A top human fear is public speaking. The common thinking is that entertainers are special because they’ve overcome that fear and that’s why they do what they do. Wrong again, common sense!
I don’t have much fear of getting up in front of a crowd. I first noticed this in second grade when another kid couldn’t stomach playing his part in the school play. I stepped in and did his line. I was the cricket and the lady bug!!! Who knows how disturbing it must have been to the audience to see the same actor in both roles! It was definitely less disturbing than leaving out the ladybug’s crucial sentence. The plot did not collapse and I was a hero.
Even though I’m rarely stage frightened, there are tons of pro entertainers who are. It’s hard to identify one link that keeps us all in the business, but rest-assured it’s not some lack of fear.
This concept produces crappy performers
When folks believe that fear of performing is what separates the audience from the showperson, things get skewed. Those folks believe they need to get over the fear, or cope with it. As soon as the fear is at bay, they are an entertainer.
There are celebrity entertainers that puke often before going in front of a crowd.
We don’t need to get rid of stage fright to be entertainers. Once we get stage-brave, we will not have achieved some mark of being good entertainers.
The job is about all the other stuff
The real job is so little about the courage to get on stage, or even the skills demonstrated usually. The majority of the job is showing up uninjured enough to do another show. We spend all day trying to not die so that we can do our 15 minutes on stage. Singers are trying to not get phlegmy, acrobats are trying to not pull muscles, comedians are trying to not get too drunk. We need to know how to travel, how to use our equipment, how to sleep enough, how to whatever to maintain.
There’s a lot of work that goes in to all the life stuff that people just don’t see on stage – and that’s great. I don’t need audiences to know about that. In fact, not sharing that part is a gift to the audience. I do want performers and would-be performers to know that there’s a lot more iceberg.
- You’re not doing it wrong if you’re doing a lot of slog.
- If it’s not worth it to you to slog for your moment on stage, this isn’t the career for you.