Friday, December 19, 2008

Stage Fright?

Adrianna paused, frozen in the moment; 'what is the line' panic started to set in, 'what is it?'. She looked out toward the audience not sure what to expect; she glanced toward the off stage curtain looking for a clue; she looked around her, nothing , this was her monologue, she was alone and no one could help her. 'Where is everyone?' Stage Manager, the rest of the cast, the Assistant Director, no one. Stepping to the right, she took a breathe, a deeper one, pause, stepping to the right, 'make it fit the scene, go with it, something will come to you' the voice in her head wasn't helping the situation. This was her monologue and her worst nightmare was coming true. Stage fright didn't happen here, this theater was her second home, 'what is going on?'

"Patience and Love...." a soft voice from backstage fed the begining of the next line to her. Adrianna took a deep breathe and stepped forward with the confidence she had begun the scene with only a short time before and continued the lines through end.

"What the heck was that?!" a quiet but harsh voice caught her from behind on the way off stage. Jessica looked at Adrianna with a furious confusion.

"I DON"T KNOW." Adrianna continued on through the corridor to the dressing room to prepare for the next scene. ' is this what it is like, Stage Fright?'

4 comments:

David said...

This was very cool.
I was left wondering what preceded this passage, and what would follow.

Is this part of a new book or something like?

(this is David from ELT btw.)

mackenzie said...

I could relate to Adrianna. My life is a constant struggle with the same kind of panic and fear that your character expressed in Stage Fright. In my life there is no buddy behind the curtain feeding me my lines. I feel that this piece makes light of the struggle that many young girls have with social anxiety and panic. I can tell you from my experience that forgetting a line in a play is nothing compared to the shear panic over everyday interactions that some people deal with.

Timothy P said...

Very interesting, and I agree with David's comment on wondering what preceded and what will follow this scene.

HOWEVER (can't let you off the hook just like that),

Again, I'm not drawn into the scene, I know that there is an audience and a stage, but the reader is left to create details. Are there curtain? What color are they? Is there a background to the stage? Is there floorboards, or is the floor a semi-slippery laminate? What difficulties is Addie faced with when dealing with her surroundings? What is she wearing? What part is she playing? (that last one can probably be provided in the preceding paragraphs, but it helps the reader with the visualization.)

Again, I hope this is helpful.

Timothy Perkins

Unknown said...

I agree with Timothy in that her script should have been labeled. I actualy dont mind that there is not much desciption,but it could be a little more detailed.

Benjamin