Question | Answer |
Ad-Lib | To make up words or dialogue on the spot, to speak at liberty. |
Aside | For an actor to speak directly to the audience (not always meant to be heard). |
Arena | Type of performance space with audience surrounding all sides of the stage. |
Apron | Front part or area of the stage extending past the main act curtain, also called lip. |
Backdrop | Painted cloth or set wall built to serve as a background for the setting on stage. |
Black Box | Type of performance space that is small, created out of a room, painted all black. |
Blocking precise | Stage directions and movements given to an actor by the script or the director. |
Box Set | A type of setting that is built on the stage to look like the interior of a house or room, having three walls and no ceiling. |
Build | Rising intensity or climbing action that develops within a scene or entire play. |
Business | Busy work for the actor while playing on the stage to establish character, setting, and situation. |
Call | The time one must be at the Theatre or ready to go onto to stage. |
Callback | A second, more specific audition where a director looks closer at given actors. |
Catharsis | For an audience to have an emotional reaction while watching a performance where they purge themselves of their pity and fears. |
Center Stage | The middle point of the performance space, symbolized by CS in blocking notes. |
Cheat Out | A body position for the stage wherein the actor faces more towards the audience. |
Chorus | A group of performers that make up the community of characters within a play, having few lines individually, and seen on stage as one entity. |
Climax | The high point of action or conflict within a scene or a play. |
Cold Reading | 1. A first look at a script, seeking an actors interpretation of the text, without rehearsing first; used at an audition. |
Cross | 1. To move from one point of the stage to another. Symbolized by an X in blocking notation. |
Cue | 1. A signal or line that prompts the next action or stage business during a performance. |
Downstage | The area of the performance space that is closest to the audience. |
Dramatic irony | 1. Happens when the audience knows more information about the plot and situations in a play than certain characters do. |
Dress Rehearsal | 1. The final rehearsal(s) of a play before it opens to the public; utilizing all costumes, props, lighting, sound, and set changes. |
Dry Tech | 1. A rehearsal that is run without the actors, bringing together all the technical aspects of a show, following the cues in the order that they are executed. |
Dumb Show | 1. Performed at the beginning of a performance, showing the audience through actions, and no words, a parody of what they are about to see. |
Exposition | 1. The background information of a story, usually told at the beginning of a play through narration or dialogue. |
Flat | 1. A constructed piece of scenery, usually made of wood and/or canvas, used to create a set wall or backdrop for a stage setting. |
Floor Plan | 1. A drawn picture of a set, as seen from a bird's eye view (from above), using geometric shapes to represent set pieces and levels. |
Fly System | 1. A system of rigging and ropes that is used to raise and lower scenery within on stage, operated by hand or mechanically from backstage. |
Follow Spot | 1. A concentrated source of light that illuminates a performer on stage, and stays with them as they move; most often coming from a spotlight instrument. |
Fourth Wall | 1. The imaginary divide that separates the audience from the performance space. |
Grand | 1. The main act curtain or drape that hangs at the front of the stage, always found in a Proscenium theatre, and usually is of a royal color. |
Hold | 1. A command called out by a director wherein the actors must hold their stage positions or take a pause in the action of the scene. |
House | 1. The area of a theatre where the audience sits or watches from. |
Major Role | 1. A character part that is dominant in the plot of a play, having many scripted lines. |
Masking | 1. 1. Curtains, drapes, or set walls that are used to block the audiences sight from the backstage. 2. Used in stage combat to block the audiences sight from certain moves. |
Melodrama | 1. A style of overacting that focuses on contrived action rather than realistic characterization or situations; dramatized for effect. |
Minor Role | 1. A supporting character to a story, having less stage time and lines than a Major. |
Monologue | 1. A speech performed by one performer, giving depth and insight into a characters thoughts or feelings; also called a soliloquy. |
Pantomime | 1. To act out very physically without using words; a style of acting that is most often utilized in Children's Theatre. |
Pit | 1. The area, usually below the front part of the stage, where the orchestra is set up to play the music for a live performance. |
Presentational | 1. A style of performance where the characters or performers make aware of the audience's presence, often breaking the fourth wall. |
Properties | 1. Used to enhance a scene or characterization, abbreviated-props. 1. Stage: large, stay on the set. 2. Hand: small, used by many actors. 3. Personal: used only by one actor, and stays with them. |
Proscenium | 1. The most common type of Theatre space, known for its framed arch that outlines the stage opening, having the audience facing one side directly in front. |
Raked | 1. A type of stage that slopes downward towards the audience, built at gradual angle. |
Sides | 1. Selections taken from a script used for an actor to read a scene aloud (usually used at an audition for a cold reading). |
Sight Lines | 1. The audience's view of a performance space, being blocked from the backstage. |
Spectacle | 1. Large scenery or set pieces used for awe and illusion in a performance. |
Spike | 1. To mark the stage floor, usually with colored tape, where set pieces will rest. |
Stage Combat | 1. A style of acted movement that is planned out, or choreographed, to look like real fighting between characters within a performance. |
Stage Manager | 1. The head technician for a production; responsible for all backstage duties and jobs. Calls a show for cues and transitions, and keeps consistency accurate from show to show. Works very closely with actors, technicians, and the director. |
Stage Right/Left | 1. Sides of the stage that is determined according to the actors point of view facing the audience. Symbolized in blocking notation as SL and SR. |
Strike | 1. To take down a set or remove scenery or props from the stage; happens immediately at the end of a production run before the next show is brought in. |
Subtext | 1. The true meaning behind a spoken or scripted line, as interpreted by an actor. |
Technician | 1. One who works on a crew for a production, lights, set, sound, costumes, props, etc. |
Thrust | 1. A type of performance space where the audience surrounds three sides, and raises high above a very open stage; usually there is no main act curtain. |
Traveler | 1. A type of curtain or masking (black) that hides the audience's view of the backstage. |
Understudy | 1. A performer who studies the part of another role, so that they might perform it in the absence of the actor who was originally cast. |
Upstage | 1. 1. The area of the performance space that is farthest away from the audience. |
Wings | 1. The offstage areas directly to the right and left of the performance space. |