequently is visually imagining my belly (and my diaphragm) expanding as I breathe in to give me the support I need. If you think about it, this way of breathing counteracts the way we naturally breathe in daily life: where when you inhale, you chest expands but your belly shrinks (try it right now to see what I mean!).

Forcing this counteraction to our natural breathing pattern forces you to breathe into the deepest parts of the belly, where you can really get the fullest support for singing. When I am working through a particularly difficult piece, I will overemphasize this element of breathing and really focus on making my belly expand as I inhale.

Try breathing from your belly to “sink” air to your optimal support regions, and calm your natural nervous breath pattern.

Other Quick Tips for Beating Stage Fright

• Choose a focal point for your nervous energy and mentally throw it all there.
• Release tension from the body – do some light physical activity and/or focus on relaxing each area of the body, one breath at a time.

The next time you feel a bout of stage fright coming on, turn to these tips to help calm you and prepare you for the moment ahead. Above all else, believe in yourself and take some deep breaths – you got this!

Header photo by Ron Logan from “That 24 Hour Thing” at 2018 San Diego Fringe Festival