TA 2024: Acting Vocabulary

Acting

living truthfully under imaginary circumstances (also: pursuing an object in the face of an obstacle

Blocking

the arrangement of actors and their movements onstage

Proscenium Stage

a traditional theatre that has an arch or frame, separating the audience from the performance space

Thrust Stage

a stage that thrusts into the audience; the audience sits on three sides of the stage

Arena Stage

a stage where the audience sits on all sides, surrounding the performance space

Stage right

the actor’s right as they face the audience

Stage left

the actor’s left as they face the audience

Upstage

the area of the stage away from the audience

Downstage

the area of the stage closest to the audience

Centerstage

middle of the stage

Objective (AKA goal or intention)

what your character “is fighting for,” in most cases, from the other person(s) in the scene

Obstacle

something that stands in the way of your character obtaining what you want

Tactic (AKA action or doing)

the steps taken by your character to achieve your objective

Text

in a script, the words written by the author and spoken by the characters

Given Circumstances

the life factors of the play/character that influence how you behave in the play/scene

Fourth Wall

an imaginary wall between the actors and the audience

Indicating

performing a tactic without an objective/intention/motivation

Cheating out

angling your body partly toward the audience while still presuming to face the character you are in conversation with

Soliloquy

a speech given directly to the audience; sometimes given by breaking the fourth wall / sometimes played as a character thinking out loud

Monologue

a long speech given by one actor to another actor onstage

Sense-memory

stimulation of the five senses either through personal recollection, relaxation, focus, observation or a combination of all

Cue

the signal to the actor to begin a specific speech or action

House

the area where the audience sits