Semester Theater Vocab-Exam

Front 1

Crew

Back 1

The people (other than the actors)who operate the production

Front 2

Techies

Back 2

Crew members working on lights, sound, sets or special effects

Front 3

Stage Manager

Back 3

Calls allstage cues. Runs show once opening night arrives

Front 4

Ensemble

Back 4

Performing together as a company rather than as individuals

Front 5

The House

Back 5

Where the audience sits

Front 6

Set

Back 6

All senery of production

Front 7

Apron

Back 7

Part of the stage that extends beyond the curtain towards the audience

Front 8

Forestage

Back 8

Part of the stage that extends beyond the curtain towards the audience

Front 9

Backdrop

Back 9

The drape or painted canvas that masks the back of the stage

Front 10

Fit up

Back 10

When set and lights are put in there places for a show

Front 11

Flat

Back 11

Piece of senery made from canvas streched over a wooden frame

Front 12

Flies

Back 12

The space abover the stage into which senery can be hoisted

Front 13

Fly In

Back 13

To bring a set piece or curtian down from fly space

Front 14

Fly out

Back 14

To bring a set piece or curtian into fly space and away from the stage

Front 15

Foot Lights

Back 15

A row of lights along the front of the stage

Front 16

Front of house

Back 16

Lobby

Front 17

grid

Back 17

the frame above the autitorium/stage on which the lights are hung

Front 18

Get in/get out

Back 18

to construct set up or dismantle and remove a set

Front 19

To mark out

Back 19

Mark a plan of the stage area on the rehearsal floor

Front 20

To mask

Back 20

Cut off the view of the audience, perhaps using flats

Front 21

Off-stage

Back 21

in the wings or backstage

Front 22

on-stage

Back 22

in view of the audience

Front 23

The rake

Back 23

the slope found on a sage which goes upward toward the back of the stage

Front 24

to strike

Back 24

to dismantle or remove the set

Front 25

Gobo

Back 25

Plate put in front of a stage light to create an effect with the lighting

Front 26

Procenium Arch

Back 26

Frame that surrounds the front or opening of a traditial stage

Front 27

Proscenium

Back 27

standard stage with audience in front with wings on sides

Front 28

Theater in the Round

Back 28

The audience surrounds the stage

Front 29

Thrust stage

Back 29

the audience is seated on three sides of the stage

Front 30

promenade

Back 30

The actors text

Front 31

Resonance

Back 31

vibration of sound

Front 32

Placing your Voice

Back 32

Choosing how far your voice will carry

Front 33

Projection

Back 33

Placing your voice carefully thru intention and focus

Front 34

Articulation

Back 34

Using the muscles in your face and mouth to say words clearly

Front 35

Enuciate

Back 35

Using the muscles in your face and mouth to say words clearly

Front 36

To go up

Back 36

forget a line

Front 37

prompt

Back 37

remind an actor of his lines during a performance/rehearsal

Front 38

Ad Lib

Back 38

Inpovise a speech

Front 39

Business

Back 39

Physical activities of an actor which reveal his or her character during a performance

Front 40

Cue

Back 40

Pre-arranged signal that tells the actor or stage manager to proceed with the next action

Front 41

Prolouge

Back 41

A speech, spoken to the audience before the play begins

Front 42

walk down

Back 42

Curtain call

Front 43

Peg board

Back 43

Where actor/crew cheak in wichen they arrive at the theater

Front 44

Improvisation

Back 44

make it up as you go along

Front 45

playing off the audience

Back 45

being aware of the audiences reaction and tailoring your performace to their response

Front 46

Sectoring

Back 46

when an actor is scripted to speack directly to the audience he should choose 3 to for indiv. to spread thruout the audience and speak to them with eye contact

Front 47

Timing

Back 47

The audience is the final player in any production. The actor must be aware of their attention an speed his lines so the audience can feel the rythum of the scene as well as keep with what is being said. Timing is often demonstrated when an actor must wait for the audience laughter to being to die down.

Front 48

Pace

Back 48

Rythum of playing a scene

Front 49

Beat

Back 49

The smallest and most natural unit of a scene. A section of the play in which one character leads or dominates or in which one idea is expressed.

Front 50

Upstage

Back 50

To draw attention to one's self when not appropriate or to block the audiences view of an actor or set piece

Front 51

Convention

Back 51

Any familliar theatrical custom that is accepted unquestioningly by the audience. An "aside" is an example of a convention.

Front 52

Presence

Back 52

filling the space in which you are acting by focusing

Front 53

Reasearch

Back 53

preparation to discover the many levels of a role

Front 54

Conflict

Back 54

The struggle between opposing ideas, intrests or forces in a play. The exsistance of conflict either external or internal within a character is central to drama

Front 55

Given Circumstances

Back 55

Everything you need to take into account when creating your role.

Front 56

intention

Back 56

when no physical action occurs;the action occurs inside the performer

Front 57

text preparation

Back 57

making artistic choices about the script

Front 58

Imagery

Back 58

moving your character analysis from thinking to feeling. Examining your character by looking at it in many different ways

Front 59

Spirit Gum

Back 59

Special glue used to adhere items to skin

Front 60

Royalty

Back 60

the fee paid to the playwright or publisher in return for the right to preform work in public.

Front 61

Teaser

Back 61

a long narrow drape which masks the overhead areas of a proscenium stage, usually hanging in front of each lighting batten to mask the instruments

Front 62

Leg

Back 62

a tall, narrow drape used to mask the wings on a proscenium stage.

Front 63

Christopher Marlowe

Back 63

16th century english playwright and poet. His plays focus on the ambitious, powerful, bombastic hero.

Front 64

Shakespeare

Back 64

16th century elizabethan playright. Considered the gradest playwright of all time.

Front 65

Moliere

Back 65

french actor/ playwright in the 17th century. performed for king lousi XIV, remembered for making comedy respectable

Front 66

Henrik Ibsen

Back 66

19th century noregian playwright. emigrated to italy and became famouse for his vision of pshychological realism.

Front 67

Anton Chekhov

Back 67

russian playwright. Most celebrated 19th century russian dramatist known to the west

Front 68

bertolt brecht

Back 68

early 20th century german dramatist/poet/director and songwriter. Much of modern theater theory was influenced by his techniques

Front 69

Helene Weigel

Back 69

20th century actress. Most famouse for her work with brecht ran the Berliner Ensemble with brecht and continued to do so after his death.

Front 70

Elenora Duse

Back 70

Leading italian actress of the late 19th century and an inspiration to stanislavsky

Front 71

Stanislavsky

Back 71

early 20th century russian actor/teacher. Created the stanislavsky approach to acting; looking for the truth of performance within an actor.

Front 72

Vakhangov

Back 72

stanislaskys greatest pupil and disiple

Front 73

neil simon

Back 73

20th century american dramistist top of his profession in the 60is

Front 74

Dario Fo

Back 74

20th century italian actor/director/playwright. popular in the 1960's for his focus on satire and farce

Front 75

Arthur Miller

Back 75

America's greatest living playwright

Front 76

Tadashi Suzuki

Back 76

20th century jabanese director/playwright/ theorist. Experimented with combining eastern techniques with western, replaced test-based theater with actor-basted theater, and used kabuki theater to explore non-stanislavskian acting

Front 77

Plautus

Back 77

Roman clown c.254-184 B.C. who used his characters to satirize daily life.

Front 78

Hubris

Back 78

Pride against the gods. Beliving man is equal to the gods. Comedy was originally developed by the greeks to challenge this feeling.

Front 79

Komos

Back 79

Procession in ancient greek society where dancers dress in a ridiculous manner to mock those who act self-important

Front 80

tartuffe

Back 80

play by moliere, written completely in rhyme.

Front 81

Tragedy

Back 81

explores the human struggle to relate to god or fate, or more recently to a predestined psychological pattern of life.

Front 82

Commedia dell'arte

Back 82

ancient italian performance style which depends greatly on physical humor and standard characters.

Front 83

Avant-garde theater

Back 83

experimental theater that attemps to break new ground. This kind of theater may abandon many of the traditional theatrical elements.

Front 84

bunraku

Back 84

japanese puppet theter. based on kabuki plays

Front 85

farce

Back 85

an exaggerated comedy based on broadly humorus usually stock, situations and physical (slapstick) jokes.

Front 86

Kabuki Theater

Back 86

National theater of japan (along with noh drama, which predates it) utilizing stylized make-up and scenery and elaborate costumes.