Personal Narrative: The Lion King

626 Words2 Pages

The stage was set and costumes were donned. The audience waited with eager anticipation for the show to begin. But opening time came and went. The crowd grew restless. The show’s producer beckoned a woman from the crowd. It became clear that there was a problem backstage.
The “problem” was me. It was my daycare’s summer production of The Lion King and I was cast as Simba. At 7 years old, it was my first performance and, as it turned out, my first experience with performance anxiety. I was excited for the show until I saw the large crowd assembled in the auditorium and realized that all of those eyes would be on me. Panic descended upon me and I began to hyperventilate. My heart beat wildly in my chest and my hands trembled like a low-magnitude earthquake. I thought I would pass out or throw up, or both. There was no way I was going out on that stage. My director attempted to calm me, but I resisted. Eventually he called my mom from the audience to help. Together, they were able to coax me onto the stage. However, in my angst, I was unable to remember my lines and had to rely on prompts from the director. Embarrassed and ashamed, I vowed never to do another …show more content…

Recognizing my love of music, the choir director encouraged me to audition for the school musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie. The thought of returning to the stage was both exciting and terrifying. I summoned the courage to audition only after realizing that I could request an ensemble role. This allowed me the opportunity to perform without being directly in the spotlight. On opening night, the familiar pang of nerves threatened to overcome me. I managed to make it to the stage on rubber legs with bile rising in my throat. “Deep breath in, deep breath out”, I reminded myself. As the show progressed, I felt myself responding positively to the audience’s enthusiasm. By the last curtain call, I knew that I was ready to tackle a larger role in the next

Open Document