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Theatre Terms

Terms

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Audition
a test of the suitability of a performer for a role in a production or company; also called tryouts
Cast
all the actors performing in a given play
Gesture
any movement of shoulder, arm, hand, leg, foot, or head by an actor to convey meaning
Relation to characters
an establishment of relationships in a play so that actors who play characters connected by blood, marriage, friendship, or conflict will act as though they have been involved in actual relationships and will not give the impression they just met in rehearsal
Decorum
a manner appropriate to time, place, and character; this includes the way of walking, sitting, talking, gesturing, and dressing
Beat
a pause or a break during a scene; a character's use of one tactic in the context of a play/scene/act
Actor
a male or female theatrical performer
Understudy
an actor who has a role in a production and who learns and rehearses an additional role, so that he or she might perform it in the absence of the actor who was originally cast
Role
a part in a play
Obstacle
a character or situation in a play that creates conflict, delaying or preventing another character from achieving an objective
Ensemble playing
the type of acting in which a cast works as a team to create a total effect rater than a group of individual performances
Dramatis Personae
the roles in a play
Legitimate Theatre
a term usually meaning the stage in general, as opposed to film. In prior days, it referred to pure drama without music or dance; the origin of the term is pre-1900 English, when theatres had to be licensed
Mugging
using exaggerated facial expressions for comic effect
Take it down
an instruction from the director to an actor to reduce the energy, volume, or intensity in his or her line reading
Voice projection
control of loudness so that even those in the rear of the audience can hear and understand the dialogue of the play
Ham
an unskilled actor who overacts
Direct address
speaking directly to the audience
Blocking
determining the basic movements of the actors during a play, as set by the director and/or actors
Standby
an actor who learns and rehearses a role, so that he or she might perform it in the absence of the actor who was originally cast; this actor does not otherwise appear in the play
Small work
subtle facial expressions and gestures used to illuminate character
Brighten
a direction to an actor to read a line with more liveliness
Connection
the interdependence of actor to actor in a performance; when this is achieved, there is attention, response, and intuition about what the other actor is thinking and feeling
Mime
a performance using gestures and body movements without words
Company
a group of performers joined together for the purpose of a production
Intention
the objective an actor has in a scene; to achieve this objective, the character must overcome an obstacle provided by the antagonist or by circumstances
"Break a leg"
a traditional greeting to an actor, given just before a performance; Born of the superstition that if one wishes "good luck," the perverse gods will send the opposite, but if one wishes misfortune, the gods will be tricked into sending an actor good luck
Gimmick
a device, bit of stage business, catch phrase, or vocal quirk used to attract and hold the audience's attention
Gypsy
a member of the chorus, so called because of his or her nomadic existence, moving from show to show or from place to place on the road with the show
Concentration
the actor's focus on the moment of the play in which he or she is acting
Strike
to remove a prop or piece of scenery from the stage; to deconstruct the set and equipment at the conclusion of a production
To do a take
to look at something and react with facial expression or body language; often for humorous effect
Bit part
a small role
Call board
a bulletin board placed backstage upon which schedules, sign-in sheets, announcements, and even reviews are posted for the cast and crew
Repertoire
all the parts an actor has played, or all the plays he or she is familiar with
Take direction
an actor's ability to understand and respond accurately to suggestions about characterization given by the director
Muff
to scramble or alter the words in a line
Character actor
an actor who specializes in playing supporting roles
George Spelvin
a false name used in the play program to conceal from the audience that an actor is playing two roles
Shtick
a piece of stage business, usually designed for a quick and easy laugh
Call back
the second phase in an audition process in which actors are asked to return for further readings and/or interviews
Character
a role in a play
Ad-lib
to improvise something--dialogue, stage business--not given specifically in the script; this is often done in response to an emergency, such as a forgotten line, a forgotten entrance, a missing prop, or malfunctioning scenery; sometimes the script calls for these unspecified lines (ex. "The crowd utters varied greeting to the newcomer."), and appropriate lines are decided on in rehearsal and kept throughout the run of the play
Hit your mark
a direction for an actor to go to a certain place onstage and deliver a line
Fourth wall
the invisible wall of a set through which the audience sees the action of a play
Headshot
a photograph of a actor's face
Bombast
speech that is too emotional or inflated for the occasion
Improvisation
a spontaneous scene or episode created by an actor or actors without a script
Double take
to look and seem not to see anything out of the ordinary and ten look again with enhanced recognition and surprise, usually used for comic effect
Interpretation
the discovery and determination of literary meaning or character intention
Jump lines
when an actor speaks one or more lines ahead, causing confusion for other cast members and at times, omitting crucial information for the audience or an entrance cue
Choices
the decisions of the actor or director as to the way a character in a play ill be interpreted in a given production
Cold reading
a reading of the script done by actors who haven't previously rehearsed the play
Imitation
the art of presenting behavior observed in others
Double casting
the practice of casting two actors or sets of actors who ten alternate in performances of a role
Motivation
the reason a character does or says something
In the moment
living the actions and words of a scene and not anticipating what comes next
Mark
the spot, literally on the floor or established during rehearsal, from which actors deliver their lines
Speeches
the lines said by an actor each time he or she speaks
Principals
the largest roles in a play; the leading characters
Slapstick
comedy involving exaggerated physical violence, clumsiness, or activities
Pants part
a male role played by a female
Relation to objects
an establishment of relationships in a play so that actors using certain objects, interacting with furniture, or wearing certain clothes will understand and recreate the character's relationships with said objects
Lead
the principal characters in a play
Prior life
the presumed life of a character before his or her appearance in a scene or play
Fluffed line
a mishandled line of dialogue--that is, a line not said at all, one that has been muffed ("you gold oat" for "you old goat"), or one that is delivered at the wrong time
Swing
a standby for an ensemble role
Objective
the goal a character has in a particular scene or throughout a play
Portfolio
a folder containing headshots, a resume, reviews and other evidence of a performer's work, assembled for presentation at interviews with prospective employers
Make it larger
a direction given to an actor to make the delivery of a line less subtle and more energetic
Doubling
the playing of one or more character in a play by the same actor
Create a role
to be the first actor to play a role in a new play
Off Book
when an actor has the lines of his or her part completely memorized
Upstaging
using any sort of stage business, gesture, facial expression, or vocalization to steal the focus of the audience from another actor on stage
Timing
the pacing, tempo, or rhythm of lines, actions, gestures, stage business, lighting cues, sound cues, etc.
Cue
the line or action immediately preceding an entrance
Stage Business
incidental activity of a character within a scene--as opposed to the blocking
Line reading
the manner in which an actor delivers a line: the inflection, tone, volume, pace and rhythm
Superobjective
the character's long-range objective during the course of a play (Stanislavsky)
Cheat
to turn the body out, partially toward the audience, while appearing to talk directly to another character on stage, thus allowing the audience to see the facial expressions of the performers
Lines
the written words in a script that are intended to be spoken aloud by the characters
Typecasting
the casting of roles in a play by choosing actors who most closely resemble the physical and personality descriptions of the characters
Histrionics
an exaggeratedly dramatic performance filled with excessive emotion and affectation
Freeze
to remain motionless onstage for a predetermined number of beats, especially for a laugh after a funny line, or in tableau fashion as the curtain descends or lights fade
Casting
the choice of actors to play particular roles in a play or movie

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