| Term | Definition |
|---|
| 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 and supposedly not heard by the other actors on stage. |
| 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 | A first look at a script, seeking an actors interpretation of the text, without rehearsing first; used at an audition. |
| Cross | To move from one point of the stage to another. Symbolized by an X in blocking notation. |
| Cue | 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 | Happens when the audience knows more information about the plot and situations in a play than certain characters do. |
| Dress Rehearsal | The final rehearsal(s) of a play before it opens to the public; utilizing all costumes, props, lighting, sound, and set changes. |
| Dry Tech | 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 | 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 | The background information of a story, usually told at the beginning of a play through narration or dialogue. |
| Flat | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | The imaginary divide that separates the audience from the performance space. |
| Grand | 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 | 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 | The area of a theatre where the audience sits or watches from. |
| Major Role | A character part that is dominant in the plot of a play, having many scripted lines. |
| Masking | 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 | A style of overacting that focuses on contrived action rather than realistic characterization or situations; dramatized for effect. |
| Minor Role | A supporting character to a story, having less stage time and lines than a Major. |
| Monologue | A speech performed by one performer, giving depth and insight into a characters thoughts or feelings; also called a soliloquy. |
| Pantomime | To act out very physically without using words; a style of acting that is most often utilized in Children's Theatre. |
| Pit | 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 | A style of performance where the characters or performers make aware of the audience's presence, often breaking the fourth wall. |
| Properties | 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 | 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 | A type of stage that slopes downward towards the audience, built at gradual angle. |
| Sides | 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 | The audience's view of a performance space, being blocked from the backstage. |
| Spectacle | Large scenery or set pieces used for awe and illusion in a performance. |
| Spike | To mark the stage floor, usually with colored tape, where set pieces will rest. |
| Stage Combat | A style of acted movement that is planned out, or choreographed, to look like real fighting between characters within a performance. |
| Stage Manager | 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 | 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 | 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 | The true meaning behind a spoken or scripted line, as interpreted by an actor. |
| Technician | One who works on a crew for a production, lights, set, sound, costumes, props, etc. |
| Thrust | 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 | A type of curtain or masking (black) that hides the audience's view of the backstage. |
| Understudy | 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 | The area of the performance space that is farthest away from the audience. |
| Wings | The offstage areas directly to the right and left of the performance space. |
| Anecdote | a short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature, often biographical. |
| argument | a discussion involving differing points of view; debate, a statement, reason, or fact for or against a point, intended to convince or persuade |
| autobiography | a history of a person's life written or told by that person |
| Antistrophe | A division of the chorus during odes (moves left to right) |
| biography | a written account of another person's life written by a different person |
| Catharsis | Working out through emotions |
| character | a person represented in a drama, story, etc, a part or role, as in a play or film. |
| characterization | the act of characterizing, the creation and convincing representation of fictitious characters. |
| Chorus | Conscience of the people |
| climax | the highest or most intense point in the development or resolution of something, (in a dramatic or literary work) a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot. |
| comic relief | an amusing scene, incident, or speech introduced into serious or tragic elements, as in a play, in order to provide temporary relief from tension, or to intensify the dramatic action. |
| Concealment | the activity of keeping something secret |
| Conflict | controversy; quarrel: conflicts between parties. discord of action, feeling, or effect; antagonism or opposition, as of interests or principles: a conflict of ideas |
| Description | a statement, picture in words, or account that describes |
| Dialogue | Conversation between two people |
| Diction | choice of words, author's use of slang and common terms |
| Dramatic irony | irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play |
| Enjambment | The continuation of a sentence over multiple lines |
| Exodos | Conclusion of the play |
| Exposition | in a play, novel, etc., the dialogue or description that gives the audience or reader the background of the characters and the present situation. |
| Falling action | the part of a literary plot that occurs after the climax has been reached and the conflict has been resolved |
| fiction | the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, esp. in prose form, something feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story. |
| foil | a person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast |
| Foreshadowing | Hints of what is to come |
| Hubris | Excessive pride |
| Hyperbole | Exaggeration |
| Inference | To come to a logical conclusion based on prior knowledge |
| Interview | A formal meeting in which one or more persons question, consult, or evaluate another person, and the questions and answers are recorded in some way |
| Irony | A contrast between what happens and what is expected to happen |
| Monologue | Speech by a single character |
| Mood | The general feeling of the story |
| Narrative | Tells a story |
| Nonfiction | the branch of literature comprising works of narrative prose dealing with reality, all information must be true |
| Ode | A break in the action (contains summary, narration, etc.) |
| Onomatopoeia | The use of words to imitate sounds. Example: hiss, oink, glop, etc. |
| Oxymoron | Contradicting words used together, as in Jumbo Shrimp, Cruel Kindness, etc. |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace