THEATRE VOCABULARY

Actor/Actress:  A male or female person who performs a role in a play, work of theatre, or movie.

Antagonist:  A person or a situation that opposes another character’s goals or desires.

Articulation:  The clear and precise pronunciation of words.

Blocking:  The planning and working out of the movements of actors on stage.

Catharsis: The purification or purgation of the emotions (such as pity, fear, grief, etc.) affected in a work of tragedy.

Concentration: The ability of the actor/actress to be “in” character - that is, to be like the character s/he is portraying – in dialog, attitude, carriage, gait, etc.

Center stage: The center of the area defined as the stage.

Character:  A personality or role an actor/actress re-creates.

Characterization: The development and portrayal of a personality through thought, action, dialogue, costuming, and makeup.

Climax:  The point of greatest dramatic tension or transition in a theatrical work.

Cold reading:  A reading of a script done by actors who have not previously reviewed the play.

Collaboration:  Two or more people working together in a joint intellectual effort.

Commedia dell’arte: A professional form of theatrical improvisation, developed in Italy in the 1500’s, featuring stock characters and standardized plots.

Comedy:  A theatrical work that is intentionally humorous.

Conflict:  Opposition of persons or forces giving rise to dramatic action.

Context: Interrelated conditions in which a play exists or occurs.

Costume:  Clothing worn by an actor on stage during a performance.

Creative drama:  An improvisational, process-centered form of theatre in which participants are guided by a leader to imagine, enact, and reflect on human experiences.

Crisis:  A decisive point in the plot of a play on which the outcome of the remaining action depends.

Critique: Opinions and comments based on predetermined criteria that may be used for self- evaluation or the evaluation of the actors or the production itself.

Cue:  A signal, either verbal or physical, that indicates something else, such as a line of dialogue or an entrance, is to happen.

Denouement:  The final resolution of the conflict in a plot.

Design:  The creative process of developing and executing aesthetic or functional designs in a production, such as costumes, lighting, sets, and makeup.

Dialogue:  The conversation between actors on stage.

Diction: The pronunciation of words, the choice of words, and the manner in which a person expresses himself or herself.

Directing: The art and technique of bringing the elements of theatre together to make a play.

Director:  The person who oversees the entire process of staging a production.

Downstage: The stage area toward the audience.

Dramatic play: Children’s creation of scenes when they play “pretend”.

Dramatic structure: The particular literary structure and style in which plays are written.

Dramaturg: A person who provides specific in-depth knowledge and literary resources to a director, producer, theatre company, or even the audience.

Dress rehearsals: The final few rehearsals just prior to opening night in which the show is run with full technical elements. Full costumes and makeup are worn.

Electronic media: Means of communication characterized by the use of technology (e.g., radio, television, and the Internet).

Elizabethan theatre: The theatre of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and often extended to the close of the theatres in 1640.

Emotional memory: The technique of calling upon your own memories to understand a character’s emotions.

Ensemble: A group of theatrical artists working together to create a theatrical production.

Epic theatre: Theatrical movement of the early 1920’s and 1930 characterized by the use of such artificial devices as cartoons, posters, and film sequences distancing  the audience from theatrical illusion and following focus on the play’s message.

Exposition: Detailed information revealing the facts of a plot.

Farce: A comedy with exaggerated characterizations, abundant physical or visual humor, and, often, an improbable plot.

Form: The overall structure or shape of a work that frequently follows and established design. Forms may refer to a literary type (e.g., narrative form, short-story form, dramatic form) or to pattern of meter, line, and rhymes (e.g., stanza form, verse form).

Formal theatre: Theatre that focuses on public performance in the front of an audience and in which the final production is most important.

Genre: In literary and dramatic studies, genre refers to the main types of literary form, principally tragedy and comedy. The term can also refer to forms that are more specific to a given historical era, such as the revenge tragedy, or to more specific sub-genres of tragedy and comedy, such as the comedy of manners.

Gesture: An expressive movement of the body or limbs.

Greek theatre: Theatrical events in honor of the god Dionysus in Ancient Greece and included play competitions and a chorus of masked actors.

Improvisation: A spontaneous style of theatre through which scenes are created without advance rehearsal or a script.

Informal theatre:  A theatrical performance that focuses on small presentations, such as one taking place in a classroom setting. Usually, it is not intended for public view.

Kabuki:  One of the traditional forms of Japanese theatre, originating in the 1600’s and combining stylized acting, costumes, makeup, and musical accompaniment.

Level: The height of an actor’s head actor as determined by his or her body position (e.g., sitting, lying, standing, or elevated by an artificial means).

Make-up: Cosmetics and sometimes hairstyles that an actor wears on stage to emphasize facial features, historical periods, characterizations, and so forth.

Masks: Coverings worn over the face or part of the face of an actor to emphasize or neutralize facial characteristics.

Melodrama: A dramatic form popular in the 1800s and characterized by an emphasis on plot and physical action (versus characterization), cliff-hanging events, heart tugging emotional appeals, the celebration of virtue, and a strongly  moralistic tone.

Mime: An incident art form based on pantomime in which conventionalized gestures are used to express ideas rather than represent actions; also, a performer of mime.

Monologue: A long speech by a single character.

Motivation:  A character’s reason for doing or saying things in a play.

Musical theatre:  A type of entertainment containing music, songs, and, usually, dance.

Noh:  One of the traditional forms of Japanese theatre in which masked male actors use highly stylized dance and poetry to tell stories.

Objective: A character’s goal or intention

Pacing: The tempo of an entire theatrical performance.

Pantomime:  Acting without words through facial expression, gesture, and movement.

Pitch: The highness or lowness of voice

Play: The stage representation of an action or a story; a dramatic composition.

Playwright:  A person who writes plays.

Position: The orientation of the actor to the audience (e.g., full front, right profile, left profile).

Projection: The placement and delivery of volume, clarity, and distinctness of voice for communicating to an audience.

Props (properties): Items carried on stage by an actor; small items on the set used by the actors.

Proscenium: The view of the stage for the audience; also called a proscenium arch. The archway is in a sense the frame for stage as defined by the boundaries of the stage beyond which a viewer cannot see.

Protagonist: The main character of a play and the character with whom the audience identifies most strongly.

Puppetry:  Almost anything brought to life by human hands to create a performance. Types of puppets include rod, hand, and marionette.

Rehearsal:  Practice sessions in which the actors and technicians prepare for public performance through repetition.

Rising action: The part of a plot consisting of complications and discoveries that create conflict.

Run-through: A rehearsal moving from start to finish without stopping for corrections or notes.

Script: The written text of a play.

Sense memory: Memories of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures. It is used to help define a character in a certain situation.

Stage: The area where actors perform.

Stage crew: The backstage technical crew responsible for running the show. In small theatre companies the same persons build the set and handle the load-in. Then, during performances, they change the scenery and handle the curtain.

Stage manager:  The director’s liaison backstage during rehearsal and performance. The stage manager is responsible for the running of each performance.

Stage left:  The left side of the stage from the perspective of an actor facing the audience.

Stage right: The right side of the stage from the perspective of an actor facing the audience.

Stock characters: Established characters, such as young lovers, neighborhood busybodies, sneaky villains, and overprotective fathers, who are immediately recognizable by an audience.

Style: The distinctive and unique manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects. Style essentially combines the idea to be expressed with the individuality of the author. These arrangements include individual word choices as well as such matters as the length and structure of sentences, tone, and use of irony.

Subtext:  Information that is implied by a character but not stated by a character in dialogue, including actions and thoughts.

Tableau : A silent and motionless depiction of a scene created by actors, often from a picture (plural tableaux).

Text: Printed words, including dialogue and the stage directions for a script.

Theatre: To imitate or represent life in performance for other people; the performance of dramatic literature; drama, the milieu of actors, technicians, and playwrights; the place where dramatic performances take place.

Theatre of the absurd:  Theatrical movement beginning in the 1950s in which playwrights created works representing the universe as unknowable and humankind’s existence as meaningless.

Theatrical conventions: The established techniques, practices, and devices unique to theatrical productions.

Theatrical experiences: Events, activities, and productions associated with theatre, film/video, and electronic media.

Theatre games: Noncompetitive games designed to develop acting skills and popularized by Viola Spolin.

Tragedy: Used as a noun, the stage area away from the audience; used as a verb, to steal the focus of a scene.

Vocal quality: The characteristics of a voice, such as shrill, nasal, raspy, breathy, booming, and so forth.

Volume: The degree of loudness or intensity of a voice.