Stage Fright

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HerActing Class Advice e at The Young Actor’s Studio we want to get into the Halloween season by discussing one of the most frightening things of all. It’s not zombies, or goblins, but… stage fright! Do a Google search for Stage fright and you’ll get 14.6 million results (thus beating goblins by over 3 million).

Why is Stage Fright so common? Do you wish to combat it? Get rid of it? Okay, but you’re you’re going to lose your fight with Stage Fright- we advise to surrender! Why? Let’s start with the experiment of polar bears…

Don’t think of polar bears! Close your eyes and for the next 10 seconds do NOT think of polar bears!

Were you successful? Numerous studies have shown that the vast majority of people will succumb to the thought of polar bears. And this makes sense, right? Simply commanding ourselves to NOT do something isn’t a particularly successful technique.

While we can go through the day without feeling the urge to think of polar bears, it’s a lot harder to avoid the feeling of being nervous/shy/not good enough/scared out of our mind- especially when it involves performing in front of a bunch of people! And yet many of us try to combat these feelings- we hopelessly command ourselves “DON’T be shy! DON’T be nervous!”. How is that working out for you? Probably as successful as the Polar Bear experiment.

So let’s try something different. EMBRACE the nervous, freaked out, alone feeling! Why? Because there’s a very good chance that the character feels the exact same thing! As audience members we don’t go to the theater to see happy, content, comfortable people who are having a relaxing two hours. No! We have fun watching people freak out as they struggle mightily over scary, nerve-wrecking, suspenseful challenges.

As kids and teens (particularly in some acting classes!) we’re told not to be scared, shy, and nervous. But oftentimes we only get half-way there by covering it up- putting on a brave mask to the world. It takes guts to take off the mask and reveal the true self that is oftentimes scared, nervous, and unsure. The actor who has the guts to stop fighting the fright, but reveal it for the audience to see is actually the courageous one. And they will be rewarded with an audience who loves their performance because we all feel those same things, but are too afraid to stop fighting it.

Nothing “Extra” About It

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Why do people lump so many of the things kids love into “extracurriculars”? This would be fine, except “extracurricular” too quickly turns into “extraneous” at the first sign of adversity. Sports, drama, music, dance, acting classes etc. is always seen as “something extra” to the SERIOUS study of math, history, science, and English.

Why is this? Unfortunately, the answer too often given is that the SERIOUS things lead to the THINGS THAT MATTER: college, profession, a bumper sticker with an Ivy League logo. The thinking goes “If my child’s grades suffer, then what about their future?” But let’s think of this in a different way “If my CHILD suffers, then what about their future?”

Some will think we’re being melo-dramatic- but sadly, that’s not the case. In our acting classes, teens constantly express to us the tremendous pressure they feel about THEIR FUTURE. This fixation on THE FUTURE leads to anxious, stressed out, overwhelmed kids. In short, unhappy ones.

So why possibly would we take away that which gives them joy? Which makes them passionate? Excited? We take this away under the hope it will lead to “HAPPY FUTURE”? Says who? A survey of Harvard students found that nearly half experienced depression at some point during college. Clearly, getting into the right school is not the miracle elixir to a young person’s sense of well-being.

We’re not saying that kids should forego school work. Not at all! But unfortunately, the scales have been tipped way too far on the side of THE FUTURE. A future that holds no guarantees, or promises. So let’s not forget the other side- which is real, that brings Joy. Passion. Comraderie. Compassion. Surely, that side is worth as much time as all that SAT studying. Right?

Keeping What’s Natural in an Acting Class

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I read an article in New York Times recently in which Sofia Coppola discussed the casting of some fairly new teenage actors as lead roles in her latest film “Bling Ring”.

“I think with people that age, it’s exciting to find kids that are unknown. There’s sort of a naturalness, as opposed to having worked a lot, being kid actors.”- Sofia Coppola, in New York Times article.

This raises the question: do “kid actors” lose a sense of naturalness? It certainly doesn’t have to be this way. There are great examples of “kid actors” who’ve gone on to very successful careers ( for e.g. Jodi Foster). But there are also countless stories of “child actors” who have struggled to make the transition from a hit t.v. show to feature films into adulthood. The problem can happen when actors get into a certain “pattern” for a particular t.v. show, and subsequently have a very hard time breaking this pattern once the show is over. This can be particularly problematic for kids as they can equate a specific “style” of a t.v. show as being the “right” way to act.

One of the big things we stress at the studio is that there is no one “right” way to act. It’s important to be flexible, and to always maintain your own sense of perspective. The actor’s own unique history, sense of imagination, and personality is critical to a healthy, long-term career as an actor. If an actor’s identity gets solely wrapped up in a particular t.v. role, or in selling products, then they can lose that “naturalness” so important to filmmakers.

Not to self-promote too much, but this is why acting classes for kids, and teens, are incredibly valuable. Acting classes are a great way to keep presenting new roles, characters, situations to an actor who is doing “more of the same” on a particular t.v. show. Continual growth for an actor can only occur with new challenges, and working with a wide range of personalities. Patterns start to get cemented when we get stuck in an insulated environment of the same people, writing, stories, and experiences. It’s for this reason that our studio is perpetually changing so that our actors are constantly growing, and discovering their own unique talent.