Theatre Vocabulary

1. Theatre Vocabulary Words and terms you should know

2. Section 1: theaterStructure Parts and places inside a theatER.

3. First things first… • TheatER: The structure within which theatrical performances are given. Usually includes an orchestra or seating area, and a stage. • TheatRE: A collaborative art form including the composition, enactment, and interpretation of dramatic presentations for an audience.

4. The Actor’s perspective… • Center stage: The center of the area defined as the stage. • Downstage: The stage area toward the audience. • Stage left: The left side of the stage from the perspective of an actor facing the audience. • Stage right: The right side of the stage from the perspective of an actor facing the audience. • Upstage: Used as a noun, the stage area away from the audience; used as a verb, to steal the focus of a scene. • Green Room: Our classroom, or the area backstage where the actors wait during performances.

5. The Audience perspective… • Catwalks: Platforms and walkways above the audience that are used by stage technicians to access lighting, sound and effects instruments. • Orchestra Pit: The area between the stage and the audience where the orchestra plays. • Front of house: The area in the theater where the audience sits • Offstage/backstage: The area of the stage concealed by the proscenium and drapery that is not seen by the audience • Booth: Room above the audience wherein the light board operator, sound board operator, and stage manager run the show.

6. Checkpoint: Define these terms • Catwalks • Front of house • Orchestra pit • Green room • Upstage • Stage Left • Stage Right • Center Stage • Downstage • Booth • Backstage/offstage

7. The big Picture… • Proscenium: The view of the stage for the audience; also called a proscenium arch. The archway is in a sense the frame for stage as defined by the boundaries of the stage beyond which a viewer cannot see. • Teaser: the border drapes across the top of the stage that conceals the lighting instruments • Tormentor: The border drapes on the sides of the stage that conceal the backstage areas • Cyclorama: The large muslin drape hung across the extreme upstage area that represents the sky. • Grand Drape: The main curtain that conceals the stage from the audience. Usually red. • Apron: The area of the stage on the audience side of the grand drape.

8. Now you see it, Now you don’t… • Fly Rail: The ropes, pulleys, and arbors off stage right that control the height of the drapes, electrics, battens, and hanging scenery. • Battens: Pipes hung above the width of the stage that can be used for hanging scenery. • Electric: A batten affixed with electrical outlets used for hanging and powering lighting instruments. • Backdrop: A large piece of painted fabric hung behind the actors. Usually painted to resemble a realistic location.

9. Checkpoint:Define these terms • Proscenium • Teaser • Tormentor • Cyclorama • Grand drape • Apron • Fly Rail • Battens • Electric • Backdrop

10. Theatre Structure Quiz:Scavenger Hunt • Select a partner (ONE partner) • Take out a SINGLE piece of paper for your team. • Number it from 1-21 • Find the numbers in the space, and write the corresponding term next to the number. • The first 3 teams to turn their quiz in to me (all terms correct) get a prize!

11. Section 2:Acting Vocabulary “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue…”

12. Who Are you? • Actor/Actress: A male or female person who performs a role in a play, television, or movie. • Director: The person who oversees the entire process of staging a production. • Ensemble: A group of theatrical artists working together to create a theatrical production. • Stage crew: The backstage technical crew responsible for running the show. In small theatre companies the same persons build the set and handle the load-in. Then, during performances, they change the scenery and handle the curtain. • Stage manager: The director’s liaison backstage during rehearsal and performance. The stage manager is responsible for the running of each performance.

13. Moving about… • Blocking: The planning and working out of the movements of actors on stage. • Cross: A movement from one part of the stage to another • Position: The direction an actor is facing relative to the audience, but from the actor’s perspective. • Gesture: An expressive movement of the body or limbs. • Tableau: A silent and motionless depiction of a scene created by actors, often from a picture (plural tableaux).

14. Checkpoint:Define these terms • Actor/Actress • Director • Ensemble • Stage Crew • Stage Manager • Blocking • Cross • Position • Gesture • Tableau

15. Oral exam… • Volume: The degree of loudness or intensity of a voice. • Vocal quality: The characteristics of a voice, such as shrill, nasal, raspy, breathy, booming, and so forth. • Projection: The placement and delivery of volume, clarity, and distinctness of voice for communicating to an audience. • Pitch: The highness or lowness of voice • Articulation: The clear and precise pronunciation of words.

16. Feelings, nothing more than feelings… • Sense memory: Memories of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures. It is used to help define a character in a certain situation. • Subtext: Information that is implied by a character but not stated by a character in dialogue, including actions and thoughts • Objective: A character’s goal or intention • Motivation: A character’s reason for doing or saying things in a play. • Characterization: The development and portrayal of a personality through thought, action, dialogue, costuming, and makeup.

17. Checkpoint:Define these terms • Volume • Projection • Vocal Quality • Pitch • Articulation • Sense memory • Subtext • Objective • Motivation • Characterization

18. Section 3:The page From Billy Wiggle-sticks, to Eric Bogosian, it all starts with a script.

19. Set the action to the word… • Text: Printed words, including dialogue and the stage directions for a script. • Dialogue: The conversation between actors on stage. • Monologue: A long speech by a single character. • Play: The stage representation of an action or a story; a dramatic composition. • Stage Direction: The actions of a play printed in the script by the publisher.

20. A Comedy of Errors… • Genre: Themain types of literary form, principally tragedy and comedy, but also forms that are more specific such as the revenge tragedy, or comedy of manners. • Style: The distinctive and unique manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects. Usually associated with a historical era or period of time it was most popular. • Dramatic structure: The particular literary structure and style in which plays are written • Tragedy: In the classical sense, a play that demonstrates a character’s fall from grace, power, position, or moral standing through their own actions. • Comedy : A theatrical work that is intentionally humorous.

21. Checkpoint:Define these terms • Text • Dialogue • Monologue • Play • Stage Direction • Genre • Style • Dramatic Structure • Tragedy • Comedy

22. The Plot thickens… • Plot: The ordered structure of a play as the action progresses through the story. • Rising action: The part of a plot consisting of complications and discoveries that create conflict. • Protagonist: The character through whose eyes we see the action of a play. • Antagonist: A person or a situation that opposes the protagonist’s goals or desires. • Conflict : Opposition of persons or forces giving rise to dramatic action.

23. …and thickens… • Crisis: A decisive point in the plot of a play on which the outcome of the remaining action depends. • Climax: The point of greatest dramatic tension in a theatrical work. • Denouement: The final resolution of the conflict in a plot – the “tying up of loose ends”. • Exposition: Detailed information revealing the facts of a plot. • Given Circumstances: the information laid out in the exposition – where, when, socioeconomic conditions, political climate, etc.

24. Checkpoint:Define these terms • Plot • Rising Action • Protagonist • Antagonist • Conflict • Exposition • Crisis • Rising action • Climax • Denouement

25. Section 4:The Process Once more… WITH FEELING!

26. 2 Minutes to shine • Cold reading: A reading of a script done by actors who have not previously reviewed the play. • Dress rehearsals:The final few rehearsals just prior to opening night in which the show is run with full technical elements. Full costumes and makeup are worn. • Tech rehearsals: Rehearsals where technical elements such as sound and lighting are added to the show. • Pacing: The tempo of an entire theatrical performance. • Informal theatre: A theatrical performance that focuses on small presentations, such as one taking place in a classroom setting. Usually, it is not intended for public view. • Formal theatre: Theatre that focuses on public performance in the front of an audience and in which the final production is most important.

27. I’ll take Theatre Styles for 800, Alex. • Improvisation: A spontaneous style of theatre through which scenes are created without advance rehearsal or a script. • Melodrama: A dramatic form popular in the 1800s and characterized by an emphasis on plot and physical action (versus characterization), cliff-hanging events, heart- tugging emotional appeals, the celebration of virtue, and a strongly moralistic tone. • Mime: An incident art form based on pantomime in which conventionalized gestures are used to express ideas rather than represent actions. • Musical theatre: A type of entertainment containing music, songs, and, usually, dance.

28. Checkpoint:Define these terms • Cold Reading • Dress Rehearsal • Tech Rehearsal • Pacing • Informal Theatre • Formal Theatre • Improvisation • Melodrama • Mime • Musical Theatre

29. Theatre styles for 1000. • Pantomime: Acting without words through facial expression, gesture, and movement. • Puppetry: Almost anything brought to life by human hands to create a performance. Types of puppets include rod, hand, and marionette. • Theatrical conventions: The established techniques, practices, and devices unique to theatrical productions.

30. Where does he get those wonderful toys… • Wagon: Any piece of scenery on a wheeled platform designed to be moved on and off stage. • Props (properties): Items carried on stage by an actor; small items on the set used by the actors. • Set Piece: Anything not carried by an actor. • Masks: Coverings worn over the face or part of the face of an actor to emphasize or neutralize facial characteristics. • Make-up: Cosmetics and sometimes hairstyles that an actor wears on stage to emphasize facial features, historical periods, characterizations, and so forth. • Costume: Clothing worn by an actor on stage during a performance.

31. Checkpoint:Define these terms • Pantomime • Puppetry • Theatrical Conventions • Wagon • Properties • Set piece(s) • Masks • Makeup • Costume