Fear is the single biggest culprit when it comes to keeping the Solo Artist captive.
Fear tells the Solo Artist that they have no original or interesting ideas to put into a solo show. Fear warns the Solo Artist that they will never be able to memorize so much material. Fear convinces the Solo Artist that they are merely navel gazing and being narcissistic if they dare demand attention for an hour alone on stage. Fear screams at the Solo Artist that their opinions, their stories and their voice are irrelevant.
Fear’s various claims are too numerous to list in this blog, but you get the idea.
Fear is a Foe that travels with us all along the creative journey whether we try to ditch him or not.
But what if you could befriend your Fear? What if you could overcome your Fear and step into total creative freedom?
You can.
Here are 4 steps to reframing your Fear so that you are no longer creatively imprisoned by it.
1) Stop fueling your Fear with inaction.
Too often when our Fear starts to psyche us out, we just completely allow it to paralyze us. We stop writing. We do not schedule coaching sessions with our mentor. We do not memorize our lines. We do not research performance opportunities. We literally do nothing but allow the Fear to talk us out of the entire solo journey. We stay stationary instead of taking the meaningful next steps that we know inside we need to take.
So, no matter how scary it is, no matter how much you worry that everything Fear is saying to you may be accurate, you must not allow Fear to cause you to be inactive. It will then become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Inaction will only fuel your Fear. Inaction will only cause your Fear to grow larger and larger and it will drown out your own creative voice completely.
However, the more action you take, the more proof you will have to hold up in the face of your Fear proving that you have done the work necessary to create a remarkable solo show.
When Fear tries to tell you of your inadequacies, you will have a long list of positive actions you took to contradict Fear’s accusations.
2) Allow your Fear to be your compass.
Most of the time, we feel Fear because we are on the cusp of creating something truly magnificent with our solo shows. We have a message within our one person play that is capable of transforming us and the world around us, and that reality is terrifying. Our fear would prefer to play small and not step into such unknown greatness.
So, rather than allowing Fear to convince you that you are heading in the wrong direction, allow your Fear to serve as your creative compass indicating that you are headed down the path of innovation, creativity, and true freedom.
3) Face your Fear on the page and on the stage.
It is unlikely that you and Fear just met for the first time during the creation of your solo show. It is far more likely that you and Fear have had a long dysfunctional relationship dating back to some of your earliest memories.
While this is a disturbing fact, the good news is that if you listen carely when your Fear speaks to you and you write down every lie, every worry, every scathing review it gives you, you will probably come up with a very dynamic character for your solo show that audiences will love to hate. Your audiences will also relate to this character because we all have a character of Fear within our psyche too.
Even if these Fear monologues do not make the final cut of your one person play, purging this fearful ranting from your heart and mind will help to create the blank canvas for your solo show to emerge.
Finally, starting to hear Fear’s voice as a separate entity, rather than your reality, is a very effective way to create a healthy distance between your Fear and the limitless creative possibilities that are before you.
4) Feel the Fear and do it anyway.
I hate to say it, but the odds are good that your Fear is here to stay.
However, if you can learn to disempower your fear by following the steps I have provided above, then you can learn to live with your fear and even befriend it.
Furthermore, you can learn to feel the Fear and do your Solo Art anyways!
Let’s keep LIVE theatre ALIVE! Check out the various solo theatre resources, opportunities and events listed below.
Jessica Lynn Johnson
Founder & CEO of Soaring Solo LLC SoaringSoloArtist@gmail.com www.SoaringSoloStudios.com
Tune in and Support the SOARING SOLO SALON on Tuesday October 20th @ 7pm (PST)!
Award winning Director & Developer, Jessica Lynn Johnson, hosts an evening of brand new solo show excerpts. This enticing program will be livestreaming from the Whitefire Theatre and will safely rotate 6 superb Solo Artists in and out throughout the night. There will be a post show Q&A with all of the artists, hosted by Jessica, on Zoom. This event will be monthly. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE SOARING SOLO SALON.
Start every Hump Day off right with FREE Guided Meditation and Writing Prompts with “Isolate Meditate Create”!
Join BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST WINNER Jessica Lynn Johnson EVERY HUMP DAY @ 9AM (PST) on ZOOM for ISOLATE. MEDITATE. CREATE!
This is a 100% free guided meditation & writing prompt experience is designed to keep you healthy, connected and creative EVERY HUMP DAY during STAY AT HOME and who knows, maybe you will even write your one person play with the content you create.
CLICK HERE TO ATTEND ISOLATE MEDITATE CREATE and obtain the Zoom link and password.
Attend the Soaring Solo FREE One Person Play Development class ONLINE!
No matter where you are in the creation of your solo show, idea phase, curiosity phase, full draft written, touring the festival and college market,BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST & Founder of Soaring Solo, Jessica Lynn Johnson, will meet you where you are at and take you to the next level! All that is required to attend is a willingness to explore, a pen, and some paper. No previous writing or performance experience necessary, and no need to have written anything to bring to class. Each week Jessica will guide you in exercises to help generate and stage NEW material! So come and meet other creatives in a supportive space for expression and exploration! The class is ongoing and so you may pop in and out as you please as long as you RSVP by clicking here for this FREE ONE PERSON PLAY CLASS.
Watch a slew of sensational solo shows this month!
The best way to CREATE a solo show is to SEE solo shows! Jessica Lynn Johnson has proudly Directed & Developed over 100 solo shows in her solo theatre career and is still going strong! She would absolutely love to have you join her and the rest of the Soaring Solo Community at any of the following upcoming LIVESTREAMING solo shows she has had the honor of creatively collaborating on.
CLICK HERE FOR A ROSTER OF UPCOMING LIVESTREAMING SOLO SHOWS
Schedule an Online Coaching Consultation with Jessica Lynn Johnson to discuss the possibilities for your solo show!
Jessica brings her 15+ years of solo theatre expertise to work privately with solo artists from all over the world on an as needed basis.
1 on 1 coaching and consultation is for you if…
-You are curious about creating a solo show, but you need writing prompts to help you generate material.
– You are tossing around ideas for your solo show, but you need some accountability and encouragement to commit those ideas to the page.
-You have already written some material, but you need expert feedback on editing, story structure and play formatting.
-You have a great first draft, but need guidance on how to utilize multimedia and solo theatre technique in order to make your show a dynamic piece of solo theatre.
-You already premiered your solo show and now you want some tips on how to tour colleges and festivals, and garner accolades and great reviews!
-You have heard great things about Jessica’s work and you’re curious about hiring her as a Director & Developer for your solo show, but first you want to feel her out and see if she is the right fit for you and your project.
Wherever you may find yourself on your solo journey, Jessica will help you overcome whatever immediate obstacle stands between you and your solo success.
If you resonated with many of the things on this list, then take the next step by emailing
SoaringSoloArtist@gmail.com for more information.
- FEAR: Friend or Foe of the Solo Artist?
- soloartisit