Second Week Performance, Thursday Night, The Adding Machine

Performance Technique: General/Specific Insights/Principles

Tonight, before going on, I was very conscious/worried/pre-occupied that someone I know would be in the audience -- turned out to be my friend Gabe. My concentration was not there, I was pre-occupied before going on -- I let it affect my performance . . . interesting . . . it took me by surprise: I thought I would be nervous if anyone I knew showed up, but I was surprised by how nervous I was, and I couldn't quite get on top of it.

Solution: I didn't look out into the pre-show audience to "confirm" my fear that someone I know was actually out there, and this turned out -- I believe -- to make things worse. Next time, if I'm so worried that I'm pre-occupied -- just look. I broke one the first laws of how to handle fear: face what you fear (re-read Guskin's How To Stop Acting, p. 87, how to handle fear).