Eng 195 Drama Vocab Section

Front 1

Bystanders in a Greek play who present odes on the action.
A parode (or parados) is a song sung by the chorus when it
enters.

Back 1

Chorus

Front 2

Play that ends with a “marriage,”

Back 2

Comedy

Front 3

Comedy that ridicules the manners (way of life, social
customs, etc.) of the privileged and fashionable segment of
society. An

Back 3

Comedy of Manners

Front 4

In the drama of ancient Greece, a choral hymn that praised
Dionysus, god of wine and revelry, and sometimes told a
story.

Back 4

Dithyramb

Front 5

Literary work with dialogue written in verse and/or prose
and spoken by actors playing characters experiencing
conflict and tension.

Back 5

Drama

Front 6

List of the characters in a play. Such a list is found at
the beginning of each Shakespeare play, as well as the
plays of other dramatists.

Back 6

Dramatis Personae

Front 7

Part of play performed in gestures, without speech;
pantomime.

Back 7

Dumb Show

Front 8

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating the
entrance onto the stage of a character or characters.

Back 8

Enter

Front 9

In Shakespeare, a short address spoken by an actor at the
end of a play that comments on the meaning of the events in
the play or looks ahead to expected events;

Back 9

Epilogue

Front 10

The part of a stage play that develops the characters,
plot, and theme.The ---- follows the protasis.

Back 10

Epitasis

Front 11

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating that a
military attack is taking place. The opening of Scene II in
Act III of Shakespeare's King John contains such a stage
direction.

Back 11

Excursion

Front 12

Stage direction in a play manuscript
indicating the departure of two or more characters from the
stage.

Back 12

Exeunt..

Front 13

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating the
departure of all the characters from the stage.

Back 13

Exeunt Omnes

Front 14

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating the
departure of a character from the stage.

Back 14

Exit

Front 15

In a drama of ancient Greece, the exit scene; the final
part of the play

Back 15

Exodos

Front 16

In Shakespeare's time, a play manuscript after it has been
edited.

Back 16

Fair Copy

Front 17

Stage direction in a play manuscript for music introducing
the entrance or exit of a king or another important person.
The music may consist of a short trumpet passage.

Back 17

Flourish

Front 18

In Shakespeare's time, the original manuscript of a
playwright which was later edited.

Back 18

Foul Papers

Front 19

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating that
entering characters are playing hautboys, which are
Elizabethan oboes.

Back 19

Hautboys

Front 20

In a Shakespeare play, an introductory event that precedes
Act 1.

Back 20

Induction

Front 21

In Shakespeare's time, a government censor who examined all
plays for offensive material.

Back 21

Master of Revels

Front 22

In a stage play, the stage set (including the walls,
furniture, etc.) and the arrangement of the actors; the
process of arranging the set and the actors.

Back 22

Mise en Scène

Front 23

Allegorical drama of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
that teaches a lesson about how Christians should live and
what they must do to save their souls.

Back 23

Morality Play

Front 24

Introduction to a play or another literary work. In
Shakespeare's Henry V, a chorus (one person) speaks a
prologue that encourages the audience members to use their
imaginations to create what an Elizabethan stage cannot

Back 24

Prologue

Front 25

In the drama of ancient Greece, a prologue that begins the
play with dialogue indicating the focus or theme of the
play.

Back 25

Prologos

Front 26

In Shakespeare's time, the edited version of a play in
which an acting company inserted stage directions.

Back 26

Promptbook or Prompt Copy

Front 27

(1) The stage of a theater; (2) the part of the stage
extending out toward the audience;

Back 27

Proscenium

Front 28

Main character in an ancient Greek play who usually
interacts with the chorus. In a tragedy, the --- is
traditionally a person of exalted status–such as a king

Back 28

Protagonist (Greek Play)

Front 29

Opening part of a stage drama that introduces the
characters and focus of the play.

Back 29

Protasis

Front 30

A quarto is sheet of printing paper folded twice to form
eight separate pages for printing a book.

Back 30

Quarto

Front 31

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating the reentrance
onto the stage of a character or characters.

Back 31

Re-Enter

Front 32

Play In the drama of ancient Greece, a play that pokes fun
at a serious subject involving gods and myths; a parody of
stories about gods or myths.

Back 32

Satyr

Front 33

(1) Part of an act of a play; (2) a settingin a literary
work, opera, or film; (3) a theater stage in ancient Greece
or Rome; (4) part of a literary work, opera, or film that
centers on one aspect of plot development.

Back 33

Scene

Front 34

Stage direction in a play manuscript to signal a trumpet
flourish that introduces the entrance of a character, such
as the entrance of King Lear (Act 1) in Shakespeare's play.

Back 34

Sennet

Front 35

Recitation in a play in which a character reveals his
thoughts to the audience but not to other characters in the
play.

Back 35

Soliloquy

Front 36

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating a character
is alone on the stage.

Back 36

Solus

Front 37

In a Greek play, a scene in which the chorus sings a song,
uninterrupted by dialogue.

Back 37

Stasimon

Front 38

In Shakespeare's time, a book in which the English
government required printers to register the title of a
play before the play was published.

Back 38

Stationers' Register

Front 39

In a stage play brief, alternating lines of dialogue spoken
in rapid-fire succession.

Back 39

Stichomythia

Front 40

In the drama of ancient Greece, four plays (three tragedies
and one satyr play) staged by a playwright during a drama
competition. (See Dionysus.)

Back 40

Tetralogy

Front 41

Open-air structure in which plays were performed. The stage
faced the afternoon sunlight to illuminate a performance
while allowing the audience to view the action without
squinting.

Back 41

Theater, Greek

Front 42

Stage direction in a Shakespeare play indicating that
entering characters are carrying lit torches.

Back 42

Torches

Front 43

Play that has tragic events but ends happily.

Back 43

Tragicomedy

Front 44

(1) Play, novel, poem, skit, film, opera, etc., that
trivializes a serious subject or composition.

Back 44

Travesty

Front 45

Three key elements of dramatic structure: time, place, and
action.

Back 45

Unities

Front 46

Collection of lines (as in a Shakespeare play) that follow
a regular, rhythmic pattern. For a full discussion of
prose, poetry, and verse, click here.

Back 46

Verse

Front 47

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating that a
person speaking or being spoken to is behind a door or
inside a room

Back 47

Within

Front 48

Play that depicts life as meaningless, senseless,
uncertain.

Back 48

Absurdist Drama

Front 49

Term coined in 1965 by critic Martin Eslin to describe the
plays of Samuel Beckett and other writers who believed that
life is meaningless.

Back 49

Absurd, Theater of the

Front 50

One of the main divisions of a play.

Back 50

Act

Front 51

Stage direction in a Shakespeare play (or a play by another
author in Shakespeare's time) indicating the coming of a
battle; a call to arms.

Back 51

Alarum

Front 52

Tapestry hung on the stage to conceal scenery until the
right moment.

Back 52

Arras

Front 53

Words an actor speaks to the audience which other actors on
the stage cannot hear.

Back 53

Aside

Front 54

Climax of a stage play.

Back 54

Catastasis

Front 55

In published Shakespeare plays in earlier times, a single
word on the bottom of the right side of every page. This
word was the first word appearing on the next page.

Back 55

Catchword