Acting question. Is this wierd?

Question:Okay so i'm a female, 15 and been acting for almost a year. And i've got an agent and have been doing auditions and callbacks and such.

But i'm TERRIFIED of theatre. I can act in theatre, but for the performance, i can't do it! i have the worst stage fright ever!
And from experience, for a school play. i had to sing, and basically froze when i looked at the audience.

But i'm not scared of acting infront of agents, and casting directors, or with the whole crew, fimling on set.,

So why is it impossible for me to do plays, but not any other type of acting.?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Okay so i'm a female, 15 and been acting for almost a year. And i've got an agent and have been doing auditions and callbacks and such.

But i'm TERRIFIED of theatre. I can act in theatre, but for the performance, i can't do it! i have the worst stage fright ever!
And from experience, for a school play. i had to sing, and basically froze when i looked at the audience.

But i'm not scared of acting infront of agents, and casting directors, or with the whole crew, fimling on set.,

So why is it impossible for me to do plays, but not any other type of acting.?

Hmmm, maybe you get stage fright because its just you infront of all these people. Whatever you do you might feel as if they are judging you .
Also you know them and you might see them later and they might say something good or bad. So maybe you are just scared of the peoples reactions might be towards you.
with auditions you get in there you do your thing and the worst that can happen is you dont get the job, you can be WHO you want to be and theyd never know cause chances are you wont see them ever again.
There is a certain energy with theatre, because its all then and there no second chance, with film if you do wrong you shout CUT, do it right and the audience at home thinks your fantastic first time around. Also youre not scared infront of the film crew because its their job to be there, and are used to different actors, to them youre another talented actress that has been cast.

I can identify with what you are feeling and the best advice i can give is-- whenever you are about to perform take deep breaths, and start concentrating on your performance. if you, can dont even look at the audience, look above their heads.
When i get scarred i always say to myslef " Well, they came here to see you so they cant hate you" it sounds stupid, but when i say it i feel better.
Also i dont know about you, but i perform better if no family member is there. I feel more confident and if i mess up atleast they dont see me!

Good Luck and everytime you are onstage, just remeber tha audience is here to see you and is going to love you!!

Hope i helped! :)
mq

ps- if you're on stage and have frozen, calmly get your thoughts together. Time feels slow when in that situation, but instead of saying omg, so many people say to yourself some encouraging words!

maybe its because there is more people in the auddence then in the set. Or maybe its because your not used/ready to see all the people. Don't worry just act like its your set and not the auddence. Also if you haven't already tell one of the set memebers that you trust and they will help you go through it.

maybe as you said ad experience and when in thethre it is harder to get your voice across with everyone string at you and in front of casting agents and things like that it isnt hard becaus ethey are right there and not so many people looking up upon you

it's all in your mind. you conditioned your self that you can't do it. so you can't. challenge your fears and you're all done. if you want to make it big as an actor, not a star, you should be doing more of theatres... good luck!

In live theatre there are no do-overs. You get up there and you have one shot to give it everything, if you forget your line, well, tough. Deal with it.
But in film if you screw up, you can do it again, and again, and again, and again...

Also, in film your audiance is not right in front of you watching your every move while in theatre there's a couple hundred people scrutinizing you. Theatre is much more immediate, and you're placed in a position where everything has to happen at once, but in film you get to watch the audiance's reaction from a comfy chair at the back of the theatre (in the dark no less!).

It sounds like your problem could just be shyness, you're scared to put yourself out there in front of a huge group of people who have expectations of you. And that's fine! Some people love doing film, and others can't stand it. Some people adore live performance, and others pee their pants every time they get onstage.

If you do want to do some live acting the best advice I can give you is just to do it. Start out with getting upat a coffeehouse at your school and rading a poem off a peice of paper, then gradually work your way on from there.

Personally, I'm one of those people who would die if they were denied theatre, but that's just me. Don't feel abnormal about getting stage fright, everyone does. Just always do what you love and you'll be wonderful at it.

P.S. Congratulations at being able to act on a movie set! I've got to admit that's something I'd never be able to do, what with a whole crew walking around with huge cameras I'd probably just corpse and be all stupid and unfocused. ;)

theatre obviously is just not your niche. if you are determined to do theatre, however, remember the fourth wall. the imaginary wall between you and the audience. if that doesn't work, look up at the exit signs, afterall, you're never supposed to make eye contact with the audience... you break character when you do:]
hope i helped.