Stage Fright, Its Role in Acting. Stephen Aaron. Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1986,  156 pp.

The original title of this work, Stage Fright in the Art of Acting, is at once more

paradoxical and provocative than the current one. For Stephen Aaron's thesis is that stage fright is an integral part of the acting process rather than some unwelcome nuisance; that the terror is frequently experienced in even the latter performances of a run as well as the initial ones; and that it occurs intensely in even the greatest artists of the stage as well as would-be thespians. Aaron explores this set of conundra by deftly leading us through the maze of how: actors prepare for and personalize their roles; how the rehearsal process gradually proceeds from its early explorations to its final presentation; how the central relationship in modern drama between director and actors sets the stage for stage fright; and finally opening night leads to excrutiating anxiety. All of this is portrayed in deliciously limned anecdotes that take us backstage and whet the reader's appetite for more. The book is as much about the psychology of the acting process and the creativity of the actor as it is about the nature of stage fright, for the two are intrinsically linked.

Stage Fright is a decided advance from the older discipline of applied psychoanalysis, where analysts have felt comfortable for years in romping through the fields of another discipline with only limited knowledge of its contours; or where persons from other disciplines use psychoanalytic theory simplistically with little awareness of its complexities and problematics. Coming originally from a rich career in the theater where he had directed a number of plays, some with major stars, Aaron was cofounder and artistic director of the then most highly regarded theater workshop for new American plays (New Theatre Workshop), and is still a highly esteemed acting teacher at one of the finest drama schools in the country QuiUiard Drama Department). Aaron also became a practicing psychoanalytic clinical psychologist. By being one o