| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Components of Theatre | What is performed, the performance, and the audience |
| Presentational | Not realistic in its enactment |
| Representational | Realistic in its enactment |
| Suspension of Disbelief | An audience's willingness to accept events onstage as plausible during the course of a play |
| Comedy | A play in which the characters amuse us by their action or wit, which ends in a happy ending; its Western origins are found in Ancient Greece |
| Tragedy | A serious play in which the protagonist, by some peculiarity of character, passes through a series of misfortunes leading to a final devastating catastrophe |
| Protagonist | The main character of a narrative; central character who engages the reader's interest and empathy. |
| Aristotle's Six Components of Tragedy | Plot, character, theme, diction, music, spectacle |
| Exposition | Introduces the characters, setting, and basic situation |
| Conflict | The struggle within the plot between opposing forces |
| Climax | Emotional peak with the highest tension; occurs right before the resolution |
| Resolution | Denouement; the part of the plot where the main dramatic conflict is worked out |
| External Acting | The actor poses and recreates facial expressions, in order to convey an emotion |
| Internal Acting | The actor is supposed to actually generate the emotion that the character is feeling, and the posture and expression should appear natural |
| Playwright | The author of a play |
| Actor's Instrument | An actor's use of their body, will, voice, and imagination to impart a character's intentions |
| Dramatic Action | Events that occur in a play between the initial incident and the climax that move the play toward the conclusion |
| Stanislavsky's System | The Russian system that became the most pervasive influence on acting during the twentieth century |
| Zadacha | The actor must have a thorough understanding of the character's motives when presenting a line |
| Audition Process | Can contain prepared monologues, a cold reading, specialized requests, and — if the director likes what they see — a call back |
| Rehearsal Process | A process of discovery and experimentation; the actor is required to memorize lines and blocking for an upcoming performance |
| Actors' Equity Association | The labor union that represents more than 48,000 actors and stage managers in the United States |
| Dramaturg | An expert adviser of theatre history who helps actors, designers, and directors better understand the particulars of the play |
| Skene | Place behind the stage where actors usually change |
| Orchestra | Seating on the main floor in a theater |
| City Dionysia | Festival held in Athens, which includes a tragedy competition |
| Dithyramb | Hymn sung and danced in a tribute to Dionysus |
| Catastrophe | The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement or falling action of a play |
| Reversal | Peripeteia; the point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the protagonist |
| Recognition | Anagnorisis; a scene in which the protagonist recognizes an event, action, or other truth that assures their downfall |
| Catharsis | Describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy |
| Tragic Character | The protagonist in a tragedy who makes an error in their actions, which leads to their downfall |
| Aristophanes | A very popular playwright who mocked nearly every figure in Greek life; playwright of Lysistrata |
| Greek Old Comedy | Characterized by an exuberant and high-spirited satire of public persons and affairs; known through the works of Aristophanes |
| Greek New Comedy | Features fictional, average citizens and has no supernatural or heroic overtones |
| Shakespeare | A famous playwright of the Elizabethan age |
| Thrust Stage | A theater stage that extends out into the audience's part of a theater and has seats on three sides |
| Teatro Olimpico | Located in Vicenza; the first example of a permanent theatre |
| Teatro Farnese | A Baroque theater with the first surviving proscenium arch |
| Perspective Scenery | Scenery that represents three-dimensional space on a flat surface |
| Proscenium Arch | The arch that frames a stage, separating it from the auditorium |
| Wings | The offstage areas directly to the right and left of the performance space |
| Torelli | Italian stage designer whose innovative theatre machinery provided the basis for many modern stage devices |
| Pole-and-Chariot System | The final step in scene-shifting, in which slots were cut in the stage floor; flats were then mounted on top |
| Director | Someone who supervises the actors and directs the action in the production of a show |
| Producer | The person who finds the financial investors, hires the director and production staff, sets the budget, and pays the bills for a theatrical production |
| Directorial Vision | The director's concept, which exemplifies the look and feel of a play |
| Platform | Painted set on the ground which the actors stand on |
| Flats | Flat pieces of theatrical scenery which are painted and positioned on stage so as to give the appearance of buildings or other background |
| Drapery | Hanging cloth used as a blind, especially for a window |
| Set Pieces | Large portables pieces of the stage setting |
| Box Set | A two-wall or three-wall set representing an interior of a room, often covered by a ceiling |
| Proscenium Stage | A performance space in which the audience sits in front of the stage and views, as if through a picture frame |
| Arena Stage | Stage is in the center of the audience, like an island |
| Black Box | Type of performance space that is small, created out of a room, painted all black; the scenery can be arranged in any way inside the box |
| Scrim | A curtain or drop made of gauze-like fabric; when lighted from the front, it is opaque, but is transparent if lighted from the back |
| Fly Space | Area above the stage where scenery, drops, and lights are hung when not in use |
| Gels | Colored plastic to change colors of lights |
| Gobo | A metal cutout that is placed in front of the lens of a lighting instrument to create different shadowed images on stage |
| Apron | Front part or area of the stage extending past the main act curtain; also called lip |
Combine with other sets
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