After doing this for 25 years, I'm still nervous when I think about being in front of an audience. But I think that's me: despite all the experience in front of an audience, my nerves aren't going anywhere. I've just learned to manage my nerves in order to get back onstage. 

In order for the audience to understand my work, I have to get used to being seen and heard by them. Additionally, I need to practice being theatrical by Cheating Out and Projecting my Voice to the back of the house.  

Arena Stage, or in the round: Audience surrounds all sides; blocking and set design is adjusted from the vertical/horizontal planes to include diagonal.

Proscenium: Staging and design utilizes the horizontal and vertical planes.  Performances are reminiscent of television, lacking physical depth. 

Thrust, or 3/4 thrust: Audience surrounds 3 out of 4 sides of performance.  

Flexible Stage (runway, audience immersion): Sometimes the audience and their seats join us onstage, sometimes performance invades their space; sometimes the performance space is purposefully undefined. 

In addition to their lines, until they're memorized and rehearsed actors must notate their scripts to remember when and where to move, who to interact with, which prop is theirs... there's a lot to keep in mind while you're building a performance!

Stage Managers- the boss, the hefe, the organizational powerhouse - annotate their entire script with ALL movement, cues, props, set piece being used: a theatrical production is a grand concert of movement and timing.

Know your blocking - where you're supposed to be and when! 

A prompt book is a stage-manager-only expanded script that contains all blocking, prop/set inventories, lights/sound cues etc.