1
Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dealing with Panic Situations
« on: Oct 28, 2015, 03:54 pm »
As so many others have said, take a deep breath.
When I feel the need to panic on a show, that's when I bring all my acting skills out to play. If you can ACT calm - even if you're faking it completely - you appear calm. This keeps everyone else around you calm and lowers the overall stress level. Not only that, but just like smiling on the phone makes you sound happy, and often become happier, pretending to be calm will actually calm you down (the weird ways that our physicality and our emotions connect).
I also try to prepare, at least in my head, for any emergency I can think of. What if this set piece breaks? What if an actor is sick at the last minute? What if there's a rolling blackout and the electricity in the theater shuts off? I find that when I've prepared for the expected, I'm less shocked by the unexpected. Usually one of the solutions I've already prepared can be modified, but if not, at least I've started the thinking process already.
Make this your goal. None of us are perfect. All of us will make mistakes. Just don't repeat them.
When I feel the need to panic on a show, that's when I bring all my acting skills out to play. If you can ACT calm - even if you're faking it completely - you appear calm. This keeps everyone else around you calm and lowers the overall stress level. Not only that, but just like smiling on the phone makes you sound happy, and often become happier, pretending to be calm will actually calm you down (the weird ways that our physicality and our emotions connect).
I also try to prepare, at least in my head, for any emergency I can think of. What if this set piece breaks? What if an actor is sick at the last minute? What if there's a rolling blackout and the electricity in the theater shuts off? I find that when I've prepared for the expected, I'm less shocked by the unexpected. Usually one of the solutions I've already prepared can be modified, but if not, at least I've started the thinking process already.
I've made countless mistakes - but I've never made the same mistake twice.
Make this your goal. None of us are perfect. All of us will make mistakes. Just don't repeat them.