Theatre Terminology

Term used to describe nonrepresentational settings, which are more perceptible to the mind than to the senses; abstract settings suggest, rather than duplicate or simulate, appropriate surroundings.

A curtain designed and made for a specific production

Actors perform the roles of characters in a play

Space on stage in which action of a play takes place

Someone who pretends to be someone he or she isn’t

A line improvised by an actor during a performance, usually because the actor has forgotten his or her line or because there has been an accident on stage

That part of the stage in front of the proscenium

A short line in a play delivered directly to the audience

Of a play pertains to the mood, as conceived by the author and expressed through staging; design, costumes, lighting, color, props and sound effects combine to produce suggested atmosphere

The process whereby actors are seen and heard by directors or casting directors during the casting of a play or a season of plays

A screen or curtain lowered in back of a scene, usually for vista or panorama effects; the backdrop has long been used as a means of establishing the confines of a set and/or changing scenery

The portion of a theatre behind the main curtain, including dressing rooms, wing space, storage dock, etc.

Sudden extinguishing of all stage lights, leaving the theatre in blackness

The timing and placement of a character’s entrances, exits, rises, crosses, embraces and other major movements of all sorts

In which carpenters, costumers, wigmakers, electricians, makeup artists, recording and sound engineers, painters, and a host of other specially designated craftspeople translate the design into reality by constructing and finishing in detail the “hardware” of a show