“On the first day of class, I entered the classroom feeling like a tiny fish in a huge ocean.  I left feeling above par.  [The activities] were all very thought provoking and instructive.  I flat-out loved everything!  Steve Wedan made me feel comfortable about auditioning, performing, and he instilled me with an intense hunger and yearning for . . . feedback.”

Chloe sat in the lobby, waiting for her number to be called, when Jack came in, signed his name and handed in his head shot.  “Hey, Chloe.  You look as cool as ever.”

Chloe thanked Jack and smiled as he sat next to her.  Finally, he said, “So, what's your secret?”

“What do you mean?”

Jack’s face took on a more serious cast.  “You get twice as many gigs as I do.  I’m not that bad,” he said with a little laugh.  “Look at you.  You’re, like, relaxed and focused, all at the same time.”  He shook his head and said, “Must be a gift.”

“Are you kidding?  I almost gave up acting a year ago.”

“Okay, so?  What’s the secret?” he said again.

“You’ve just got to know where to look, Jack.”  The door opened; a woman glanced at a clipboard and called out the next number.  Chloe looked back at Jack as she walked toward the door.  “We’ll talk.”

A week later, after Chloe got the job and Jack didn’t, she treated him to coffee and starting telling him about the discovery that had changed everything for her. . . .

Everybody tells you to use your stage fright . . . that it’s natural and that it will diminish in time, which often is true.  So, acting teachers get their students onstage as often as possible to minimize nervous tension.

Performers are also taught exercises and breathing skills to practice before rehearsals and performances.

But there are three problems with these approaches:

1. •You’re not learning to USE and TRANSFORM that energy that turns into stage fright, you’re just DAMPENING it.
   

2. •You often reinforce bad habits you’ve taken on, trying to diminish your nervous tension, habits such as “pushing” a performance and adopting unconscious tics.
   

3. •These approaches don’t work when stage fright reaches a petrifying level.
   

And it's not a problem that’s limited to a performer’s early years.  Laurence Olivier and Barbra Streisand are two examples of stage performers who had many years experience behind them before they developed a terror of appearing onstage.  Olivier stayed off stage for 5 years.  Streisand stayed away for 27 years!

This kind of fear can even extend to film and the photo shoot, especially if you’ve got a director or photographer who’s not sensitive to how exposed an actor or model can feel in front of the lens. 

How many head shots have turned out disappointing because the person behind the camera didn’t make you feel comfortable?

The truth is, it’s not the photographer’s fault.  Sure, there are people out there with whom actors and models love to work because they understand what the performer's going through, and they make them feel safe.

Ultimately, though, you can't control what another person does, and even the best directors and photographers have a bad day – and that bad day could be the one involving you.

What you need is a foolproof system for using that energy, the buzz that either will propel your performance toward greatness or – if you let it – will turn on you like a wild animal, in the form of nervous tension . . . stage fright!

Steve Wedan’s Stage Fright Workshop gives you the tools you need to finally start using that fear response and turning it into the exciting energy that defines you as a unique performer.  Steve started teaching acting in 1980.  He's also a veteran performer, in film but especially in live theatre, where he faced the challenge of stage fright every night.

He now brings his Stage Fright Workshop to you.  In one day, you can equip yourself with everything you need to master that deadly beast, the one that wants to destroy your performing career, or at least warp it!

In this unique workshop, you'll learn:

1. •How to align your thinking so that you perform with power
   

2. •The one fundamental principle of acting and how to master it
   

3. •The one thing someone once accurately said is "the death of art"
   

4. •What vulnerability means for the actor and why it's so important
   

5. •The difference between treating your acting partner as an actor and as a character and why you’d better make the right choice
   

6. •What the goal of acting is . . . and how you use it
   

7. •What the heart of acting is . . . and how you absolutely must use it
   

8. •How to handle monologues
   

9. •The relationship between using tactics and creating real emotion
   

10. •The best place to look when you're acting
    

11. •How all of these things are elements in controlling stage fright
    

12. •. . . and a lot more!
    

Create the kind of performances that define you as excellent! 

Contact Steve to discuss how he can help you create your own InterActing Power!  Use this address: info@interactingpower.com.

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© Stephen D. Wedan, 2010