Revised version of Stage Terms SP2021

1. Stage terminology for Actors
PART ONE

2. THE STAGE LAYOUT & THE STAGE MANAGER

3. THEATER ARCHITECTURE
TYPES OFTHEATRE LAYOUTS
•Proscenium
•Thrust
•Arena
•Black Box (experimental)
Four basic types:

4. PROSCENIUMTHEATER
• Stage faces the audience
• Audience is all on one side
• Set up like a modern movie
theater.

5. FOURTH WALL REMOVED
Refers to naturalistic
& realistic drama.
Comes from the
tradition of building
three walls of a room
onstage & leaving
the 4th (the audience)
blank.

6. THRUST THEATER
• Stage “thrusts” into the
audience
• Audience is on three
sides.
• MarkTaper Forum is a
good example in Los
Angeles
Stratford, OntarioTheatre

7. ARENATHEATERS
• Audience sits on all 4 sides.
• Props and costumes must be
very detailed
• Entrances and exits take place
thru the audience.

8. BLACK BOX (EXPERIMENTAL)THEATERS
• The “EMPTY SPACE”
• Flexible space. Can
be set up in most any
configuration.

9. Most of our stage directions are based
on use in the proscenium theater.The
other spaces have adapted some of the
terms.

10. Lobby
Actors need to know
the lay of the land.

12. Orchestra Pit
• Sits at the front of
the stage with part
of it extending
upstage underneath
the stage.
• Sometimes the
apron extends over
part of the pit

13. Backstage (also called off stage)

14. Backstage (the fly system)
FLY RAIL: SYSTEM WHICH ALLOWS USTO FLY SCENERY & LIGHTS

15. Backstage (the fly system)
Battens (pipes) that we hang scenery & lights from.
These are controlled by the fly rail.

16. Backstage or Offstage
• Out of view of the
audience.
• Where actors wait before
coming onstage
• The long curtains are
“legs” or ”tormenters”

17. Backstage or Offstage
• Out of view of the
audience.
• Where actors wait before
coming onstage
• The short curtains at the
top are “borders” or
”teasers”

18. Backstage or Offstage
It is called “waiting in the wings” when you are
off stage left or off stage right.

19. DROPS, CURTAINS, SCRIMS

20. MASKING CURTAINS
•Called Borders &
Legs
•OrTeasers &
Tormentors
•Same thing - just
two sets of names

21. PROSCENIUM ARCH & MASKING

22. ORDER OF PROSCENIUM ARCH & MASKING

23. ORDER OF PROSCENIUM ARCH & MASKING

24. “IN ONE”
• The places you can
enter from the wings
• You count the openings
from downstage (near
the Proscenium Arch)
to upstage.
In oneIn twoIn three

25. A NUMBER “In One ”
An act that needed that area plus
the next 6 feet was “in two” since
that area was in front of the
number two curtain, & so on up to
“full stage.” These specifications
were standard ways of describing
an act’s space requirements, &
were a primary consideration in
planning the practical flow of a full
program.
An act or routine that works in the 6-foot area between the footlights & the
closed main show (number one) curtain.

26. The Call Board
– a place in the theater where company notices are
posted. This may include sign-in sheets, rehearsal
notes, safety & other union information. Company
members are responsible for all information posted
there. Many theaters now include some sort of online
information center but this does not substitute for the
sign-in sheet.

27. CALLTIMES in the theater
Call – the time that you are expected to be
ready to begin rehearsal, or arrive for
performance. Standard Actor’s Equity call
time is 30 minutes prior to curtain.This is
known as the “half hour” call.
Other “calls” the stage manager gives include:
• 15 minutes to places
• 5 minutes to places
• Actors to their places
• During intermission you get 5 minutes and
places again

28. The STAGE MANAGER
– the person who manages the stage
on behalf of actors, directors, designers
and technicians in rehearsal &
performance. Duties include recording
blocking & directing notes, calling the
light, sound & scene shifting cues
during the actual performances,
recording copious performance notes,
and giving actors performance notes.
They also conduct understudy
rehearsals. A member of AEA, they
must also be adept at most technical
skills. On tour they run the light focus
sessions after load in.

29. Prompt book – the
master copy of the script.
This is maintained by the
stage manager & includes
blocking notation,
director’s notes, & technical
cues for lighting, sound &
set shifts.
The STAGE MANAGER’s PROMPT BOOK

30. The STAGE MANAGER’s PROMPT BOOK

32. THE GREEN ROOM
-- the actors’ common room, usually
placed near the stage for communal
use during performances.

33. ”break a leg”

34. – acknowledges that the play is done & that the
characters are just actors who can now reveal them-
selves. It gives the audience a chance to express their
gratitude, and allows the actors to bask in the applause
from their public.

35. the end

36. • Turned on by the stage
manager after rehearsal
& left onstage to keep
the theater ghost
company thru the night.
The Ghost Light