STAGE FRIGHT: OVERCOMING A PUBLIC FEAR

Fourteen-year-old Ismena Jameau of Sebastopol has no problem performing on a soccer field, but ask her to give a speech in English class and she feels "extremely nervous and out of control."

Theater director Elizabeth Craven said not all actors have stage fright, "but the really good ones frequently do."

Internationally acclaimed opera singer John Duykers of Sebastopol said it took decades of performing before he realized his nervousness might stem from excitement and not fear.

Whether it's you alone in front of 25 classmates or a theater full of ticket payers, the symptoms are familiar -- butterflies, sweaty palms, shaking hands, dry mouth, racing heart.

Fear of public speaking even has a name -- glossophobia.

"Energy looking for a place to go," is how one of Craven's teachers defined stage fright.

The fact that it's common and happens to the super famous -- actor Sir Laurence Olivier routinely threw up in a bucket before making an entrance -- may not help. But some things do help prepare the body and mind to perform.

Veteran public speaker Padi Selwyn of Sebastopol learned to watch what she eats and drinks before hitting the podium. Seafood causes dry mouth. Dairy's too hard to digest. Save the alcohol for after the applause.

Once, while addressing 1,000 people, her mouth went "completely dry after a wonderful crab salad lunch."

A fix for that, said Selwyn, past present of the National Speakers Association of Northern California, is to keep a glass of warm water nearby. Not cold. "Cold constricts the vocal cords," she said.

Her best advice is be prepared.

"Nothing is worse for a speaker than winging it," she said. "Preparation breeds confidence, which makes a performer less anxious."

Stage fright is an over-arousal of the fight-or-flight response, said Katee Wynia, a biofeedback educator in Sebastopol who explained, "Your higher brain starts to shut down when you go into survival mode. That's why anxiety gets in the way of performing."

Performers can learn to use biofeedback tools to relax, slow their heart, even get rid of sweaty palms. Or they can try something else.

"Some actors turn up the music and dance like crazy. One guy juggled balls," said Lennie Dean of Sebastopol, actor, director and teacher at Santa Rosa's 6th Street Playhouse. Before a recent play, one actor did pushups while his co-star meditated.

Eighth-grader Jameau understands her agony is worth it.

"Even if I don't become a public speaker, I still need to have speaking skills in order to get into a good college or get a good job."

Her English teacher, Miriam Silver, at Twin Hills Charter Middle School in Sebastopol, worries that given the prominence of short-cut non-verbal texts and tweets, this generation "is losing the art of speaking." She's had students almost black out from nerves. Even "A" students beg her to excuse them.

"They're afraid of standing up in front of their peers, being looked at," she said. "It's a killer no matter how confident and competent they might be in other things."

Fifteen years ago, tenor Duykers finally asked himself, "If you are frightened about performing, why are you still doing it? Is it perhaps that you are excited to go out there and perform?"

Backstage, he focuses on breathing "and not allowing myself to think about anything."

Craven, producing director at Main Stage West Theater in Sebastopol, suggests some pre-show body stretching and warm tea with honey.

"Many actors listen to music, which I find potentially distracting. In my opinion, it's better to lean into the jitters rather than to avoid them."

Folk guitarist Nina Gerber of Sebastopol has been playing music for 38 years and recalls only once being unnerved.

"I was playing with Kate Wolf in some big benefit and I saw Jackson Browne watching us play," she said. "That kind of freaked me out."

But not since.

"My attitude is I'm getting to go on stage to do what I love to do and what I know how to do," she said. "I know my instrument well enough that when I screw up, and I do a lot, I can turn it into something."

Sometimes it's a shared laugh with her audience.

"I'm a folkie, and in my business it's okay to make a mistake. If you screw up, people laugh with you. They like that you're being human."

Dean encourages actors to get in touch with their pounding hearts and sweaty palms, to use their vulnerability.

"We think when we get in front of someone we have to be superhuman, but it's the humanness that relates."

Craven agrees that a little fear is fine.

"Acting is scary but in a really good way," she said, "like I would imagine sky diving."

Susan Swartz is a freelance writer and author based in Sonoma County. Contact her at sfswartz@gmail.com.