Nerves

It’s common for young or beginning drama students to get wiggly or fidgety onstage, especially if they’re part of the ensemble or not speaking, singing, or dancing at that moment. It’s as though they’ve forgotten that even though they aren’t the immediate focus of the scene, they’re still visible! And if they’re fidgeting, they’re likely pulling focus, and not in a good way. If your actors seem to have ants in their pants onstage, read on for three tips to help them embrace the beauty of stillness. 1. Actively practice stillness.Have your students actively practice stillness. Teach your students about neutral position and how to get into it. The neutral position is where students are standing in a strong, relaxed, supported state, ready to work and to take on a character. It’s like a blank canvas or lump of clay — absent of character traits and ready to create something with. First, have students stand with their feet slightly apart and flat on the floor. Legs are strong and knees are not locked. Spine is straight. They should keep their arms by their sides (not fixing their hair, adjusting clothes, or scratching), with soft shoulders and fingers. Heads should be up so audience members can see the actors’ faces, not the tops of their heads. Students should imagine a long string is pulling them up so their back and neck are straight, shoulders are back and relaxed, and they are standing tall. Faces should be kept in a neutral position too, with a calm, relaxed jaw and forehead. Have students choose a focal point at which to direct their gaze. And just because at least one student will always ask — yes, students can always blink and breathe while practicing neutral. Once students are in the neutral position, using a timer, have them hold the position for five seconds. Five seconds doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s more challenging than students tend to think. Each day, have students practice taking neutral and holding the pose for at least the five seconds, or add on another second of stillness. Try to build up to 30 seconds of stillness. The more students practice stillness, the easier it will become. This stillness can then be practiced onstage during group scenes. Have students stand in neutral offstage, take a breath (both inhale and exhale), and enter the scene. If students feel that they’re about to fidget, have them come back to neutral and remember the feeling of stillness. Be sure to check out the Reflecting on Neutral Position questions at the bottom of this article. 2. Get super specific.Sometimes it helps for students to have a specific task that their character is doing to help them remain in character and in the moment of the scene. Have students re-read the scene and determine what action(s) their character might be doing, and why. This is especially important for background or ensemble actors, or larger cast scenes. Why is their character in that scene, beyond “The director told me to enter and stand there”? Each student should have some specific “thing” to do that is appropriate for the scene that’s occurring and for the character they are playing. For example, if the scene is set in a classroom, the actors might be writing in notebooks, studying, drawing pictures on the chalkboard, or asleep at their desks. If the scene is set at the beach, the actors might be building sandcastles, applying sunscreen, or playing volleyball. Get even more specific and determine which students are working together on their activities, or if they will switch activities/character groups partway through the scene. Give students exact cue lines of when to change activities, move to a different part of the stage, or exit altogether. Practice miming those activities individually or in small groups (as the director determines), then have students practice the actions as a large group onstage, to ensure everything times out well and that actors aren’t pulling focus in a negative way. This way, students’ actions are purposeful and planned, rather than fidgety. 3. Meet students where they’re at.There might be a non-theatrical reason why students are fidgeting. Maybe their costume is itchy or too tight and it’s bothering them. If so, get the student a different item to wear. Some students might benefit from having a prop to hold, to give their hands something to do. Other students might benefit from having a small, discreet fidget item that they can hide in a pocket or in the palm of their hand, to squeeze if they feel like they need to wiggle around. Maybe it would be easier for the student if they could be seated during the scene, rather than standing in one place for a long time. Some students might also just not be ready to be onstage in the background for the full length of the scene, and that’s ok. As long as it works with the script, give those students specific entrance and exit cues during the scene. Alternatively, a student may need to be removed from the scene altogether, which again, is ok — not everyone has to be onstage for every scene in every show. Bonus Tips: • Students might benefit from having specific physical ways of portraying the emotions their characters are feeling. • Students might be nervous. Help them to deal with their nerves using various mindfulness techniques. • Try doing a more rigorous physical warm-up to help students expel some excess energy before the performance. • Here are some additional beginning actor mistakes and how to solve them; they might be applicable to your current students’ performances.

You’ve chosen a play, cast your actors, run lines and are preparing for the rise of the curtain. But as opening night approaches the nerves and the butterflies are taking up more stage time for some actors than they should. How do you help your actors deal with stage fright so their performances can shine? We went straight to the source to get the inside scoop from those who’ve been there: drama teachers. We asked: How do you help students deal with stage fright? Take it one step at a timeI cast them in small roles at first and work up to bigger things. If it’s possible to give them partner work with other students who can encourage them, that’s great too. (Patriot Playmakers) I say the bit about it going away once they get the first line out. (Marilyn L.) Baby steps… and letting them in on the multitude of celebrity performers who also face this issue repeatedly because of the art they love. (Barry H.) Dig a little deeperI tell them that when they know what they’re saying, and why they’re saying it, when they understand the circumstances, when they don’t “memorize” lines, but “understand” the lines, when they rehearse until they are fully prepared, a lot of that fright will disappear?. (Patricia L.) Practice makes perfectIf they have not been on stage before, you might try turning on all the stage lights (like it would be for a show) and turning off all the audience lights. This way they may not see into the audience. Remind the person they are portraying someone else. They aren’t themself but someone else who is part of the story being told. (Will S.) Normalize the fearI always tell my students that stage fright is normal, it just means that they really care about what they are doing. (Lori W.) When it comes time for the performance or even in a rehearsal where the focus is more on them, let them know that it’s ok! Stage fright is normal in every avenue of performances. If you still get nervous or an adrenaline rush or butterflies, even after many shows, you know you still love it! (Cherish T.) Patience and use your veteran kids to help give your shy kids confidence. (Randy I.) Explore the mind-body connectionYou have to teach the skill of managing performance anxiety so each actor can do it independently. Slow the breathing through breathing exercises, encourage good mental and emotional preparation beforehand, complete a thorough physical and vocal warm-up, and use visualization for success. (Elizabeth S.) Deep breathing exercises. In through the nose for a count of four, hold breath, release breath for a count of eight. Repeat. (Dave S.) Say your lines while jogging or doing burpees to train the brain that it’s ok for your heart to race when doing these lines. The brain won’t go into meltdown when their heart starts racing with panic and they will then realize they can do it. (Emma R.) Need more advice and tips?We’ve got you covered! How to Solve Common Beginning Actors’ Mistakes Helping Drama Students Succeed: The Introvert

Mindfulness is all about being fully present in the moment without judgement. Practicing mindfulness is helpful for drama students, because it can help them combat pre-show jitters. Instead of worrying about past mistakes or stressing over what might happen during the show, students can take a few moments to simply be present, check in with themselves, and create a sense of calm. You can add mindfulness techniques to your pre-show warm-up routines or teach these techniques for students to use on their own. Best of all, they don’t take much time. Students don’t need to sit and meditate for hours to practice being mindful — they can use these techniques virtually anywhere. Here are three techniques for your students (and you!) to try: *1. Body Check-in *Have students stand or sit comfortably in a chair, without slouching. Starting at the toes, have them bring awareness to each part of their body, moving up towards their head. That means thinking about that body part, noticing any feelings of stress or tension, and relaxing the body part. Students can do a brief sweep of the body (feet, legs, lower back, upper back, arms, shoulders, neck, head) or break it down into even smaller sections (toes, heels, ankles, calves), depending on how much time they have to devote to this practice. Repeated practice of this exercise can help students become aware of where they hold tension. Common areas include the jaw (clenching teeth or holding the tongue to the top of the mouth), shoulders (roll them back to release them), hands (unclench fists), and lower back and glutes (gentle torso twisting movements can release tension). If they wish, once they’ve finished their body check-in, students can do some gentle stretching to further release tension in any areas they notice need some extra care. 2. Box BreathingThis technique can be done individually or as a group. Box breathing has four steps, like the four sides of a box: breathe in through the nose for four counts (feeling the air fill up the lungs), gently hold the breath for four counts, exhale through the mouth for four counts, and pause at the end for four counts, repeating the pattern as many times as you wish. Box breathing helps to calm students’ nerves (regulating your breath can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol) and slow down their racing thoughts. It acts as a focus point for students, particularly if the idea of meditation is too abstract or difficult for them to understand. Students can focus on the sounds their breath makes, noticing their bodies’ movements as they breathe, or count silently while doing the exercise. This takes the focus off of nerves and moves it onto the breath. 3. Releasing ThoughtsThis is one of the more challenging techniques, but with practice, it can deliver incredible results. It’s a great way to introduce meditation and visualization techniques to students in a way that’s easier to understand and practice. Have students sit or lie down comfortably. Set a timer for one minute. Tell students to empty their minds and think about nothing. Spoiler alert — this will not happen. As soon as you tell someone to not think about anything, thoughts immediately fill up their brain. That’s ok! Here’s where the magic happens. Students will notice a thought enter their brain (“This is stupid,” “My nose itches,” “Am I doing this right?” “I’m afraid I’m going to trip and fall onstage tonight”). Once that thought pops into their head, there are two tricks. The first is for students not to judge themselves for having the thought, or for whatever the thought is. The second trick is to notice the thought and imagine it as something light and airy — a bubble, a butterfly, a bird. Imagine taking that thought and releasing it into the sky. Watch it gently float away. Then, when another thought enters their brain, they will release that thought too, repeating until they are truly thinking of nothing, or until the timer goes off. This can help students release stress and worries and calm their mind. Once they’re comfortable with the exercise, increase the time by small increments. For additional advice on helping your students deal with nerves, check out this appropriately titled article: Dealing With Nerves.

This month we’re focusing on helping different types of students in your drama class succeed. In Part 3 of this series, we’re focusing on the introverts. Going back to the High School Musical comparison, the introverts are your talented but shy and insecure Gabriellas, who often surprise everyone with their skills once they gather the courage to participate. However, the introvert category can also include less obvious students, like Troy Bolton. These students are popular and confident when they’re in their comfort zones (in Troy’s case, the basketball court), but once they’re in drama class their confidence falters. These students have a desire to participate in drama but may be worried about what their friends think. Your introverts enjoy drama class and want to succeed, but are often overwhelmed by your drama enthusiasts or intimidated by your writer/composers. They may not have as much (or any) previous training or experience in drama. They’re easily overlooked because they tend to be quiet and they don’t cause trouble in class, but they certainly don’t want to be forgotten. Given the chance, your introverts have the ability to shine, but you’ll need to help them to overcome their shyness or lack of self-confidence. They may take longer to warm up to certain activities, or they may wish to hang in the background for a while. They may think they don’t have the skills or experience to take on leadership roles. A good drama teacher must push them out of their comfort zone, without pushing so hard that these students retreat into their shells again. Here are some tips to help your introverts succeed:• Find out if they have any previous drama experience. If they don’t, give them the opportunity to learn more about the basics. • Explore non-verbal acting techniques early in the term, such as mime, tableau, mask work, and clown work. This will give students the opportunity to get creative in the classroom without the pressure of having to speak right away. • Give your students advance notice about what order they will present or perform in, so your introverts can mentally prepare themselves and not feel put on the spot. • As much as possible, balance full class work, small group work, and partner exercises with solo or individual work. Some introverted students prefer working in groups because it gives them the opportunity to try out different theatrical techniques without the pressure of being the only one performing. Conversely, some introverted students can find group work overwhelming and need individual working time to decompress. • When working on scripted scenes in class, rotate your casting so all students, including your introverts, have the opportunity to read/perform larger roles. • Encourage your introverts to take on leadership positions and/or audition for leading roles if it seems like they want to. Challenge them to push themselves further than they think they’re capable of. • Teach them techniques to help them overcome stage fright. • Observe how your introverts respond to praise and feedback. Some don’t like being singled out or feel put on the spot if they’re praised publicly, so for those students, offer written feedback or pull them aside after class. Others gain confidence from verbal praise in front of others. Use what works best for each student. • Have students come up with a series of theatrical affirmations that can be made into posters and displayed around the classroom. Use the affirmations included in the giveaway as a starting point, and brainstorm more with your students. If your students are feeling unsure of themselves, remind them of these affirmations.

Performing onstage with friends, family, peers, and even strangers watching can be extremely nerve-wracking. Putting yourself out there, being vulnerable, and taking risks onstage takes a lot of courage, which is why it’s common for student actors to be nervous before going onstage. They put pressure on themselves to perform perfectly. They don’t want to let their castmates and crewmates down. They want to remember everything they need to do out there – lines, blocking, entrances and exits, what costume they’re supposed to be wearing, their relationships to other characters…the list goes on and on. If your actors are having trouble calming their nerves, try using the following tips. 1. Set yourself up for success ahead of time.As the Scouts say, be prepared! Students should use their rehearsal time effectively and review on their own every day. They must practice good habits: learning their lines until they have them letter-perfect, practicing their choreography daily, doing vocal exercises, stretching, and getting plenty of rest. The more prepared they are in advance, the easier it will be for students to step out onstage with confidence. Procrastinating, not doing the work outside of rehearsals, and being lazy will all add up to feeling stressed when the time for tech and dress rehearsals approaches. 2. Play the “what if” game.Fear of the unknown is an easy way for students to psych themselves out when they are stressing over what might happen. What if they forget their lines? What if they miss a cue? Play the “what if” game as a group to put fears into words, and come up with an action plan for what students should do if something does go wrong. Encourage your students to be problem solvers and team players, and have them come up with creative ideas on how they can help each other out, should something go wrong in the moment. 3. Practice breathing exercises.When people are nervous, they instinctively take quick and shallow breaths to get more oxygen to their brain. Taking time to focus on breathing slowly and deeply can help students relax. Try the breathing exercise found here, give meditation a shot, or explore yoga techniques such as pranayama. Even a slow warm-up routine with simple stretching exercises can be very calming, and help students ease their nervousness. 4. Create a “stress jar.”This is a simple solution that teachers can put together in minutes. Take a jar or small box, label it “stress jar” or “worry jar,” and place it in a private spot with some slips of paper and pencils nearby. If students are feeling nervous or anxious, they can write their concerns on a slip of paper and either crumple it up or fold it into a tiny square, and then put it in the stress jar. Just the act of writing out their worries and putting them in the jar can help them alleviate nervousness – the worries aren’t immediately dealt with, but the jar will keep the worries out of the students’ heads until after the show. An alternative is to have students boost each other’s morale by giving each other “warm fuzzies” – find the instructions for this exercise here. 5. Remind students that everyone is on their side.Nobody goes to a show thinking, “Oh boy, I hope these students are going to really screw up tonight!” Audiences want to see a great show and they want the performers, technicians, and crew members to succeed. Especially when it is students who are putting on a show, audience members know that they are learning and growing, and that mistakes sometimes happen. But what’s even more important for students to remember is that audience members are blown away by the courage displayed by all the students involved in creating a show. Those people coming to see the show certainly aren’t getting up onstage, running a lighting or sound board, creating costumes, and keeping the backstage running efficiently, and they will be proud and excited to see the students making their team effort work. Furthermore, students must remember that it is they who are in control. And they can control their preparation, their attitudes, their effort, and their focus. By giving each performance their full effort, they have already succeeded!

Last semester, one of my classes consisted of a group of students who had little theatrical experience. Most of these particular students had never performed onstage before. They were eager and enthusiastic, but as we got closer to our final showcase performance, the nerves really started setting in, and their anxieties came flooding out in the form of what seemed like a million “what if” questions. During one class, it seemed like every student’s fears came bursting out, all at the same time: “What if I got sick and had to miss the showcase?” “What if I fell and broke my leg before showcase?” “What if I get to showcase and I forget all my lines?” “What if my scene partner is sick on showcase?” “What if I forget my costume shirt?” “What if I throw up during the showcase?” I had to laugh a little, because the questions came at me so quickly and fervently. At that moment, my poor students looked like they were going to faint from worry about all these hypothetical, but in their eyes, catastrophic events that might occur. And it almost seemed like my students were making a game of the “what if” questions, trying to “one-up” each other by describing increasingly distressing scenarios: “What if one of us was hit by a bus on the way to the showcase?” “What if one of us DIES before the showcase?!” (In that extremely unlikely case, we’d have much bigger issues to deal with.) It took some quick thinking, but I was able to help my students with their fears to the “what if” problem with a five-part solution, as follows. Feel free to try these ideas with your students, if you see or hear nerves taking over! 1. Introduce and/or remind students of the concept, “THE SHOW MUST GO ON.” Aside from “break a leg,” “the show must go on” is probably the most common theatrical motto. It means that no matter what happens, the show will be performed in some fashion. The cast and crew must bond together, assess the situation, come up with a solution, and take steps to enact that solution, while remaining calm at all times. 2. Brainstorm possible solutions. Next, turn the questions around on the students by asking them, “What do you think we might do in this situation?” Have students brainstorm ideas that might help solve the hypothetical problem at hand. For example, “What happens if someone gets sick before the showcase?” The absolute worst-case scenario would be to cancel the show, so eliminate that as an option right away. Possible solutions might include: • Seeing how sick the student is just before the show and see if they can perform anyway. • Having an understudy in place. • If the role is double-cast, sending the alternate actor onstage. • Having a member of the ensemble play the role “on book” or “with book in hand” (aka going onstage with a script). • Planning out who will cover the missing student’s transitions as a group before the show. • If the student’s illness is that they have laryngitis or have lost their voice, having someone sing/speak their lines backstage while the student mimes the role onstage. • An assistant stage manager or member of the staff plays the role. • Starting the show a few minutes late if the student is feeling better. Right there, are eight possible solutions for the hypothetical sick student. Your students will have even more ideas. 3. Act out possible solutions. Once your students have brainstormed some different solutions, have students get into small groups of 4-5. Each group will receive a “what if” situation, and the groups will create two brief (1-1:30 minute) scenes. The first scene will be a silly, over-the-top solution, with the purpose of trying to make the class laugh. The second scene will be a more realistic, practical solution, that could actually be enacted should the situation actually occur. Each group will present their scenes to the class. If time allows, encourage discussion of the solutions afterwards. What solutions were the most practical? What solutions would be the easiest to enact? 4. Share some of your own stories. I think every director has had some sort of “horror story” that has happened to them during their time in the theatre. For example, I have experienced not one, but two power outages during two different shows. Fortunately, both had happy endings with the show going on in the end. For one show, we brought in emergency floodlights from the wood shop and were able to finish the show, and for the other, since it was a nice summer day, we planned to perform outside of the theatre in the courtyard–but then the power came back on, and we were able to perform in the theatre (albeit two hours behind schedule, but the show still happened!). Share these stories with your students and particularly focus on the creative solutions you and your cast/crew employed to keep the show going. 5. Encourage positive thoughts and healthy habits. It doesn’t do to dwell on the negatives, and remind your students of that. Yes, it’s normal to have worries, but by focusing on all the “what ifs” that might happen, students can’t truly engage in the process. Encourage students to journal about their worries if they still occur, but to also come up with ideas on how to overcome the hypothetical situations. As well, encourage your students to take up healthy habits, such as getting enough sleep, eating well, using their planners to keep their schedules in order (which helps avoid stress and double-booking), avoiding situations such as participating in extreme sports or screaming their guts out at concerts right before the show, getting their acting bags/costumes organized ahead of time, and drinking lots of fresh water. Focusing on self-care can help to ward off stress, illness, and injuries. Healthy students = a more successful show! Good luck!

We asked drama teachers: What are your tips for bringing shy or hesitant students out of their shells? Do you let them have the time they need to get comfortable participating, or does it work better to put them on the spot and show them they can do it? Let’s hear from teachers on the front lines. Build trust.Jim M. says “Ask the student what he or she cares about, loves to do, etc., and then see if you can find a play about that subject. Let the student read it and pick a character she or he would like to try out as an acting exercise.” Josh H. says “Kids need to trust that the environment is safe. In my experience, shyness is a defense mechanism so I always work to build relationship to figure out what the needs are and then how we move forward from there.” Focus on the ensemble, not the individual.Eileen H. says “Build a strong sense of ensemble then start physical skills. We do a lot of ensemble building games where no one has to stand out and then our first performance unit is pantomime in a group.” Kathy D. says “Give them opportunities on stage in a scene that they don’t have to drive the action but be a part of a scene that is well received in class helps to build their confidence.” Give them time.Kayla W. says “We start the year with improv games and I won’t call on students at first. Students will volunteer and the hesitant students will take it all in until they are comfortable.” Kathy D. says “Be careful not to label a student as shy because you don’t know their underlying spirit. Give them a safe stage and let them learn to love acting. It might be that they are not as shy as they are afraid of being laughed at and ridiculed.” Embrace the goofy.Denise E. says “I demonstrate and get them laughing. If they see me being a goofball they’re more likely to give themselves permission to do the same and not make so much of it. Play the play.” Rachel W. says “Try exercises/games where everyone is doing the same action, silly or not, at the same intensity.” Take the lead.Stephen H. says “Don’t ask for volunteers….ask that particular student to lead an exercise, or be the lead…” Debb A. says “Give the students honest, specific feedback with a strength and a weakness. And to some students, the strength would be the courage to do X (you pick) or lack of hesitation when getting on the stage, etc.” Empathize.Cassie M. suggests “Explain the difference between fear and danger – when you’re new to something as socially risky as theatre, your brain gives you the same panicky signals as if you were being chased by a bear. The bear is danger; being on stage is fear. The more you get on stage and stay there, even when you’re afraid, the more the brain learns that you don’t die being up there.” Join the chat on our Facebook Page and add your own experience to our list!