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I always feel that butterfly feeling of nervousness/excitement before a show starts. It happens when I hear the audience taking their seats, having conversations...that constant murmur that fills a theater before the show starts. I just wind up pacing nonstop. It reaches its pinnacle when I'm the first one onstage, and I'm standing in the wings, watching the lights go to black and hearing the audience quiet down.
Once I'm on stage, it disappears. I don't know where it goes, but it's gone.
As long as I'm fairly confident in what I'm doing, I'm fine. I get "stage fright" in small, classroom situations when I'm performing something for the first time, and will be taking critique from a teacher, in front of my peers. For example, I'm taking a monologue class now, and I'm dreading having to stand up in front of the class and give my first stab at it. I don't like people seeing my vulnerable side, the side where I'm pretty much acting badly because I haven't done much with the material before and need help from somebody - especially when they're either people I've just met, or people I compete with (fellow actors). Shudder.
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You have to laugh at yourself...because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't. - Emily Saliers
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