Exhaustive Glossary of Theatre Terms, Positions, and Genres
Foundations and General Theatre Concepts
10 of 12: A tech rehearsal in which the company works hours of a straight hour period, usually including a hour dinner break in the middle.
Actors Equity Association (Equity/AEA): The union representing actors and stage managers in live theatre within the United States. Contracts through AEA regulate salaries, working conditions, and employment terms.
Ad lib: An unscripted or improvised line delivered by an actor.
Alienation Effect: Also known as the distancing effect or Verfremdungseffekt. Developed by Bertolt Brecht for Epic Dramas, this technique keeps audiences emotionally uninvolved to ensure they recognize and accept political or philosophical messages. It shatters the illusion of reality, reminding the audience they are watching a play, thereby interrupting the action and lowering tension.
Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama: Outlined in his Poetics (specifically for Tragedy), these essential elements are: Character, Diction, Music, Plot, Spectacle, and Thought. These are often used by critics to describe all types of plays.
Aside: Dialogue spoken directly to the audience or away from a scene partner, representing an internal thought. This is common in Shakespeare and Restoration comedies.
Aisles: Walkable pathways within the audience area, usually equipped with specific lighting for emergencies.
Antagonist: The character providing the obstacle to the protagonist’s objective. While they traditionally set the conflict in motion, they are now commonly viewed as the opponent or villain.
Auditorium (The House): The area of the theatre where the audience is seated.
Backstage: Areas of the theatre not open to the public, such as the wings, crossover, dressing rooms, and the green room.
Blackout: A complete absence of stage light used between scenes.
Catharsis: The emotional release experienced by an audience member after witnessing a tragedy.
Intermission: A brief break between the acts of a performance.
Unities: Three classical Greek principles for dramatic structure: - Unity of Time: The play occurs within a period not exceeding hours. - Unity of Place: One unchanged scene throughout the play. - Unity of Action: One central plot with no subplots.
Subtext: The character’s real meaning expressed through how lines are spoken, which may differ from the literal written text.
Deus ex machina: Translated from Greek as "the god from the machine." Originally a crane used to lower an actor playing a god into the action to resolve plot complications. Today, it refers to a script with a "trick" ending used to extricate characters from impossible situations.
Rehearsal and Acting Processes
Blocking: Notes specifying the sections (‘blocks’) of the stage actors occupy. It refers to the movement of the performance (walking, sitting, entering, exiting). Directors block scenes early in rehearsals, with detail ranging from general to highly specific.
Call Time: The time a company member must be on-site for a rehearsal, performance, or work call.
Cold Reading: Acting performed with a script in hand, often unmemorized or partially memorized. Used in auditions or script development.
Double casting: A strategy where multiple actors play the same role during different performances (common for child actors).
Doubling: A strategy where one actor plays more than one role in the same production.
Double-time Rehearsal: A run-through at twice the normal tempo to remove unnecessary pauses and tighten pacing.
Dress Rehearsal: A full run-through with all technical elements, often conducted as if an audience were present.
Improvisation: An impromptu portrayal of a scene or character without preparation. Many ensembles follow guidelines like Len Mozzi’s "Ten Commandments for Improvisation."
Inner Monologue: An acting term for a character's thoughts and feelings at every moment they are on stage.
Method acting: An introspective approach developed in America in the s by the Actors Studio of New York City; it remains controversial, with some seeing it as a reaction to artificial styles and others as making actors too self-involved.
Off Book: Rehearsing without the script in hand, having memorized the lines.
On Book: The person following the script to prompt actors who call "line."
Over the Top: A rehearsal where actors play choices at to clarify story moments and raise stakes.
Paper Tech: A meeting between directors, stage managers, and designers to work through the script page-by-page to write initial cues into the Prompt Script.
Read Through: Usually the first rehearsal where the cast reads the script aloud with the director.
Slate/Slating: In auditions, the actor states their name and the character/scene they are performing.
Speed Through: A rehearsal where actors recite lines quickly without blocking to help with memorization in context.
Stage Whisper: Adding "grey sound" (air) over a voiced line so it sounds like a whisper but is audible to the audience.
Tech Rehearsal: Focuses on incorporating technical cues (lights, sound, projections) with performance elements.
Cue to Cue (Q2Q): A tech rehearsal where sections of the play without technical cues are skipped to maximize time on integration.
Understudy: An actor prepared to perform if the original actor is unable to do so; they must be ready with as little as minutes' notice and often cover multiple roles.
Technical Production and Staging
Apron: The part of the stage projecting in front of the proscenium or curtain. It can sometimes be extended over the orchestra pit.
Board: A control console for lighting or sound.
Boom (Trees): Upright lighting pipes in non-permanent bases, often used for side lighting in dance.
Booth: Area for the Stage Manager and board operators, typically at the back of the house.
Border (Teaser): Fabric hung across the stage to hide fly rails.
Box Set: An interior setting with walls (and sometimes a ceiling) where the proscenium opening acts as the "fourth wall."
C-clamp: C-shaped metal with a screw used to fasten lighting instruments (lanterns) to a bar.
Centerline: The imaginary line marking the center from upstage to downstage.
Cheat Out: An actor positioning their body so the audience can see their face while looking natural.
Cyc (Cyclorama): A large white fabric or wall covering the back of the stage, used for color washes or projections.
Dimmer: Equipment that varies electricity to a lighting instrument to change brightness.
Drop: A fabric backing hung upstage, sometimes painted, that can be "flown" in or out.
Dry Tech: A technical rehearsal without actors, allowing designers and staff to smooth out technical aspects.
Edison Plug: The standard domestic power connector in the US.
Electrics: Battens or bars specifically wired and designated for hanging lighting instruments.
Flat: A unit of scenery used to create walls or columns.
Flood: A light producing a wide, unfocused beam; can be symmetric or asymmetric.
Fly/Flyspace: The high roof area above the stage where scenery and lights are raised ("fly out") or lowered ("fly in") via a counterweight or rope-and-pulley system operated by "flymen."
Focus: The process of angling lighting instruments, setting beam-spread, and adding gels or gobos.
Follow-spot: A profile spotlight with a handle and iris used to follow performers. Historically called a "lime," leading to the term "limelight."
Fresnel: A lighting instrument with a concentric ridged lens that produces a soft, even beam.
Gaff tape: Heat-rated cloth tape for securing cables.
Gel: Colored filter for lighting instruments, held by a Gel Frame (metal or cardboard).
Gobo (Breakup/Pattern): A metal or glass piece inserted into a fixture to project a pattern or image.
Groundplan: A bird’s eye view drafting of the stage used by designers and directors.
Groundrow: A series of lights on the floor (often lighting a cyc) or low freestanding scenery.
LX Electrics: The lighting department. The Master Electrician is the Master LX or ME.
Masking: Black curtains (legs/borders/drops) used to hide backstage or overhead areas from the audience.
Pipe: A metal bar (dead hung or part of a fly system) for hanging scenery or lights.
Plasterline: The invisible line across the Proscenium, also called the Proscenium Line.
Practical: A prop or scenic element that must actually work (e.g., a lamp that turns on).
Prompt Script (Prompt Book): The master document compiled by the Stage Manager containing all movement, changes, and technical cues.
Scrim: A fabric drop that is transparent when lit from behind but opaque when lit from the front.
Spike Mark: A reference mark on the floor for actors or furniture.
Stage Pin: A -pronged plug with pins in a single line.
Wagon: A platform on casters (wheels).
XLR: A type of connector used for sound equipment.
Personnel and Organizational Structures
Company Manager: Manages logistics for touring companies or guest artists in resident companies.
House Manager: Coordinates front-of-house activities (ushers, emergencies) and communicates with the Stage Manager.
IATSE: The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. A union for technicians and designers. Includes locals like Local 1 (NYC) and Local USA 829 (United Scenic Artists).
SAG-AFTRA: A merger of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists to protect on-camera and voiceover performers.
Run Crew: The group of technicians (Stage Managers, operators, dressers) working a performance.
Specific Roles (Section 140): - Playwright: Writes the script. - Dramaturg: Provides historical and literary context. - Scenic Paint Charge: Oversees scenic painting. - Technical Director: Manages the build and technical implementation of the set. - Production Assistant: Handles "grunt work" and support tasks. - Wardrobe Master: Oversees costumes during the run.
Stage Configurations and Architectural Spaces
Proscenium: A "picture frame" stage where an arch separates the house from the stage.
Black Box Theatre: A flexible, often -sided room where audience configurations can be moved. Also called a Studio Theatre.
Thrust: A stage extending into the audience, which sits on sides.
Arena (Theatre in the Round): The audience surrounds the stage degrees.
Alley (Tennis Court): Audience sits on two opposing sides with the acting space between them.
Environmental Theatre: Performed in site-specific locales like warehouses or classrooms.
Promenade Theatre: Features multiple stages; the audience moves from one to another during the show.
Amphitheater: A large, oval-shaped outdoor building with tiered seating (e.g., the Roman Colosseum).
Found Space: An unusual space converted into a performance area, often with unconventional configurations (e.g., Sleep No More).
Lobby (Foyer): The area where patrons wait before entering the auditorium.
Greenroom: A backstage room for the company to relax.
Pit: Sunken area in front of the stage for the orchestra.
Voms (Vomitorium): Entrances/exits for actors through the house (audience seating).
Wings: Backstage areas to the immediate left and right of the stage.
Theatrical Genres and Historical Movements
Theatre of the Absurd: Defined by Martin Esslin as expressing the "senselessness of the human condition." It uses irrational characters and dialogue (e.g., Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot).
Avant-Garde: Cutting-edge, experimental work. Examples include the La Mama Troupe, Jerzy Grotowski’s Polish Lab Theater, and Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty.
Burlesque: 17th–19th-century parodies or 20th-century reviews featuring skits and striptease.
Closet Drama: Plays written to be read rather than performed.
Devised Theatre: Actors and directors collaboratively develop the script.
Comedy of Manners: Satirizes the morals and manners of specific social segments, often using witty dialogue (Restoration era).
Commedia Dell'arte: 16th–18th-century Italian improvised comedy using stock characters (Arlecchino, Pantaloon, Pierrot) and planned bits of business called lazzi.
Cycle Plays: Medieval English religious plays performed outdoors on wagons, such as The Second Shepherds’ Play.
Theatre of Cruelty: Antonin Artaud’s theory that theatre should shock the audience into awareness of the "savagery of existence."
Epic Theater: A 1920s German movement (notably Bertolt Brecht) appealing to the intellect rather than emotions.
Farce: From the French for "to stuff," it is extreme comedy featuring fast pacing and far-fetched coincidences.
Kabuki: 17th-century Japanese theatre featuring all-male casts, elaborate silk costumes, and stylized makeup. Stagehands dressed in black are considered invisible.
Melodrama: 19th-century English drama relying on sensationalism and stock characters, with a strict view of morality (virtue rewarded, evil punished).
Naturalism: Late 19th-century realism presenting a "Slice of Life," predicated on the idea that environment determines human fate.
Noh: 14th-century Japanese drama. A highly stylized -hour performance of five play types (gods, warriors, women, ghosts, and dancing), often including a farcical Kyojen interlude.
Realism: The attempt to represent everyday life with detail in motivation, setting, and dialogue.
Restoration drama: Written between and (the reign of Charles II and the House of Stuart). Notable for comedy of manners where characters often have descriptive names to match their personality traits.