"I have, you know, an anxiety - that's a performance anxiety. I have, you know, what you might call stage fright. I think my therapist calls it something a little more medical. But, I have those feelings quite deeply. Recognize catastrophic thinking Every other year or so, I would write a play and perform a play that I had written. And I would perform the show, you know, 150 times."
"That's, you know, when you do a run of a play, you know, that's how many performances you do, which might sound just, you know, crazy to an outsider that you do that same play 150 times. But as the performer in it, every one of those 150 times feels so different. And so I would notice that as the play went on - the run of the play went on - when we would get to performance 100 out of, let's say, 150,"
Performance anxiety often appears as intense stage fright and catastrophic thinking that feels deeply embodied. Repetition of the same performance does not reduce that anxiety; each repetition can feel distinct and carry fresh uncertainty. Persistent worry can escalate across a long run, with later performances provoking more fear despite prior successes. The belief that a streak of good performances guarantees an imminent collapse fuels anticipatory embarrassment and heightened nervousness. Catastrophizing transforms statistical improbability into certainty, producing stronger anxiety toward what should be routine or familiar in theatrical runs.
Read at Big Think
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