Theatre Arts I (T)

Glossary of Stage Terms

  1. Above: Upstage
  2. Ad-lib: extemporize dialogue or movement
  3. Antagonist: main character who opposes the protagonist
  4. Apron: the stage floor between the footlights and the front curtain
  5. Arena Theatre: staging in the center of a room with audience sitting around the playing area.
  6. Aside: words spoken by a character to the audience rather than to the other characters who supposedly do not hear the speech.
  7. Baby spot: small (250-400 watt) plano-convex spotlight
  8. Backdrop or Drop: painted curtain without fullness, hung from battens
  9. Backing: flats used behind window and door openings to mask audience view of backstage.
  10. Backstage: the area behind scenery not visible to the audience.
  11. Base: foundation color used for stage makeup.
  12. Batten: horizontal pipe suspended over the stage, from which scenery, lights and curtains are hung.
  13. Below: downstage
  14. Blackout: all stage lights go off simultaneously
  15. Blocking: directors planned movement for the characters
  16. Borders: short curtains hung over the stage to mask lights
  17. Border lights: strips of stage lights used for blending and toning.
  18. Build: increase of vocal intensity toward a climactic point
  19. Business: detailed bits of action such as knitting, setting the table, etc. as distinguished from broad stage movement.
  20. Cable: electrical cord; as special heavy cable; gauge #12 or #14 should be used for stage lighting.
  21. Call: posted announcement of rehearsals, etc., placed on the call board near the stage entrance.
  22. Cheat: to play toward the audience while seemingly conversing with others on stage
  23. Clear Stage: warning for everyone who is not in the next scene to leave the acting area
  24. Climax: high point of the action
  25. Conflict: dramatic opposition of the protagonist with society, with his fellowman, or with himself.
  26. Control Board: switchboard for stagelights.
  27. Countercross: a small movement in the opposite direction to the cross made by another actor
  28. Cover: to hide an actor, property, or some business from the audience view whether intentionally or not.
  29. Crepe Hair: material used for making beards, mustaches, other hair pieces.
  30. Critique: evaluation and suggestions
  31. Cross: an actor’s move from one part of the stage to another
  32. Cue: (1) last words or action of one actor that immediately precede another actor’s speech; (2) signal for light changes, curtains, etc.
  33. Cut: (1) Delete; (2) A command to stop action and dialogue
  34. Cyc or Cyclorama: Sky drop that surrounds the back of the stage
  35. Dimmers: unit to control intensity of lights
  36. Dim out: gradually decrease light
  37. Dim up: gradually increase light
  38. Dock: (1)Area for scenery storage; often under the stage; (2) area of the scene shop just outside the loading door.
  39. Downstage: area closest to the audience
  40. Drapes: Large curtains hung in folds from battens on sides and back of the acting area. They provide a neutral background.
  41. Dress the stage: keep the stage picture balanced
  42. Exit: direction for an actor to leave the stage. Opposite “enter”
  43. Flat: Canvas covered wooden frame used for scenery
  44. Flexible theatre: seats can be arranged for proscenium, arena, or thrust staging.
  45. Flies: area above the stage where scenery is hung or stored by lines from the grid (aka - fly loft).
  46. Floodlights: lights without lens; used for blending and toning.
  47. Floor cloth: canvas used to cover the acting area floor.
  48. Floor or Ground plan: flat skeleton diagram of the acting area shape and its corresponding furniture placement.
  49. Focus: (1) Center attention on; (2) center light beam on
  50. Footlights: row of colored lights usually sunk in the stage floor at front edge of apron and wired for three colors.
  51. Fourth wall: imaginary wall between stage and audience
  52. Fresnel: spotlight with fresnel lens that throws an efficient and soft beam: hung from the batten to light upstage area.
  53. Gelatin: Colored plastic medium used to color lights.
  54. Gesture: movement of separate parts of the body such as waving an arm or shrugging a shoulder.
  55. Greasepaint: theatrical makeup (older type not used much today).
  56. Greenroom: actor’s lounge backstage.
  57. Give: throw focus on the important character in a certain scene
  58. Greenroom: actor’s lounge backstage.
  59. Gridiron or Grid: framework high over stage from which are supported curtain and scenery riggings.
  60. Grip: stage crew member who shifts scenery.
  61. Ground plan: See “floor plan.”
  62. Ground row: low horizontal scenery that stands alone and is placed upstage to look like scenery in the distance.
  63. Hand props: properties carried on stage by the actors during the play
  64. Holding for laughs: waiting for audience laughter to diminish before continuing dialogue.
  65. Hood spot: plano convex spotlight
  66. Horizon strip: border lights usually mounted on a wagon and placed of the floor downstage of the sky drop for the purpose of lighting it.
  67. House: Auditorium
  68. House lights: auditorium lights used before and after the play and during intermission.
  69. Ingenue: young female actor
  70. Juvenile: young male actor
  71. Kill: eliminate: for example, “kill the noise;” means to be quiet.
  72. Left: stage area to the actor’s left as he/she faces the audience.
  73. Leko: spotlight with an ellipsoidal reflector; hung from the auditorium ceiling (catwalks) to light the downstage areas.
  74. Levels: Platforms (or playing areas) of various heights
  75. Mask: to cover something from audience view
  76. Mood: emotional state
  77. Motivate: to have a specific reason for saying or doing something; to show character’s desires through movement and voice
  78. Notices: reviews by critics; dramatic criticism.
  79. Open up: to play toward the audience
  80. Out front: audience area
  81. Pantomime: bodily movement and expression without dialogue
  82. Pick up cues: to quickly begin a speech with out allowing a pause between the first words of the speech and the cue.
  83. Pin rail: bar to which rigging ropes are tied.
  84. Pit or Orchestra pit: area between stage and first row of seats
  85. Places: warning for actors to assume their positions on the stage for the beginning of the scene
  86. Plant: to call attention to an idea or item that will be important later in the play
  87. Plot: (1) sequence of events in a play; (2) production plan of backstage items such as a light plot or costume plot
  88. Pointing: emphasizing or stressing action or words
  89. Practical: usable, such as a door that an actor can open.
  90. Project: increase voice or actions so they will carry to the audience
  91. Prompt book: contains the script, blocking notations, warnings, crew charts, and other information necessary for producing the play.
  92. Properties: set furnishings including furniture, pictures, ornaments, drapes, etc.
  93. Proscenium: permanent framed opening through which the audience sees the play
  94. Protagonist: main character with whom audience empathy lies.
  95. Quick Study: one who can memorize a part rapidly
  96. Raked House: slanted floor. Allowing each row of audience to see over the heads of those in front.
  97. Ramp: sloping platform
  98. Right: stage area to the actor’s right as he/she faces the audience
  99. Ring Down: command to lower curtain.
  100. Roundels: colored glass discs used in footlights and border lights
  101. Royalty: money paid to an author for permission to stage his/her play
  102. Run: length of stage engagement
  103. Run through: rehearse a scene without interruption
  104. Scoop: a flood light with an ellipsoidal reflector; can be hung from battens.
  105. Scrim: loose weave curtain on battens used for “visions,” “flashbacks,” etc. opaque when lighted from the front; transparent when lighted from the back.
  106. Script: printed or typewritten copy of the play
  107. Set: (1) scenery; (2) establish definite movements and lines
  108. Set pieces: three dimensional scenery piece which stands by itself, such as a practical rock.
  109. Share: to assume a position of equal dramatic importance with an other actor.
  110. Shift: to move or change scenery.
  111. Soliloquy: long speech given by a character when he is alone on stage to show his thoughts or to explain the plot; used frequently by Shakespeare
  112. Spill: light leakage from stage lights.
  113. Spotlight: lights with beams that can be focused and that are used for specific illumination.
  114. Stealing the scene: taking audience attention away from the proper focal point
  115. Strike: take down set and props after last performance
  116. Tag Line: final line of the play
  117. Take stage: to capture audience attention legitimately, as opposed to “give” and “share.”
  118. Teaser: overhead curtain used to adjust the proscenium height
  119. Theme: basic idea of the play that gives unity to all elements
  120. The Method: refers to the Stanislavski approach to acting
  121. Throw away: under emphasize a line or action
  122. Timing: to give lines and movement at the exact, effective moment
  123. Tormentors or legs: side curtains used to adjust the acting area
  124. Topping: to exceed the tempo and pitch of a previous speech
  125. Trap: An opening in the stage floor for exits and entrances
  126. Tryouts: auditions for parts in a play
  127. Understudy: actor who is able to play a given role in an emergency
  128. Upstage: area farthest away from audience, toward the backstage wall
  129. Wagon: rolling platform on which scenery or lights are places for quick changes
  130. Walk on: A part where the actors walks on and off the stage without having any lines to say
  131. Warn: to notify that a cue is approaching
  132. Wings: off stage to the right or left of the acting area
  133. Work lights: white lights used solely for rehearsal. In some theatres the strip lights are used in place of work lights.
  134. X-ray borders: compartmental lamps that hang on the first border to help blend acting area spots; usually wired for three colors.