Do you trust yourself onstage yet?

I hope the answer is yes, but let's get real. It's not always going to be that way. Some days are better than others and there's no explanation for it. Self doubt comes like a thief in the night.

I was sitting in a meeting today, peering down at the agenda, and realized - gadzooks - I might be expected to present something here. My mind clouded and I started fumbling around on my laptop, rapidly gathering information I might need to sound like a coherent pers...
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Dry-run the introductions to a show about a few times to the satisfaction of the artistic director.

This is another step in preparing to be solid at one of the "Ringleader" positions.

The beginning - the period of time when the audience meets you, the performers, your format, and even improv - is going to set the tone for the whole evening. It's just like any interpersonal introduction: it has a tendency to steer how the rest of the relationship is going to go. The introductions of your shows ...
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Prove memorization of essential, scripted pieces

I have found it helpful, when building a solid program for the nominated Ringleaders to go through a kind of oral exam. They need to do the homework and they need to prove they can recite their scripted pieces to their team. Whether that means having the group gather around with flash cards for "Intro," "Chain Murder Mystery," etc. or having a tenured Host "haze" a newbie Host one-on-one by having them blitz through their lines, it doesn't matte...
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This is a continuation of the series on how a beginner can be a good "Ringleader" which I have defined as anyone who does Host, Emcee, Lights, or Sound roles.

"Go through a series of training rehearsals"

Two things to get out of this immediately: 1) Series 2) Training.

1.) Series of rehearsals - You cannot learn what you need to do overnight. You cannot learn it by watching. You cannot learn it by reading about it. You can only learn how to be a Ringleader by doing, and the safest way is with r...
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