by Kate Sanders

Performing: Stress or Relief?

Standing beneath the hot lights, waiting for her cue, staring into the sea of faces watching her, she takes a deep breath.  The show has started and it is time to perform.

‘Things will happen,’ Mackenzie Jones, a performer at Christian Youth Theater, said.  ‘It’s live.  You just have to be prepared.’

For students like Jones, theater is a way to relieve stress.  It takes their minds off of pressures with school, work or friends. For other students, performing in front of an audience adds pressure.

‘[I get stage fright] anytime I’m talking in front of a bunch of people,’ drama student Annie Palmer said.  ‘I like acting.  It’s just I get freaked out.’

According to Mindtools, stress affects performing for better or for worse.  Pressure can motivate people to work for something, acting as an incentive.  However, too much pressure causes distraction and overloads the brain.  Theater affects everyone differently.

‘[Theater] relieves stress and adds a whole new level at the same time,’ Christian Youth Theater participant Michael Reiser explained.

Auditions

Auditions cause one level of stress.  Palmer and Jones agree that auditions are worse than the play.

‘Auditions are the worst part [of theater],’ Jones said.  ‘The nerves go away a bit after the beginning though.’

Jones also finds that auditioning for strangers is easier than auditioning for directors she knows.  Professional actress Laurie Lowrance agrees, feeling less tense when she auditions for strangers.

‘You need to be able to put the best ‘Ëœyou’ out there you can,’ Lowrance said.  ‘If you let your nerves get the better of you, you can’t.’

STA junior Ryan Tucker thinks differently.  She thinks it does not make a difference if you know the directors or not because they will make the decision based on what is best for the show.

Rehearsals

A developing show is a part of theater that makes Jones and Tucker anxious.  Tucker feels nervous when it is flawed but has discovered that it always comes together.

Jones agrees, knowing that she will get the choreography or lines, but others that do not practice make her nervous.  She worries about how the show will turn out if they do not work at it.

Lowrance knows that she cannot control how others act, but she can control how she acts.  If she does not get something she will work on it, but if they do not get something she can only control how she acts toward them.

Show Time

Eventually show week arrives.  Jones has found that during show week everything comes together, and nobody sleeps.  Then it is time for the show.

Jones observes that before the show she gets nervous, but when she is onstage she does not think about that.

‘You get into character and go with it,’ Jones said.

Tucker agrees.  Tucker finds it nerve-racking before the show.

‘But as soon as I get onstage, under the hot light, everything just flows,’ Tucker stated.

Palmer doesn’t feel the same way that Jones and Tucker do.  She experiences nerves before the show and stage fright during it.

‘I forget how freaked out I get until I already got myself into it,’ Palmer said.  ‘It happens whenever I [perform] in front of people.’

Theater gives Lowrance great stress and great memories.  Standing beneath the spotlight, wondering if she will have to cover for someone, the sea of faces watching her every move, she begins to speak.

‘For that time I could touch them, entertain them, and take them on a journey to another world,’ Lowrance said.