How to Overcome Performance Anxiety | Will Reynolds
Oct 15, 2024
You may have worked hard to get the opportunity in front of you—whether it’s landing a speaking gig, getting cast in an independent film, or finally gathering the courage to post content online for the first time. Even though you genuinely want it, your body may be in full freak-out mode.
In today’s conversation, I sat down with Will Reynolds—an actor, writer, composer, and seasoned performer who has written songs for Central Park on Apple TV and Disney. We talked about why Will believes overcoming nerves requires stepping into service-based storytelling, how to reframe rejection by seeing art as medicine, and how to approach performing from a healed place, rather than using it to seek validation.
TOPICS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Service-based storytelling
- How to reframe rejection by seeing art as medicine
- Operating from a healed place → Not making art for validation
- Tools for calming nerves and preparing adequately for success
WHO IS WILL REYNOLDS?
Will Reynolds is an actor, writer, teaching artist, winner of the Fred Ebb Award for musical theater writing with collaborator Eric Price, and songwriter for Central Park on Apple TV+/Disney.
Will has written the music for The Violet Hour (based on the play by Richard Greenberg, developed by the Manhattan Theater Club), Radioactive, Around the World, and The Sixth Borough, all with Eric Price. Will is the composer/creator of The Greenwood Tree (based on the sonnets by Shakespeare, developed by the Stratford Festival in Canada). His song cycle Poems & Moon Songs has been produced as part of the Lincoln Center Songbook Series, and the song "Tavern" (text by Edna St. Vincent Millay) was featured on 6-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald’s album Go Back Home
