anticipating situations

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I've been writing plays for a while, but for the first time I've been directing a play I wrote. Tonight is opening night, and I'm trying to tease apart what my anxiety is about. (Today has been much more stimmy, so I know something's going on.)

Obviously some of it is pure performance anxiety, but other things that are making me anxious are:

- everything unknown. Luckily yesterday I kind of got a practice run of what door to come in, where to go when I get there. I try and do that in many situations to decrease my anxiety. Sometimes I can be paralyzed by not knowing which door to go in.

- but who else will be there, who do I report to to help seat people, are they expecting me, if the box office opens at 6:15 should I be there then even though they told me to come at 6:30, but if I arrive at 6:15 my cast won't be there yet so I would need to wait until at least one of them is there to hand over the props...

I'm trying to explore every situation in my mind so that I'm prepared. I really find that if I can prepare myself for all of the most possible situations, I can get through pretty much anything. In the past, I've been able to run scenarios in my mind but I'm really thinking of doing it on paper this time because I can't get my mind settled enough to do it.

Does anyone else do anything to prepare them for unpredictable situations?

Good luck!

I do exactly as you've described. Run through everything as much as I can.

Regarding timing, if possible I would probably arrive early and hover somewhere nearby and wait for someone I know to go in (if that's an option, unless you need to be there BEFORE everyone that you recognise).

I also script conversations, so if you're going to report to someone then have in mind what you'll say when you arrive. One less thing to think about in the moment.

Thank you.

I script everything too! My dad started doing it for me when I was a kid and it worked well so I started doing it myself. It's why I was drawn to theatre.

I could go early and hover, but I also kind of want to get there before my actors, since I'm the director. So I think I'll go a little early and just follow the path I took yesterday and wait for them to get there.

It was actually perfectly fine - maybe because I had run every scenario I could think of several times. I got there, followed the same route I was shown yesterday, waited for the cast to show up, handed over the props, awkwardly tried to give a pep talk (totally failed and just said "well... bye" ha ha) and then went looking for the guy in charge, who was looking for me already. Then I helped at the door, then I watched the show. Then I went home. The whole thing seemed really short for the amount of anxiety it was causing me.

Now I just have to do it tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon. It really was an enjoyable experience. Theatre is the one thing that really can get me to do pretty much anything. It's been my deepest interest since I was little.

Inderal... wish I had a better solution but I don't.