Last day of presentations

It occurred to me last night at the Lysistrata dress rehearsal that I’m not as shy, as I had thought. I hate public speaking. It truly stresses me out to stand up in front of my class and give a presentation. Granted, I have acted my entire life and sung, so I obviously don’t have that big of an issue with an audience. It is the personal nature of presenting something of my own. In a group of my friends, though, I am very open and outgoing. Why then am I so scared to present in front of my peers?

In the play I am a woman who gives her husband blue balls by withholding sex until a truce has been made and the war ends… and I do this by seducing him… with a lap dance… in lingerie… in the middle of a stage.

My group originally planned on my being silhouetted behind a curtain in a nude body suit, giving the impression of something very racy. Then it turned into me wearing a corset and the audience seeing me walk into the ‘tent’ and giving the lap dance… now we’ve lost the sheet altogether, the lingerie has remained… and “Let’s Get It On” will be played.

I have to act as though I am the most confident woman in the room. Act. Room. A room full of my peers. I think that I overcame my fear of presenting in front of them. I had to of!

So this morning, I was supposed to just lay on the table and play dead, and for the first time ever, I suggested that I begin the presentation by telling the story of how I died. Weird. What’s even weirder is that I didn’t require a turtleneck to mask the heat rash that I usually breakout in when I have to say anything in front of a class. I just said it. I’m pretty excited. I also didn’t feel like I was going to sound stupid because of the anxiety of influence of the previous group. Yes they were amazing, but there project was so much more different than ours, so I felt like you could really compare them. Everyone did so well, and I didn’t pass out!

I have come to know all of my group members, and I’m sad that we didn’t have more time to get to know one another even more. We are all unique, full of quirks (and words), but we all share the same passion for leather-bound items. I want to thank them for being so great! J