ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a summary of stage fright themes in service to the illumination of its presence in fellow actors. The summary organizes the themes in three parts. It begins with the themes related to the draw to acting and the acting experience, continues with the stage fright experience, and concludes with the nature of stage fright in the actors’ lives. In addition to the physical and psychological manifestations of stage fright, actors related stage fright to a color and drew associations that symbolized their less rational meanings of the stage fright experience. In several cases this allowed deeper unconscious aspects of the stage fright experience to emerge. Colors associated with stage fright were red for chaos and horror, white for frozen immobilizing fear, maroon for dead and lifeless blood, and black for shame, the unspeakable horror that is stage fright. Other colors were orange for excitement and purple for the vibrancy of performance.
