#WECAN Workshop: Being in the moment

Have you ever stood up to deliver a presentation only to find the words have vanished from your head?

Overview

Your mouth is dry, your heart is pounding and your mind can’t stay focused Or does your mind struggle to concentrate when you’re completing a task under pressure? Experiencing stress and anxiety about performing any task (stage fright) is caused when we fear that we will fail. We may fear public humiliation; or worry how our failure may affect others. The anxiety we experience can make it difficult to concentrate meaning we don’t perform at our best, creating a vicious cycle that can lead us to avoid certain professional situations.

Session Objectives

‘Being in the moment’ is the term actors use to describe that feeling they get when their performance flows. They have overcome their stage fright and are able to remain fully focused on the task at hand, moment by moment, as each moment unfolds. This two-hour workshop offers you the opportunity to explore some simple techniques actors use to overcome the natural anxiety they can feel about performing in public. During the session you will explore strategies designed to support your ability to calm some of the effects of performance anxiety, thereby helping you to control your focus and successfully complete the task, even when nervous.

Speaker

Emma Heron is a theatre maker, writer and educator based in Liverpool, England. Originally trained as an actor at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Emma studied Text and Performance at Masters level at RADA and Kings College, joining Edge Hill University as a Senior Lecturer in Drama in 2006. In 2010, she co-founded Theatr Gadair Ddu, a Welsh-English bilingual theatre company based in Liverpool and Rhuthun. Cadair Ddu creates theatre focused on exploring the narratives and experiences of traditionally underrepresented communities in the Welsh diaspora.

Throughout her career, Emma has developed her acting and directing work in parallel with her work as an educator, maintaining a strong commitment to using theatre skills and techniques as tools of empowerment for education and training. A member of the Pankhurst Centre’s Heritage Committee since 2018, until the pandemic Emma was also Artistic Director of Mrs Pankhurst’s Players, Edge Hill University’s feminist theatre collective for female, male and gender non-binary students and recent graduates. In 2019, Emma’s work with Mrs Pankhurst’s Players was presented to Her Royal Highness Princess Ann.

Currently, alongside her work for #WECAN, Emma is researching female histories in the Liverpool Welsh community for the Daughters of Gwenfrewi project, part of Theatr Gadadir Ddu’s Breaking the Stone series, created to explore previously hidden histories of groups often marginalised from the Liverpool Welsh community.