Theatre Vocabulary

1. Theatre Vocabulary

2. Drama Is Conflict!

3. Theatre • The art of representing, for the pleasure of others, things that have happened or we imagine happening.

4. Proscenium Typical stage designed as if the audience is looking in through a window.

5. Thrust Stage Stage designed where the audience is seated on three sides.

6. Arena Stage Type of stage where audience is seated on all four sides. Also called theatre in the round.

7. House Area of the theatre where the audience sits Wings Area of the stage to the left and right of the performing area, not visible to the audience Fly Space Open ceiling area directly above the stage where lights and scenery pieces are hung

8. Stage Left The actor’s left when facing the audience Stage Right The actor’s right when facing the audience Upstage Area of stage farthest from the audience Downstage Area of stage closest to the audience

9. USR Upstage USL Stage Right Center Stage Left Down-stage DSR DSL AUDIENCE

10. Traveler Curtain stretching across upstage wall Tormentor Curtains on stage left and right masking wings Teaser Curtains above stage masking fly space Wings Area of stage hidden from audience by curtains and/or scenery

11. Raked Stage Stage built on a slant to improve audience visibility Leg or Batten Pipes and poles located in fly space from which curtains and scenery are hung Green Room Area or room backstage where actors wait between scenes

12. Genre Type of theatre, such as drama, tragedy, or comedy Pantomime Telling a story without words Improvisation Telling a story without a script

13. Director Stage Manager The BOSS! Responsible for all running all technical elements of a show Cold Read Reading a script for an audition without prior preparation Call Back Second and final stage of the audition process

14. Stage Directions Suggestions made by the playwright regarding blocking, emotions, setting, etc. Playwright The author of the play Project To enlarge one’s movements or voice for the sake of the audience

15. Cheat To turn the body out toward the audience Off-book All lines memorized Blocking The planned movement of the actors upon the stage

16. Review

17. Work together in your pods and write a story using your vocabulary words. The story must make sense and use all the vocabulary words correctly. The pod that uses the most vocabulary words and has the most cooperative input will win a bonus of 3 points on their vocabulary test. One personfrom the pod needs to be prepared to read the story to the class.