Stage fright. Everyone has or will have it at some time in life.

Either when we were in third grade having to read out loud to an entire class, in chemistry presenting a current event, or in social studies arguing that dogs are better than cats (true), we have all probably gotten some sort of stage-fright–that feeling we all recognize like butterflies in your chest, the intense breathing, the tingling of your sixth sense. Whatever it is, we do not like it.

Something about having to do something that you might mess up on in front of an audience suddenly fills your head with visions of failure and sends your brain into panic mode. And it turns out, panic mode isn’t very good for performance.

You start to stumble over lines, and that horrible fantasy turns into your reality. It is really hard to stop it, as our human instincts are afraid of any failure in a public situation. Needless to say, this could be a disaster when you are onstage. Even the most famous actors get stage fright or got stage fright before.

So how do you deal with stage fright?

Luckily, Bedford has its own actors to ask about stage-fright, and a lot of them are open about it. Many of the stars of “Witches” have their own cases of stage fright, and their advice is very helpful. So, how exactly do the stars of “Witches” get over stage fright?

Quinn Mulvey, one of the actors for the Grand High Witch (Witches has double casting), the main villain of the story, tells us her own way of dealing with stage fright.

“If it’s a show that I have just fallen into the character and rehearsed a lot, I am more excited to show the story to the audience. That balances out stage fright,” said Quinn while jumping up and down with excitement. But the problem for Quinn is that not every show is like that. There are some shows where she doesn’t get enough preparation or just doesn’t feel the role. Quinn, being a theatre enthusiast, is often scared that she will not do well.

Well then, how does she deal with this? Quinn says that in these types of situations, she reminds herself that all she can do is her best. After all, the audience doesn’t know that she slipped up a line, or that she wasn’t supposed to pick up the red wand instead of the black one. “Either way,” she said, “the audience is going to have a good time.”

Quinn’s advice to young theatre rookies is to never give up on the role no matter how hard it is, because that’s just part of theatre. A lot of other famous actors whom you have heard of also have gotten stage fright as well.

In the United Kingdom’s X-factor, Rihanna admitted that she gets nervous and nauseous before a big show. In a 2011 “Vogue” article, Adele admitted that she was “scared of audiences,” and even has been known to get sick before a live show. Jonathan Knight once was so scared he walked off the stage in the middle of a live concert.

Sebastian Gikas, also one of the main actors in “Witches,” has a different experience of stage fright. “I will have stage-fright at the beginning of the show, but after the first scene, I will be over with it because l will be used to it,” said Sebastian. Sebastian plays the role of Luke, the main character, who has to stop an evil plot with his acquaintance, Bruno; it is pretty epic. Being the main character, Sebastian’s role is very important and he cannot risk slipping up. Luckily, Sebastian has a good way to handle stage fright. Sebastian says that he pretends he and the other actors are the only ones in the theatre. After all, getting rid of the crowd gets rid of the fear of embarrassing yourself by messing up, and thus getting rid of stage fright.