Broadway Glossary

A

abstract setting#ab-stract set-tingˈæbstrækt ˈsetɪŋ

noun — a stage setting that is stylised rather than photorealistic, making no attempt to reproduce a real place. An abstract setting may use platforms, levels, light and a few emblematic objects to suggest location, leaving the audience to supply the rest. The approach frees a production from the physical constraints of a built room, allows fluid movement between many locations without scene changes, and is standard in contemporary Shakespeare staging.

accent lighting#ac-cent light-ingˈæksent ˈlaɪtɪŋ

noun — lighting used to emphasise a particular area, object or performer rather than to provide general illumination, achieved through greater intensity, contrasting colour or angle. An accent light draws the eye without the audience necessarily registering why. The technique separates a figure from its surroundings, picks out a piece of scenery, or gives a scene a focal point, and works in balance with the wash that provides the underlying light.

acoustic#a-cou-sticəˈkuːstɪk

noun — the behaviour of sound in a space, and the branch of physics that studies it. A theatre's acoustics determine how much reinforcement a production needs, how much the room flatters or fights an unamplified voice, and how orchestra and singers balance. Hard reflective surfaces brighten and lengthen sound; soft ones absorb it, and a full house absorbs considerably more than an empty one, which is why a room can sound different at a dress rehearsal than at a performance.

act#actˈækt

verb; noun — to perform a dramatic role; also, a major structural division of a play or musical. Most contemporary Broadway shows are in two acts separated by an intermission, though many plays now run as a single unbroken act. The act break is a deliberate dramatic tool: a first-act finale is engineered to leave a question open so the audience returns invested. Nineteenth-century plays were commonly in three, four or five acts.

acting area#ac-ting a-re-aˈæktɪŋ ˈeəriə

noun — the area within the performance space within which the actor may move in full view of the audience; a specific portion of such an area actually used for acting during all of part of a performance

acting edition#ac-ting ed-i-tionˈæktɪŋ ɪˈdɪʃn̩

noun — a published edition of a play licensed for performance, prepared for the use of producing companies rather than readers. An acting edition typically includes the text as performed, stage directions recording the original staging, and practical appendices such as a props list, costume plot and set diagram. These editions are issued by licensing houses, and buying copies is normally a condition of the performance licence alongside the royalty.

action#ac-tionˈækʃn̩

noun; verb — the physical movement of an actor on the stage; the movement or development of the plot of a dramatic work, or an incident in that movement.

actor#ac-torˈæktə

noun — a person who performs a role in a play, musical, film or other dramatic work. The word originally denoted a male performer, with 'actress' used for women, and that split survives in most awards categories. Contemporary usage increasingly applies 'actor' to performers of any gender as the default professional term, and a number of theatres and awards have moved toward gender-neutral performance categories. Actors in the United States are represented by Actors' Equity Association.

ad-lib#ad-libˈæd lɪb

verb; noun — to invent dialogue or business on the spot, and the invented material itself. The term is short for the Latin 'ad libitum', meaning at one's pleasure. Ad-libbing is a survival skill when a line is dropped, a prop fails or a scene partner misses an entrance, and covering such a moment cleanly is a mark of an experienced actor. Deliberately ad-libbing new material into a copyrighted script, however, is interpolation and is not permitted under a standard licence.

aisle#ais-leaɪl

noun — a passage running through or alongside the seating in an auditorium, giving the audience access to their seats. Aisle placement is fixed by fire code, since aisles are the escape routes in an evacuation, and it drives the whole seating plan. Aisle seats are prized for legroom and easy exit. Directors sometimes stage entrances through the aisles to break the fourth wall and bring the action into the house.

alternate#al-ter-nateɔːlˈtɜːnət

noun — a performer scheduled in advance to play a leading role at a fixed number of performances each week, sharing the part with the principal rather than merely covering it. Alternates exist because some roles are too vocally or physically punishing to sustain eight times a week; the arrangement is common in sung-through musicals. Unlike an understudy, an alternate is billed as such and their performance dates are published in advance.

apron#ap-ronˈeɪprən

noun — the part of the stage that projects forward of the proscenium arch, toward the audience. Because it sits outside the frame, the apron cannot be masked by the front curtain or lit from most overhead positions, which makes it useful for scenes played in front of a closed curtain while the set is changed behind. Its size varies greatly between houses, and a deep apron pushes the action closer to the audience, softening the picture-frame effect of a proscenium.

arena#a-re-naəˈriːnə

noun — a stage configuration in which the audience surrounds the acting area on all or most sides, also called theatre in the round. Arena staging removes the possibility of masking, scenery of any height and conventional wing entrances, so performers enter through the audience via aisles or vomitoria and the design lives largely in the floor, the furniture and the lighting. It creates unusual intimacy and requires blocking that continually shares the actor's face with every side.

audition#au-di-tionaˈdɪʃn̩

noun — a trial performance in which a performer is assessed for a role. Auditions typically ask actors to prepare a monologue or a sixteen- or thirty-two-bar cut of a song, then sometimes to read sides — short scenes from the script — supplied on the day. An open call is available to anyone; an Equity Principal Audition is reserved for union members. Performers who impress are invited to a callback, and the process may run through several rounds before an offer is made.

auditorium#au-di-to-ri-umˌɒdəˈtɔːriəm

noun — the part of a theatre from which the audience watches the performance, also called the house. A traditional proscenium auditorium is divided into the orchestra at ground level, then the mezzanine or dress circle, then the balcony above; boxes may run along the side walls. Auditorium design drives sightlines and acoustics, and its seat count — the capacity — determines a production's maximum possible gross and, in New York, whether a house counts as Broadway or Off-Broadway.

B

back#backˈbæk

verb — to invest money in a production. Backers put up the capital that lets a show go into rehearsal, and in return take an agreed share of any profit — after the production has recouped, which many never do. A backers' audition is a private performance of songs and scenes staged to attract that investment. Under securities law, theatrical investment is a regulated offering, and the front money that funds a production before the full capitalisation closes carries the highest risk of all.

back of house#back-of-housebæk əv ˈhaʊs

noun — the parts of a theatre behind the proscenium or behind the stage setting — the working areas of the building, as opposed to front of house. Back of house takes in the stage itself, the wings, the fly floor, dressing rooms, the green room, wardrobe, and the get-in doors through which scenery arrives. The two halves of a theatre are separately staffed and, in many houses, connected by only one or two doors.

back wall#back-wallbæk wɔːl

noun — the rear wall of a stage, a stage setting, or an auditorium. The theatre's own back wall is the physical limit of the upstage space; a setting's back wall is the built scenery that closes off the acting area. Designers sometimes strip the set back to expose the theatre's real back wall as a deliberate effect, revealing the bare brick and radiators of the building itself to break the illusion.

backdrop#back-dropˈbækdrɒp

noun — a large curtain, usually painted to represent the sky, a landscape, or some other background, dropped upstage to form the back of a wing set and to mask the backstage space.

background#back-groundˈbækɡraʊnd

noun — the scenic display behind the acting area against which performers appear; in a script, the events and circumstances preceding the action that explain who the characters are; and in sound, music played under a scene at low level. The three senses are unrelated but all common. Backstory that must be conveyed to the audience is delivered through exposition, and a designer's background may be a painted backdrop, a cyclorama or a projection.

backing#back-ingˈbækɪŋ

noun — a piece of scenery or fabric placed behind an opening in a set — a door, a window, an archway — so that the audience sees a plausible continuation of the world rather than the bare backstage wall. A backing might be a painted flat suggesting a hallway, a simple neutral cloth, or a photographic drop of a landscape. Backings are lit separately, usually by low-wattage backing lights, so the space beyond the opening reads as a real room or exterior rather than a dark void.

backing light#back-ing lightˈbækɪŋ laɪt

noun — a low-wattage light, used to give diffused illumination to the space beyond openings such as doors, and placed behind, or less often in front of a backing

backlighting#back-ligh-tingˌbækˈlaɪtɪŋ

noun — lighting a scene from behind the performers, usually from upstage positions above and behind them. Backlight rims a figure with light along the head and shoulders and separates them from whatever is behind, giving a stage picture depth that front light alone cannot. It is one of the three basic components of conventional stage lighting alongside key and fill, and used alone it produces silhouette.

backstage#back-stageˈbæksteɪdʒ

noun — relating to or occurring in the areas of a theatre behind the stage — the dressing rooms, wings, green room, quick-change booths, crossover and workshops that the audience never sees. Backstage is a controlled area entered through the stage door, and its geography drives much of how a production runs: how far a performer must travel between exits and entrances, where a quick change can physically happen, and whether the cast can cross from one side to the other without being seen.

balcony#bal-co-nyˈbælkəni

noun — a seating area above the orchestra section of the auditorium. Sometimes a part of this area, particularly in front, is the location for equipment, hence the term "balcony lighting"

ballad#ba-lladˈbæləd

noun — a slow, lyrical, emotionally direct song, typically about love or longing. In musical theatre the ballad is where a character stops and tells the audience what they actually feel, and it is usually the number an audience leaves humming. The form contrasts with the up-tempo production number and the patter song. In an audition, performers are routinely asked for one ballad and one up-tempo to show both range and acting through song.

batten#bat-tenˈbætn̩

noun — a horizontal pipe or bar suspended above the stage from which scenery, drops, drapes or lighting instruments are hung. Battens run parallel to the proscenium and are raised and lowered on lines through the flying system. An electric or LX batten is one carrying lighting instruments and their power. The number and spacing of battens in a house sets a practical limit on how many scenic pieces a production can fly, and is one of the first things a designer checks when assessing a venue.

beat#beatbiːt

noun — a unit of dramatic action within a scene, running from one shift in a character's intention or tactic to the next. Actors and directors break a script into beats in order to chart how a scene changes rather than playing it at one level throughout. 'Beat' is also used, confusingly, as a direction meaning a brief pause — a comic beat before a punchline — so context determines which sense is meant.

black box#black-boxblæk bɒks

noun — an unadorned performance space, typically a large room with four walls and no assigned seating or playing areas. Walls are typically painted black, hence the name. The black box is popular because it can be configured in many different ways, with actors on the floor, or on a platform; the audience can also be seated on the floor or on platforms.

blackout#black-outˈblækaʊt

noun; verb — the complete absence of stage lighting, or the act of taking the lights out; a blackout is the sharpest punctuation a lighting designer has, used to end a scene, land a joke, or cover a scene change. A blackout at the end of a comic beat is called a 'blackout gag'. Because a full blackout leaves a stage genuinely dark, running crews rely on glow tape and low-wattage blue running lights to move safely during one.

blocking#bloc-kingˈblɑːkɪŋ

noun — the plan of where performers stand and move during a scene, worked out in rehearsal and then fixed so it can be repeated identically at every performance. The director sets blocking; the stage manager records it in the prompt book in shorthand, using abbreviations such as X for cross and DSL for downstage left, so that it can be taught to replacements months later. Blocking governs sightlines, focus and the stage picture, and is distinct from stage business, which is what an actor does rather than where they go.

book#bookbʊk

noun — the spoken text and dramatic structure of a musical — the scenes, dialogue and story architecture — as distinct from the music and lyrics. The person who writes it is the bookwriter, and the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical recognises that work separately from Best Original Score. 'Book' also has a second, unrelated backstage meaning: the prompt book, the stage manager's annotated copy of the script containing every cue, from which the show is called.

bookwriter#book-writ-erˈbʊkraɪtə

noun — the writer responsible for the book of a musical: the scenes, the dialogue, the structure and the shaping of the story around the songs. The bookwriter decides where a number belongs, what a scene must accomplish before it can begin, and how the whole evening is built. It is often described as the least visible job in musical theatre, since audiences leave remembering songs, but a musical with a weak book rarely works regardless of its score.

border#bor-derˈbɔːdə

noun — a short horizontal drape or flat hung above the stage, running from side to side, that masks the lighting rig, the flying system and the space above the setting from the audience's view. Borders work together with legs — the vertical drapes at the sides — to frame the acting area and control exactly how much of the stage the audience can see. A set of matching black legs and borders used as neutral masking is a black box masking package.

box office#box of-ficebɒks ɒfɪs

noun — the place where tickets are sold, whether a physical window at the theatre or the telephone and online systems that have largely replaced it. 'Box office' also means a production's sales performance in the abstract, as in a box office hit. Broadway box office figures are reported weekly in aggregate as grosses, covering total takings, attendance and capacity percentage, and are among the few hard public numbers by which the health of a commercial production can be judged.

break a leg#break-a-legˈbreɪk ə leɡ

noun — the traditional way of wishing a performer good luck, used because saying 'good luck' directly is considered to invite the opposite. The superstition is one of a large family in the theatre, alongside never quoting Macbeth inside a theatre and never whistling backstage. The phrase's origin is uncertain: proposed explanations include bowing so deeply that the leg bends, and the hope of breaking the plane of the stage's leg curtains by being called on. Dancers say 'merde' and opera singers 'toi toi toi'.

break character#break cha-rac-terˈbreɪk ˈkærəktə

verb — in acting, saying or doing something that is not in keeping with the character one is portraying, most often this is accidental, as when an actor forgets a line or bit of business, or when distracted by an occurrence in the audience or offstage

Broadway#broad-wayˈbrɔːdweɪ

noun — the principal avenue running through the theatre district of New York City near Times Square, and thus the district, and collectively the theatres on or near this avenue; by extension, the commercial theatre of New York.

brush-up rehearsal#brush-up re-hear-salˈbrʌʃ ʌp rɪˈhɜːsl̩

noun — a maintenance rehearsal called during a run to restore a production to its intended shape. Over months of performances, timing drifts, blocking loosens, choreography softens and comic business accretes; a brush-up resets it. These calls are typically run by the dance captain and the resident or associate director, and are scheduled periodically as a matter of course rather than only when something has gone visibly wrong.

button#but-tonˈbʌtn̩

noun — the emphatic ending of a musical number — the final chord, pose and stage picture that tells the audience the song is over and invites applause. A button is staged as carefully as anything else in the number, because a weak one leaves a house unsure whether to clap. The term is also used for a sharp final line that closes a scene, and 'to button' a number is to give it that decisive finish.

C

cabaret#ca-ba-retˈkæbəreɪ

noun — an intimate form of live entertainment performed in a club or restaurant while the audience sits at tables with food and drink. Cabaret places the performer very close to the audience with minimal staging, usually accompanied by a small band or a single pianist, and depends on direct address and patter between numbers. In New York it is a distinct professional world with its own venues and awards, and a well-established route for musical theatre performers between contracts.

call#callkɔːl

noun; verb — specified time of a working session, such as a rehearsal or a performance; stage manager's announcement to summon actors to the stage; to announce cues to a show's technical staff during a performance

call board#call boardkɔːl bɔːd

noun — the noticeboard just inside the stage door where the company's official information is posted: the sign-in sheet, rehearsal calls, schedule changes, understudy assignments and union notices. Checking the call board on arrival is a basic professional obligation, and posting a notice there constitutes formal notification to the company. Much of its function has migrated to email and apps, but the physical board remains the point of record in most houses.

callback#call-backˈkɔːlbæk

noun — an invitation to return for a further round of auditions, indicating that a performer is under serious consideration. Callbacks are usually more specific than the first audition: performers may be given sides, asked to learn a dance combination, taught material from the actual score, or paired with other candidates to test chemistry. A production may hold several rounds of callbacks, with the final round attended by the director, choreographer and producers.

cameo#ca-me-oˈkæmɪəʊ

noun — a small role, usually a single scene, written with enough character and effect that it makes a strong impression despite its brevity — and often cast with a well-known performer for exactly that reason. The word comes from cameo carving, where a small piece of shell or stone is worked in fine relief. In film the term has drifted toward meaning any brief celebrity appearance; in the theatre it still implies a genuine acting opportunity rather than a walk-on.

capacity#ca-pa-ci-tykəˈpæsɪti

noun — the total number of seats available to be sold in a theatre. Capacity determines a production's maximum possible weekly gross, sets the scale of everything from the sound system to the front-of-house staffing, and in New York defines the categories themselves: Broadway houses seat 500 or more, Off-Broadway 100 to 499, and Off-Off-Broadway fewer than 100. Weekly grosses are usually reported alongside the percentage of capacity actually sold.

cast#castkɑːst

noun — the performers appearing in a production, taken together. A cast list names each performer against their role, in billing order; the company is broader, taking in crew and staff as well. Casts are usually structured into principals, featured players and ensemble, with understudies, standbys, swings and alternates covering them. A show's original cast is the one that opens it, and the original cast recording preserves that group's performance of the score.

cast list#cast-listkɑ:st lɪst

noun — a list of the performers in a production set against the roles they play, in billing order. The cast list is posted at the theatre and printed in the program, and it is also the document by which casting is announced after an audition process closes. In union productions the order and relative size of names in the cast list is a contractual matter, negotiated as billing.

casting agent#ca-sting a-gentˈkɑːstɪŋ ˈeɪdʒənt

noun — a casting professional who finds and proposes performers for a production, maintaining the relationships with agents and the working knowledge of who is available and right for a part. Casting agents run the audition process, assemble the sessions the creative team sees, and negotiate the first stages of an offer. They work under a casting director, and on larger productions within a casting office that may handle several shows at once.

casting director#ca-sting di-rec-torˈkɑːstɪŋ dɪˈrektə

noun — the head of casting on a production or at a company, responsible for the whole process of finding performers: reading the script for casting needs, working the relationships with agents, running auditions and callbacks, advising the director on options and handling the first stages of an offer. Casting directors supervise casting agents and associates, and on Broadway the work is now recognised with its own Tony Award.

choreographer#cho-re-o-gra-pherˌkɒrɪˈɒɡrəfə

noun — the person who devises the dances and patterned stage movement for a production, teaches them to the company, and shapes how movement tells the story alongside the songs and text. On many musicals the choreographer works as an equal partner to the director from the earliest planning; on some, the two roles are held by the same person. Once the show opens, the choreography is maintained by a dance captain. The Tony Awards recognise the work in a dedicated category.

choreography#cho-re-og-ra-phyˌkɔːriˈɑːɡrəfi

noun — the composition and arrangement of dance and patterned stage movement, and the finished sequences themselves. A choreographer devises the steps, teaches them to the company, and shapes how movement carries story alongside the songs and dialogue. Musical theatre choreography ranges from full production numbers to the smaller physical staging of a scene, and in some productions the choreographer also directs. The role became central to the American musical through figures such as Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse.

chorus#cho-rusˈkɔːrəs

noun — a group of singers and/or dancers performing as a unit; group singing or dancing; a song or part of a song to be sung by more than on person; a group or even a single actor who provides commentary on the action of a play, as in a Greek tragedy; a part of a song that is repeated after each verse, typically by more than one singer

close#closekləʊz

verb — to end a production's run. A show's closing date may be announced weeks in advance, allowing a final sales push, or posted abruptly when weekly grosses no longer cover running costs. 'Close' also means to perform in the final slot on a variety bill, historically the position given to the strongest act. Closing night traditionally carries its own rituals, including speeches from the stage and a company gathering after the final curtain call.

cold reading#cold read-ingkəʊld ˈriːdɪŋ

noun — reading from a script with little or no preparation, typically at an audition where the material is handed over minutes beforehand. A cold reading tests instinct, comprehension and the ability to make immediate choices rather than polish, and casting teams use it precisely because it shows how an actor thinks on their feet. The skill is in taking the eye off the page often enough to play the scene rather than recite it.

company#com-pa-nyˈkʌmpəni

noun — the cast, crew and other staff associated with a show; a presenting theatre organization; a group of actors appearing together in one or more dramatic performances

conductor#con-duc-torkənˈdʌktə

noun — the musician who leads the orchestra in performance, setting tempi, balancing the ensemble and following the stage so the music stays with the actors rather than the other way round. In musical theatre the conductor is usually also the musical director, responsible for teaching the score to the cast, running music rehearsals and maintaining musical standards over a run. Performers watch the conductor on monitors placed around the auditorium.

costume designer#cos-tume de-sign-erˈkɒstjuːm dɪˈzaɪnə

noun — the member of the creative team responsible for everything the performers wear: designing the costumes, developing them through drawings and fittings, and overseeing their construction or sourcing. Costume design carries character, period, status and the production's whole visual world, and must also survive eight performances a week and any quick changes the staging demands. The work is recognised with its own Tony Award, given separately for plays and musicals.

cover#cov-erˈkʌvə

verb; noun — to be prepared to play a role other than one's own, and the performer who does so. 'Cover' is the umbrella term beneath which understudies, standbys, swings and alternates all sit — a performer may be said to cover three roles. To go on for a covered role is to 'go on' or to 'be on'. Covers rehearse in separate understudy calls and are contractually entitled to a set amount of rehearsal before they can be required to perform.

critic#cri-ticˈkrɪtɪk

noun — a journalist who reviews theatre productions. Critics attend a press performance shortly before opening night, and reviews appear under an agreed embargo, traditionally lifting on opening. A strong notice can be quoted in advertising and can measurably move ticket sales, particularly for a play without a star or a well-known title. Criticism also serves as the historical record of a production long after it has closed, since most stagings are never filmed.

cue#cuekjuː

noun; verb — the last words of one actor's spoken dialogue, which the next actor to speak needs as a signal to begin; the spoken or written command given to technical staff to carry out a particular operation during a performance.

cue-to-cue#cue-to-cuekjuː tə kjuː

noun — a technical rehearsal that skips the parts of the show between cues, jumping from just before one lighting, sound or scenic cue to just before the next, so that the technical elements can be set and recorded without playing the whole script. Often written Q2Q. It is the most efficient way to build a show's technical content, and actors are asked to stand in and move through only what is needed to trigger each cue.

curtain call#cur-tain callkɜ:tn kɔːl

noun — the return of the company to the stage at the end of a performance to receive the audience's applause. Curtain calls are staged and rehearsed, with the running order set by billing — ensemble first, building to the leads — and are contractually significant enough that call order is negotiated alongside billing. A production may add a company bow, a musical playoff or, for a final performance, speeches. Sitting out a curtain call is a considerable breach of professional etiquette.

cyclorama#cy-clo-ra-maˌsaɪkləˈrɑːmə

noun — a large, smooth, seamless cloth or plastered wall stretched across the back of the stage, lit to represent sky or open space. Usually shortened to 'cyc'. Because it has no visible texture or seams, a cyc takes colour evenly and can be shifted from dawn to noon to sunset entirely through lighting. Cycs are lit from above by cyc lights and often from below by groundrow units, and a well-lit cyc can suggest infinite distance in a space only a few feet deep.

D

dance arrangement#dance ar-range-mentdɑːns əˈreɪndʒmənt

noun — the reworking of a musical's existing melodies into extended music that supports a dance sequence — building, varying and structuring the material so a choreographer has something with the right shape and length to dance to. The dance arranger works closely with the choreographer during rehearsals, since the music and the steps develop together, and their material is then handed to the orchestrator. It is a specialist credit distinct from both composer and orchestrator.

dance captain#dance cap-taindɑːns ˈkæptɪn

noun — a member of the company responsible for maintaining the choreography after the choreographer has left, teaching it to replacements, running brush-up rehearsals and keeping every dancer's track accurate over a long run. The dance captain usually also performs in the show and is very often a swing, since covering many tracks requires knowing all of them. It is a paid contractual position with additional duties, not an honorary title.

dark#darkdɑːk

adjective — said of a theatre that is closed, with no performance scheduled. Broadway houses are traditionally dark on Mondays, which is why Monday is the industry's shared day off and why award ceremonies and benefit concerts are almost always scheduled then. A theatre can also go dark between bookings, or for a longer closure. When a member of the community dies, Broadway marquee lights are dimmed in tribute — a related but distinct gesture from a house being dark.

dark day#dark daydɑːk deɪ

noun — the day of the week on which a production does not perform. On Broadway this is traditionally Monday, which is why industry events, benefit concerts and awards ceremonies are almost always held then, and why Broadway performers' social lives run on a calendar offset from everyone else's. Some productions take a different dark day, and shows in heavy holiday periods may drop it entirely for a week.

debut#de-butˈdeɪbjuː

noun; verb — an actor's first appearance, whether at the start of their career or in a new venue, company or city — hence a Broadway debut, a West End debut or a directorial debut. Debuts are noted in Playbill biographies and tracked by the industry press, since a Broadway debut is a career milestone regardless of how long a performer has worked elsewhere. As a verb, to debut is to make that first appearance.

decibel#de-ci-belˈdesɪbel

noun — the unit used to express the relative intensity of sound, and also to express ratios between two voltages or currents. The scale is logarithmic, so a change of ten decibels corresponds to a much larger change in acoustic energy than the number suggests, and roughly to a doubling of perceived loudness. Sound departments work in decibels when setting levels, and many venues operate under agreed limits at the mixing position for audience and performer hearing protection.

deck#deckdek

noun — the stage floor, and by extension the crew and machinery that work at floor level. A show deck is frequently a purpose-built surface laid over the theatre's own stage floor to carry tracks, turntables, traps and automation for that particular production. 'On deck' also means standing by in the wings ready for an entrance or a cue, borrowed from nautical usage, and the deck crew are the stagehands who move scenery at floor level as opposed to the fly crew working overhead.

delivery#de-liv-er-ydɪˈlɪvəri

noun — the manner in which a performer speaks their lines — the pace, pitch, emphasis, phrasing and pauses that carry meaning beyond the words themselves. Two actors given the same line will deliver it differently, and a director's note on delivery is a note about intention rather than about text. Comic delivery in particular depends on timing so exact that a beat's difference decides whether a laugh lands. Related terms include inflection, pitch and pace.

department#de-part-mentdɪˈpɑːtmənt

noun — one of the principal working divisions of a production or venue, each headed by a department head: wardrobe, scenery, lighting, sound, props, hair and makeup, and stage management among them. Departmental structure determines who is responsible for what, who reports to whom, and — in a union house — which agreement covers a given task. Requests during a technical rehearsal are directed to a department rather than to an individual.

development#de-vel-op-mentdɪˈveləpmənt

noun; verb — in dramatic construction, the events after the exposition that complicates the plot; a logical series in cause and effect; In characterization, a change and expansion in character traits within a dramatic piece; the process of crafting a new work over a period of time.

dialogue#di-a-logueˈdaɪəlɒɡ

noun — the spoken lines of a play or musical, particularly exchanges between two or more characters, as distinct from monologue or song. Dialogue carries plot, character and subtext simultaneously, and stage dialogue is written to be spoken and heard once rather than read: it tends to be more compressed, more rhythmic and more interruptible than real speech. In a musical, dialogue belongs to the book and is credited to the bookwriter.

diffuse#dif-fusedɪˈfjuːz

verb — to soften and spread light, usually by putting a translucent material in front of the source. Diffusion removes the hard edge of a shadow and evens out a beam, which is why it is used for washes and for lighting faces kindly. It is achieved with frost or silk gels dropped into the colour frame of a lighting instrument, and comes in grades from a very light hint to heavy diffusion that spreads a beam widely and cuts its intensity considerably.

digital lottery#dig-i-tal lot-ter-yˈdɪdʒɪtl̩ ˈlɒtəri

noun — a random draw for a small number of heavily discounted seats, entered online in a window before the performance and notified by email or app. The practice began at the box office with in-person draws — Rent's $20 front-row lottery in the 1990s established the model — and moved online in the 2010s, where demand for the most popular shows can run to tens of thousands of entries for a couple of dozen seats.

dim#dimdɪm

verb — to reduce the intensity of stage or house light, either as an effect within a scene or to take a state out at the end of one. Dimming is done from the lighting console through dimmers that control the power reaching each instrument, and the rate of a dim is written into the cue as a fade time. Broadway marquee lights are also dimmed as a mark of respect when a member of the theatre community dies.

downstage#down-stageˈdaʊnˌstedʒ

adverb — the area toward or at the front of a theatrical stage, nearest the audience. The term dates from the raked stages of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which sloped downward toward the house, so that walking toward the audience genuinely meant walking downhill. Directors use it constantly as a stage direction — 'move downstage on the line' — and the downstage edge of the playing area is where an actor is closest to, and most exposed to, the house. Its opposite is upstage.

drama#dra-maˈdrɑːmə

noun — a work performed on a stage by actors before an audience, and more narrowly a serious play as opposed to a comedy. 'Drama' also names the whole art form as a field of study, and in ordinary use has come to mean heightened conflict of any kind. The word derives from the Greek for action or deed, which is the root of the principle that drama is built from what characters do rather than what they say about themselves.

dramatist#dra-ma-tistˈdræmətɪst

noun — a playwright, composer or lyricist who takes existing material — a novel, a film, a historical event — and transforms it into a play or musical. The word is also used more broadly for any writer for the stage. In the United States dramatists are represented by the Dramatists Guild, whose standard terms leave copyright with the writer, meaning a licensed production may not alter the text without permission.

dramaturg#dra-ma-turgˈdrɑːmə turg

noun — a literary specialist attached to a production or a theatre company who researches context, advises on text, and helps shape a new or classic work in development. On a new play the dramaturg works with the writer on structure and clarity; on a revival they supply historical and textual background for the company; at an institution they may also read submissions and help select the season. The role is long established in German-speaking theatre and has become widespread in the English-speaking theatre since the late twentieth century.

dress circle#dress cir-cleˈdres ˈsɜːkl̩

noun — In UK theatre parlance, the first or lowest curved tier of seats above the main floor in a theater or opera house. Also known as the mezzanine.

dress rehearsal#dress re-hear-salˈdres rəˈhɝːsl̩

noun — a rehearsal run with full costumes, and usually with makeup, wigs, props, lighting and sound, held in the final days before an audience is admitted. Dress rehearsals are the first chance to run the show as it will actually be performed, and are treated as performances: they run without stopping wherever possible, with notes given afterward. A final dress played to an invited audience is sometimes the last rehearsal before previews begin.

dresser#dres-serˈdresə

noun — a member of the wardrobe department assigned to help specific performers into and out of costume, maintain those costumes through the run, and execute quick changes during the performance. A dresser's track is choreographed as precisely as anything onstage: they must be in the right wing with the right garment ready at the right second, often in near-darkness. On Broadway dressers are represented by IATSE, and a performer with heavy changes may have more than one.

dressing room#dres-sing roomˈdresɪŋ ruːm

noun — a room backstage where performers change into costume, apply makeup, warm up and wait between entrances. Dressing rooms are assigned by billing, with leading players often given a private room nearest the stage and the ensemble sharing larger rooms further away or on upper floors. Each station has a mirror surrounded by lights, and the room is wired with a show relay so performers can hear the stage, plus a monitor and the stage manager's calls.

drop#dropdrɒp

noun — a large piece of scenic canvas or cloth, painted or plain, hung vertically from a batten to form a background or a masking piece. Drops are flown in and out to change location quickly, and because they are soft goods they can be rolled or folded for touring, which makes them far more practical than built scenery for a production on the road. A translucent drop lit from behind, or a scrim, can dissolve to reveal what is behind it.

E

echo#e-choˈekəʊ

noun; verb — a reflected sound arriving late enough after the original to be heard as a separate event rather than as part of it. Echo is a defect in most performance spaces, and auditorium design works hard to avoid the hard parallel surfaces that produce it. As a deliberate effect it is created electronically by the sound department and used to suggest a large enclosed space, a memory, or a voice heard from somewhere other than the stage.

educational theatre#ed-u-ca-tion-al th-ea-treˌedʒʊˈkeɪʃn̩əl ˈθɪətə

noun — an amateur theatre maintained by an K-12 educational institution for the entertainment and cultural profit of the student body, and for the training of students in dramatics. 'Academic theatre' is used for college-level theatre.

eleven o'clock number#e-lev-en o'-clock num-berɪˈlevn̩ əˈklɒk ˈnʌmbə

noun — a big, late, character-defining song placed near the end of a musical, where the leading character confronts what the evening has done to them. The name comes from an era when curtains went up at 8:30 and the number therefore landed around eleven. It is the show's last major emotional statement before the finale, and the classic example is 'Rose's Turn' in Gypsy. 'The Winner Takes It All' and 'Memory' occupy the same structural position in their shows.

emcee#em-ceeemˈsiː

noun — an abbreviated form of Master of Ceremonies, written from the sound of the initials M.C. The emcee introduces the parts of a program, holds the evening together between items, and manages the audience's attention in a variety bill, cabaret, concert or awards ceremony. The role can also be a scripted character: the Emcee in Kander and Ebb's Cabaret is a leading part built entirely from that function.

encore#en-coreˈɒŋkɔː

noun; verb — a call by an audience for the reappearance of performers in order to repeat a portion of a musical or dance number; an additional performance following the conclusion of a show

engagement#en-gage-mentɪnˈɡeɪdʒmənt

noun — a period of employment for a performer in a role, or an arrangement for a production to play a particular theatre for a fixed span. A touring show's engagement in a city may run a single night or several weeks, and its length determines everything from the load-in schedule to local marketing. In casting, an engagement is the contracted run, and a limited engagement is a production advertised from the outset as closing on a set date.

ensemble#en-sem-bleɒnˈsɒmbl̩

noun — a cast of characters, except for the principals; the grouping of the whole stage picture, involving actors and set; the chorus in a musical, sometimes including soloists; said of acting or a cast in which group interaction and support is more important than individual performances.

enter#en-terˈentə

verb — to come onstage, and the stage direction instructing a character to do so. The convention comes from Latin — the stage direction 'exit' means 'he or she goes out' and 'exeunt' means 'they go out', which is why Shakespeare's texts read 'Exit Hamlet' rather than 'Hamlet exits'. An actor's entrance is both the physical act of coming on and the effect it creates, which is why directors and actors treat entrances as things to be timed and shaped rather than simply executed.

entr'acte#en-tr'acteˈɒntrækt

noun — the orchestral music played at the top of the second act, after intermission, as the audience returns to their seats. Structurally it is the overture's counterpart: where the overture introduces, the entr'acte re-establishes the world and re-energises a room that has spent twenty minutes in the lobby. The word is French for 'between the acts'. Like the overture, it has become less common in contemporary musicals.

entrance#en-tranceɪnˈtrɑːns

noun; verb — a doorway, archway or other opening through which performers come onto the stage, and the act of coming on itself. An entrance is a staged event with timing and intention behind it, not merely a means of arrival, and directors treat a character's first entrance as a major decision. The available entrances in a set constrain blocking heavily, and a performer's route to their entrance position is part of their tracking.

Equity#e-qui-tyˈekwɪti

noun — Actors' Equity Association, founded in 1913, the American labour union representing stage actors and stage managers. Equity negotiates the agreements that set minimum pay, rehearsal and performance hours, safety standards, understudy provision and audition access across Broadway, touring, regional and developmental work. Membership is earned through employment on union contracts or through the Equity Membership Candidate programme. An Equity Principal Audition is one that the union requires be held open to members.

exit#ex-itˈeɡzət

verb; noun — the departure of a character from the stage, the point in the script where it happens, and the physical route by which they leave. As a stage direction the word is Latin — 'exit' means 'he or she goes out', and the plural is 'exeunt' — which is why Shakespeare's texts read 'Exit Hamlet' rather than 'Hamlet exits'. Like entrances, exits are shaped and timed rather than merely executed, and a well-placed exit line is one of the oldest tools in comedy.

exposition#ex-po-si-tionˌekspəˈzɪʃn̩

noun — an explanation, normally in the dialogue, of events preceding the beginning of a dramatic piece or taking place offstage, and which the audience needs to know

F

fade#fadefeɪd

verb — a gradual change in the level of light or sound, up or down, over a specified time. Every lighting and sound cue carries a fade time written into it — a fast fade of half a second reads almost as a snap, while a slow fade over a minute may pass unnoticed by an audience even as the whole stage picture changes around them. A crossfade takes one state out while bringing another in simultaneously.

farce#farcefɑːs

noun — a broadly comic dramatic work based on ludicrously improbable events, unsubtle in idea or characterization, typically fast and funny, with a great deal of action.

fee#feefiː

noun — a payment made for the right to perform a copyrighted work, charged per performance and set by the licensing house on behalf of the author. Royalty rates differ substantially between professional and amateur productions, and are typically calculated from house capacity and ticket price. The fee is separate from the cost of buying or hiring scripts and scores, which the licence normally also requires, and performing without paying it is copyright infringement.

fight director#fight-di-rec-torfaɪt dɪˈrektə

noun — the specialist responsible for planning, choreographing and rehearsing staged combat so that violence reads convincingly to the audience while remaining safe and repeatable for the performers. Also called a fight choreographer. Fight direction covers unarmed combat, swordplay and weapon handling, and the sequences are rehearsed like dance and checked before every performance in a fight call. In many productions the role now sits alongside an intimacy director, who handles staged intimacy on the same principles.

finale#fi-na-lefəˈnæli

noun — the final musical number of an act or of an entire production, usually involving the full company. A finale gathers the show's threads together and sends the audience out on its strongest musical impression; it often reprises melodies heard earlier so the score resolves as the story does. Musicals frequently have a first-act finale as well, engineered to end on an unresolved question that brings the audience back after intermission. A finale staged on a grand scale with principals and ensemble together is a grand finale.

fit-up#fit-upˈfɪt ʌp

noun — the assembly of scenery, rigging, lighting and sound in the theatre at the start of an engagement — the British term for what American crews call the load-in, though fit-up refers more narrowly to the building and hanging work rather than the trucking. On tour the fit-up is rehearsed to a schedule as tightly as the show itself, and a touring production's design is judged partly on how few hours its fit-up takes.

flat#flatflæt

noun — a lightweight rigid panel used as a building block of stage scenery, traditionally a timber frame covered in stretched canvas and painted, now often faced with plywood or hardboard. Flats are joined edge to edge to build walls, and can be fitted with door and window openings. A hard flat is solid-faced and takes texture and practical hardware well; a soft-covered flat is lighter and quicker to fly. Flats are braced from behind with stage weights and jacks.

fly#flyflaɪ

verb; noun — to raise scenery, drapes or lighting out of view above the stage, or lower it back in, using the theatre's rigging system. Scenery is said to fly in and fly out; the plural 'the flies' names the space overhead where it lives. A venue with the height and rigging to do this has flying facilities, and the crew who operate the system are the fly crew, working from the fly floor at the side of the stage. Flying performers on wires is a related but separate speciality with its own safety regime.

fly tower#fly-tow-erflaɪ ˈtaʊə

noun — the tall structure above a stage that houses the flying system, giving enough height to lift scenery and drops completely out of the audience's sight. A full-height fly tower is at least twice the height of the proscenium opening, so a backdrop can be flown out entirely rather than only partway. Inside it are the grid at the top, the battens that scenery hangs from, and the counterweight system that lets a small crew balance and move very heavy pieces by hand.

follow spot#fo-llow spotˈfɒloʊ ˈspɑːt

noun — a powerful, manually operated lighting instrument that an operator aims to follow a performer as they move around the stage, keeping them lit and separating them from everything behind. Follow spots are usually positioned at the back of the balcony or in a dedicated booth, and are run by a spot operator working from a cue sheet that names who to pick up, when, at what size and in what colour. Follow spot cues are among the few live, hand-operated elements left in a modern lighting rig.

footlights#foot-lightsˈfʊˌtlaɪts

noun — a row of lights set at floor level at the front of a stage, used to provide a part of the general illumination and to soften the heavy shadows produced by overhead lighting.

foreshadow#fore-sha-dowfɔːˈʃædəʊ

verb — to hint, through dialogue, imagery or staging, at something that will happen later in the piece. Foreshadowing prepares an audience so that a later development lands as inevitable rather than arbitrary, without giving away what is coming. A gun visible in the first act, a line that means one thing on first hearing and another in retrospect, or a musical phrase planted early and reprised at the climax are all forms of it.

fourth wall#fourth-wallˈfɔːrθ ˈwɒl

noun — the imaginary fourth side of a naturalistic stage set, through which the audience watches, and which the performers behave as though it were solid. Maintaining the fourth wall means playing the scene as if unobserved; breaking it means acknowledging the audience directly, whether through a single glance or through sustained direct address. Musicals break it constantly and without comment, since a character singing outward is already speaking to the house.

front of house#front-of-housefrʌnt əv ˈhaʊs

noun — every part of a theatre on the audience's side of the proscenium arch, including the auditorium itself and the public areas around it — foyer, box office, bars, cloakrooms and toilets. Front of house is also the name for the department that runs those spaces: the house manager, ushers and box office staff who admit, seat and look after the audience. In sound, 'FOH' additionally means the main mixing position out in the house.

G

gel#geldʒel

noun — a thin sheet of coloured translucent plastic placed in front of a lighting instrument to colour its beam. The name survives from the original material, gelatine, which faded and melted; modern gels are polyester or polycarbonate and are catalogued by number, so a designer specifies a colour by a code every supplier recognises. Gel is cut to size and dropped into the colour frame at the front of the instrument. Diffusion and frost are supplied in the same format.

gesture#ges-tureˈdʒestʃə

noun; verb — a movement of the hand, arm or body used expressively in performance. In naturalistic acting gesture is expected to arise from the character's impulse rather than be applied decoratively, and directors frequently note actors for gesture that illustrates the text rather than springing from intention. In stylised forms — classical dance drama, mime, some period acting traditions — gesture is codified and carries specific agreed meanings.

ghostlight#ghost-lightˈɡəʊstlaɪt

noun — a light left burning overnight on stage for the safety of those navigating a dark theatre; also to keep friendly spirits illuminated and unfriendly spirits at bay; also believed to keep the theatrical muse in a "dark" theatre

gobo#go-boˈɡəʊbəʊ

noun — a thin metal or glass template placed in the gate of a lighting instrument so that the beam projects a pattern rather than a plain pool of light. Gobos are how a stage acquires dappled leaves, window frames, prison bars, clouds or abstract texture without any physical scenery. Steel gobos give hard-edged monochrome patterns; glass gobos can carry photographic detail and colour. Rotating and layered gobos are used to suggest water, fire and moving cloud.

God mic#God micɡɒd maɪk

noun — the microphone at the production desk that lets the director, stage manager or designer address the whole theatre — stage, house and backstage — during a technical rehearsal. The name comes from the effect of a disembodied voice arriving from nowhere in particular to stop the room. It is a working tool rather than a piece of show equipment, and is used to halt a run, give a note across a distance, or call a hold.

grand finale#grand fi-na-leˈgrænd fɪˈnɑːli

noun — a finale staged on the largest possible scale, bringing the principals and the full ensemble together for the closing number. The grand finale is designed as the evening's biggest visual and musical statement, and often reprises the score's most recognisable material so that the audience leaves with it. The convention comes from nineteenth-century spectacle and revue, and the phrase has passed into general use for any climactic ending.

greasepaint#grease-paintˈɡriːspeɪnt

noun — grease-based makeup applied to the face and body, traditionally sold in sticks and named for its oily base. Greasepaint was developed in the nineteenth century for gaslit and then early electric stages, where strong colour was needed to keep features visible under harsh light and at a distance. Modern productions largely use cream and cake makeup instead, but the word survives in the phrase 'the smell of the greasepaint' as shorthand for theatre life itself.

green room#green roomɡriːn ruːm

noun — a lounge near the stage where performers wait, rest and receive visitors when they are not required onstage or in their dressing rooms. Green rooms have been recorded in English theatres since the seventeenth century, though the origin of the name is uncertain — proposed explanations include the colour of the original room's walls and the greenery once stored there. The term has since spread to television, radio and concert venues.

grid#gridɡrɪd

noun — the support structure close to the top of the fly tower on which the pulleys of the flying system are supported. Constructed from metal or wooden beams; arrangement of scaffolding from which lamps are hung in a performance space with no flying facilities.

H

half#halfhɑːf

noun — the call given to the company thirty-five minutes before curtain, marking the point from which performers must be in the building. Despite the name it is given half an hour before beginners' or places call rather than before curtain up. It is the first in the standard sequence of calls made by stage management — the half, the quarter, the five, then places — and the convention is British in origin.

histrionic#his-tri-o-nicˌhɪstrɪˈɒnɪk

adjective; noun — relating to acting or actors, and now used far more often in its pejorative sense: excessively theatrical, overwrought or melodramatic behaviour, especially offstage. The word comes from the Latin 'histrio', an actor. In modern usage the neutral sense has almost entirely given way to the critical one, and to call a performance histrionic is unambiguously an insult.

house#houseˈhaʊs

noun — the auditorium, and by extension the audience occupying it on a given night. To 'open the house' is to admit the audience; the 'house count' is how many people are in; a 'good house' is a responsive one. The house manager runs it, house seats are held out of it, and house lights illuminate it. Performers routinely speak of playing to the house, and how a house behaves — where it laughs, when it goes quiet — varies noticeably from performance to performance.

house left#house-lefthaʊz ˈleft

noun — the left-hand side of the auditorium from the point of view of an audience member facing the stage — the same physical side of the building as stage right. House directions exist because front-of-house staff, ushers and lighting designers need to describe the room from the audience's perspective, while everyone onstage is working from the opposite one. Seat numbering and box office plans use house left and house right rather than stage directions.

house lights#house-lightshaʊz laɪts

noun — the lighting in the auditorium, controlled from the lighting console and faded out as the performance begins. Taking the house lights down is the signal that quiets a room, and bringing them up at the end releases the audience; they are also raised at intermission and for the curtain call. House lights are separately circuited from the stage rig, and the exact timing of the fade is written as a cue and called by the stage manager like any other.

house manager#house ma-na-gerhaʊz ˈmænədʒər

noun — an individual that oversees front-of-house operations at a theatre; persons responsible for the day-to-day operations of the venue, from prepping the house to overseeing the front-of-house staff

house right#house-righthaʊz ˈraɪt

noun — the right-hand side of the auditorium from the point of view of an audience member facing the stage — the same physical side of the building as stage left. Front-of-house staff, box office plans and lighting positions all use house directions, while everyone working onstage uses stage directions, which are reversed. Confusing the two is a standard source of miscommunication between the technical and front-of-house departments.

house seats#house seatshaʊs siːts

noun — seats held back from public sale for the use of the production — reserved for the producers, creative team, cast, investors and press, and released shortly before the performance if unclaimed. Every Broadway production holds a block of them under contract, distributed by agreement among the parties. Because they are usually prime locations, house seats are one of the more valuable perquisites attached to working on or investing in a show.

hydraulic#hy-drau-lichaɪˈdrɔːlɪk

noun; adjective — system of controlling machinery or moving scenery using oil or water under pressure to move a piston or "ram". Used in many large-scale shows to automate scene changes.

I

I want song#I want songaɪ wɒnt sɒŋ

noun — an early song, usually the leading character's first solo, in which they state what they long for — establishing the desire that will drive the plot and giving the audience someone to follow. It is one of the most reliable structural conventions in the musical: 'Wouldn't It Be Loverly' in My Fair Lady, 'Corner of the Sky' in Pippin and 'Part of Your World' in The Little Mermaid all do this work. Without one, an audience often struggles to invest in a protagonist.

IATSE / I.A.T.S.E.#I-A-T-S-Eaɪˈætsi

noun — the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the North American labour union representing the crafts behind live performance and film — stagehands, carpenters, electricians, sound technicians, dressers, hair and makeup artists, and projectionists among others. Founded in 1893, IATSE negotiates the collective agreements that govern crew pay, hours, staffing levels and safety in Broadway houses and most major venues. Its members are organised into local branches, with Local One representing New York stagehands.

impresario#im-pre-sar-i-oˌɪmprɪˈsɑːrɪəʊ

noun — a producer, especially one who presents musical and spectacular entertainments, and particularly one who operates on personal flair and reputation. The word is Italian, from 'impresa', an undertaking. It carries a period flavour and is now used more often of historical figures such as Florenz Ziegfeld or Sergei Diaghilev than of the modern producer, whose work is far more a matter of syndicated financing, contracts and marketing than of one showman's taste.

improvisation#im-prov-i-sa-tionˌɪmprəvaɪˈzeɪʃn̩

noun — performance created in the moment rather than from a script. Improvisation is used as a rehearsal tool, where a director sets a scenario to help actors discover character or find material that is later written down; as a survival skill when something goes wrong onstage; and as a performance form in its own right, in which scenes are built from audience suggestions. Improvised material added to a licensed script is interpolation and requires the author's permission.

improvise#im-pro-viseˈɪmprəvaɪz

verb — to invent lines, business or music in the moment rather than performing what is written — to ad-lib. Improvisation is a rehearsal-room tool for discovering character and finding material that later gets written down, a survival skill when something goes wrong in performance, and a performance form in its own right. Improvising new material into a copyrighted script during a licensed production is not permitted without the author's consent.

inflection#in-flec-tionɪnˈflekʃn̩

noun — the rise and fall of pitch in an actor's voice across a line, used to shade meaning and reveal emotion. Inflection is one of the primary tools of vocal delivery: the same words inflected differently can read as a question, an accusation or a joke. Flat or monotonous inflection is a common note in rehearsal, and heavily patterned inflection — a sing-song delivery applied regardless of sense — is a habit directors work hard to break.

ingenue#in-gen-ueˌɪnˈdʒenjuː

noun — the role of a young, innocent or naive woman, and by extension a performer who plays such roles. The word is French for 'ingenuous'. Ingenue is one of the traditional casting types alongside the juvenile, its male counterpart, the leading man and woman, and the character actor. The type has been steadily complicated in contemporary writing, and the term now carries a slightly archaic flavour when used straight rather than ironically.

intermission#in-ter-mis-sionˌɪntəˈmɪʃn̩

noun — a break between the parts of a play, musical or concert, during which the audience may leave their seats. Known in the UK as the interval. Broadway intermissions typically run fifteen to twenty minutes and are commercially significant, since concession and merchandise sales are concentrated there. Backstage, intermission is working time: scenery is reset, props are re-preset, costumes are changed and notes are passed before the second act begins.

interpolation#in-ter-po-la-tionɪnˌtɜːpəˈleɪʃn̩

noun — Dialogue, song, or stage business inserted into a script by a performer or director. Interpolation is illegal in copyrighted works without the permission of the author(s) or their representative (agent)

J

jackknife#jack-knifedʒæknaɪf

noun — a wheeled platform pivoted at one corner so it can swing on and off stage like the blade of a pocket knife, carrying a complete scenic unit with it. Jackknife stages allow a fully dressed set to arrive in a few seconds without being carried on piece by piece, and are often used in pairs on either side of the stage so that two locations can alternate. The mechanism predates powered automation and can be operated by hand.

Jacobean Drama#Ja-co-be-an Dra-maˌdʒækəˈbɪən ˈdrɑːmə

noun — the English drama written during the reign of James I, from 1603 to 1625, and sometimes extended to the closing of the theatres in 1642. Jacobean plays are characterised by darker and more cynical material than their Elizabethan predecessors, with a strong line in revenge tragedy and city comedy. The period includes Shakespeare's late plays, along with the work of Webster, Middleton, Ford and Jonson.

juvenile#ju-ven-ileˈdʒuːvənaɪl

noun — the role of a young man, and by extension a performer who plays such roles — the male counterpart to the ingenue. Juvenile is one of the traditional casting types, alongside leading man and woman, character actor and ingenue, and belongs to a period when companies were engaged by line of business rather than cast show by show. The term is now largely historical, though the type it describes remains a staple of musical theatre.

K

key light#key lightkiː laɪt

noun — the dominant light source in a lighting state — the one that establishes the apparent direction the light is coming from and does most of the work of modelling faces and bodies. Everything else in the state is built in relation to it: fill light softens the shadows the key creates, and backlight separates the performer from the scenery behind. Motivating the key light from a practical source such as a window or a lamp is a basic tool for making stage light read as daylight, firelight or moonlight.

kill#killkɪl

verb — to switch something off or take it away — 'kill the followspot', 'kill that chair'. It is standard, unremarkable backstage shorthand rather than anything dramatic, and is used across the lighting, sound and stage departments for anything that needs to stop or be removed immediately. The related term 'strike' means specifically to remove a physical object from the stage, while 'kill' is also used for cutting power or sound.

L

lead#leadliːd

noun — a principal role in a production, and the performer who plays it. A lead carries the central story and usually the largest share of the singing and stage time; the term is looser than 'principal', which in a union context is a defined contractual category. Billing distinguishes a lead above the title from featured and ensemble players. Leads are covered by a standby or an understudy so the show can go on if they are out.

leg#legleɡ

noun — drapes set as masking pieces at the side of the acting area. Usually set up in pairs across the stage and used in conjunction with borders to frame the audiences' view

libretto#li-bret-tolɪˈbretəʊ

noun — the text of a musical, opera or operetta — all the words, meaning both the spoken dialogue and the sung lyrics. The word is Italian for 'little book', from the small printed booklets sold to opera audiences. The person who writes it is the librettist. In the American musical the term is often split: the 'book' means the spoken scenes and the dramatic structure, credited to the bookwriter, while the sung words are credited separately to the lyricist. Oscar Hammerstein II wrote both for Rodgers and Hammerstein.

license#li-censeˈlaɪsns

noun — permission granted to produce a play or musical secured by paying a royalty to the author and/or licenser; terms of a license govern how the copyrighted work must be presented

lighting designer#light-ing de-sign-erˌlaɪtɪŋ dɪˈzaɪnə

noun — the member of the creative team responsible for the look of a production's lighting: how the stage is lit, what the audience sees and does not see, and how light supports mood, time, place and focus. The designer produces a light plot specifying every instrument, its position, colour and purpose, then sets each cue during technical rehearsals with the director. The work is recognised with its own Tony Award, awarded separately for plays and musicals.

line#linelaɪn

noun — a rope or wire used to hang and move scenery in the flying system; also a portion of a script's dialogue. The two senses are unrelated and context makes them obvious — 'the line is fouled' concerns rigging, 'the line is cut' concerns text. In rigging, a set of lines attached to a single batten is a line set. In performance, to be 'off the line' is to have departed from the written text.

lines#lineslaɪnz

noun — the scripted dialogue assigned to a particular character, and by extension an actor's whole share of the text. To learn lines is to memorise them; to be off book is to have done so; to call for a line is to ask the stage manager to prompt you in rehearsal; and to drop or go up on a line is to lose it in performance. An actor's line count is a rough measure of the size of a role.

load out#load-outˈləʊd ˈaʊt

noun; verb — the process of dismantling a production and removing its scenery, lighting, sound equipment and costumes from a theatre at the end of an engagement, and the period set aside to do it. A load-out is far faster than the load-in that preceded it, since nothing needs to be aligned or focused, and a touring production may load out overnight to reach the next city. The dismantling itself is the strike.

load-in#load-inˈləʊd ɪn

noun; verb — the process of moving a production's scenery, props, lighting, sound and costumes into a theatre and assembling it all on stage, and the period of time set aside to do it. A Broadway load-in for a large musical can run several weeks and is the single most labour-intensive stretch of the production calendar; a touring one-nighter may load in, perform and load out inside twenty-four hours. The reverse process at the end of a run is the load-out.

luminaire#lu-mi-naireˌluːmɪˈneə

noun — the formal term for a complete lighting instrument — the housing, lamp, reflector, lens and any shutters or controls, taken as one unit. It is standard in technical specifications and international lighting standards, where 'light' or 'lamp' would be ambiguous, since a lamp strictly means only the bulb inside. In everyday backstage speech American crews usually say 'instrument' or 'fixture' and British crews say 'lantern'; 'luminaire' is the word that appears on the paperwork.

lyricist#lyr-i-cistˈlɪrɪsɪst

noun — the writer responsible for the words that are sung in a musical, as distinct from the composer who writes the music and the bookwriter who writes the spoken scenes. Lyric writing is a discipline of extreme compression: a lyric must be comprehensible on a single hearing, sit naturally on the melody, sound like the character speaking, and advance the story. Some writers do more than one job — Stephen Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics for most of his shows.

M

mainstage#main-stageˈmeɪnsteɪdʒ

noun — the principal performance space of a theatre company or venue, as distinct from its smaller studio, black box or second stage. A company's mainstage season is its largest-scale programming, with the biggest budgets, longest runs and widest audience appeal, while the studio space typically houses new work, experimental staging and productions aimed at narrower audiences. Many organisations use the two deliberately in tandem, developing work in the smaller space before promoting it.

manuscript#man-u-scriptˈmænjʊskrɪpt

noun — The printed or unprinted text of a dramatic composition. The word "script" is a shortened form of this word, but now refers to the printed text.

marquee#mar-queemɑːˈkiː

noun — a canopy or roof that projects over a theatre entrance towards the street, usually bearing a sign that advertises the names of the theatre, current production, actors, etc.

masking#mask-ingˈmɑːskɪŋ

noun — any neutral material or designed scenery used to conceal the technical areas of a theatre from the audience while defining the edges of the performance space. Legs, borders, tormentors and teasers are all masking. Getting masking right is a matter of sightlines: it must work from the extreme seats at either side and from the highest and lowest rows, since a gap that reads as solid from the centre may expose the wings entirely from the end of a row.

Master of Ceremonies#Ma-ster of Ce-re-mo-niesmɑ:stər əv ˈserɪmənɪz

noun — the host of an event, tasked with introducing its component parts, holding the evening together between them and managing the audience's attention. Abbreviated to M.C. and thence to 'emcee'. The role belongs to variety bills, cabaret, concerts, benefits and awards ceremonies rather than to plays, and can also be a written character: the Emcee in Kander and Ebb's Cabaret is a leading role constructed entirely from the function.

matinee#ma-ti-neeˈmætəˌne

noun — a performance given in the daytime, usually the afternoon. Broadway productions typically play two matinees a week alongside six evening performances, making up the standard eight-show schedule. Matinee audiences have a reputation for a different temperature from evening houses, and matinee days are the most physically demanding of the week for a company. The word comes from the French 'matin', morning, despite almost no matinee actually taking place in the morning.

mic pack#mic packmaɪk pæk

noun — the belt-worn radio transmitter that carries a performer's wireless microphone signal to the sound desk. The pack is concealed in the costume or a wig, connected to a fine head-worn or hairline microphone, and handed out and collected by the sound crew before and after every performance. Packs are assigned by channel number, and battery changes, sweat protection and radio frequency coordination across a large cast are a substantial part of a sound department's daily work.

milliner#mill-i-nerˈmɪlɪnə

noun — an artist who designs and makes hats and headpieces for a production, working from the costume designer's drawings. Millinery is a specialist craft within the costume shop, since a stage hat must read from the back of the house, survive eight shows a week, stay on through choreography, and often come off in a quick change. The word comes from Milan, long associated with fine hats and trimmings.

monitor#mon-i-torˈmɒnɪtə

noun — an onstage speaker which allows a performer to hear the output of the PA system, or other members of a band; a video display screen

monologue#mon-o-logueˈmɒnəlɒɡ

noun — an extended speech delivered by a single character, either to other characters onstage or directly to the audience. Monologues are the standard currency of the audition room, where performers keep a prepared set — usually one classical and one contemporary, one comic and one dramatic — ready to offer. A monologue differs from a soliloquy, which is specifically a character alone onstage revealing their private thoughts.

N

naturalism#na-tu-ral-ismˈnætʃrəlɪzəm

noun — realism; attempting to depict life and society as it is. Usually used to describe a play in its entirety, but also the individual work of a director or actor.

noises off#noi-ses offˈnɔɪzɪz ɒf

noun — sound effects produced offstage to suggest action happening out of sight — thunder, breaking glass, a car arriving, a crowd. The term is also a stage direction written into scripts. Traditionally these were made live in the wings with physical devices such as a thunder sheet or a wind machine, and many productions still prefer live effects for their unpredictability. Michael Frayn's farce Noises Off takes its title from the direction.

nonprofessional#non-pro-fes-sion-alˌnɑːnprəˈfeʃənəl

noun — said of a production or company that operates outside professional union contracts — what is more commonly called amateur or community theatre. The distinction is contractual rather than a judgement of quality: nonprofessional companies pay lower licensing royalties, are not bound by union agreements on rehearsal hours, casting or pay, and are staffed largely by volunteers. Licensing houses set different royalty rates for professional and nonprofessional productions of the same work.

number#num-berˈnʌmbə

noun — a single song or dance in a musical, so called because each item in the score is numbered for the orchestra's convenience. A production number is a large-scale ensemble item with full company, choreography and orchestration; a solo number belongs to one character. Numbers are the structural units of a musical, and where they fall — and what each is required to accomplish dramatically — is one of the central questions of the form.

O

off book#off-bookɒf bʊk

noun; verb — an actor or cast who has memorized their lines; to memorize ones lines to the end of no longer requiring the use of a script to perform

Off-Broadway#Off Broad-wayɒf ˈbrɔːdweɪ

noun — any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100.

offstage#off-stageɒf steɪdʒ

noun — out of the audience's sight, and the areas to either side of the acting space where performers wait and crew work. An offstage sound is one made out of view, and an offstage character is one referred to but never seen. 'Offstage' also carries a broader sense of a performer's life away from performance. The related direction to move offstage means to move toward the nearest side of the stage from the centre.

open#o-penˈəʊpən

verb — to begin a production's official run. Opening night is the performance at which the show is declared finished, the press embargo lifts and reviews appear, and it is preceded by a period of previews during which the production is still being changed. Opening is a contractual milestone as well as a ceremonial one: it freezes the show, ending the creative team's right to alter it, and is traditionally followed by an opening night party.

operetta#op-er-et-taˌɒpəˈretə

noun — a light form of musical theatre with substantial singing, spoken dialogue and usually a comic or romantic plot, sitting between opera and the musical. Operetta flourished in Vienna, Paris and London in the nineteenth century through Offenbach, Johann Strauss II and Gilbert and Sullivan, and shaped the American musical directly through composers such as Victor Herbert and Sigmund Romberg. The style is marked by waltzes, patter and vocal writing closer to opera than to contemporary musical theatre.

orchestra pit#or-ches-tra pitˈɔːkɪstrə pɪt

noun — the sunken area between the stage and the front row of the audience where the orchestra plays. The pit keeps the musicians out of the audience's sightline while leaving the conductor visible to performers onstage, usually via monitors placed around the theatre. Pit size and the number of musicians a production must employ in a given house are set by agreement with the musicians' union, and are one of the more contested points in the economics of a Broadway musical.

orchestrations#or-ches-tra-tionsˌɔːkɪˈstreɪʃn̩z

noun — the assignment of a musical's written score to specific instruments — deciding what the strings, brass, reeds, keyboards and percussion each play, and thereby determining the sound the audience actually hears. The orchestrator works from the composer's piano score and is credited and awarded separately, since two orchestrations of the same song can produce entirely different effects. The size of the orchestra is set by contract with the musicians' union for the house.

out-of-town tryout#out-of-town try-outaʊt əv ˈtaʊn ˈtraɪaʊt

noun — a full production mounted in another city before a Broadway run, giving the creative team a chance to test and rework the show in front of paying audiences away from the New York press. Historically these were staged in cities such as New Haven, Boston and Philadelphia. The modern equivalent is more often a co-production with a major regional or non-profit theatre, which shares the development cost as well as the risk.

overture#o-ver-tureˈəʊvətjʊə

noun — an orchestral piece played before the curtain rises, introducing melodies from the score to come. The overture settles the audience, establishes the world's musical language and gives the orchestra its one moment of undivided attention. Many contemporary musicals have dropped the convention in favour of starting the action immediately, which is part of why a full overture — as in Gypsy — now reads as a deliberate stylistic choice rather than a default.

P

pace#pacepeɪs

noun; verb — the speed at which a production or any part of it plays — not simply how fast the lines are spoken, but the rate at which the action develops and the audience receives it. Pace is one of the most common notes a director gives, and a note to pick up pace usually means to tighten the gaps between cues rather than to speak faster. Pace is distinct from rhythm, which concerns the pattern of variation rather than the overall rate.

pantomime#pan-to-mimeˈpæntəmaɪm

noun; verb — wordless performance based in expressive movement of the body; a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is encouraged and expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers. Pantomime has a long theatrical history in Western culture dating back to classical theatre.

paper the house#pa-per the houseˈpeɪpə ðə haʊs

verb — to fill empty seats by distributing free or heavily discounted tickets, so that a performance plays to a full and responsive room rather than a visibly thin one. Producers paper the house during previews, at soft midweek performances, or when building word of mouth on a new production, because comedy in particular depends on the density of an audience. The free tickets themselves are known as paper.

patter song#pat-ter songˈpætə sɒŋ

noun — a comic song delivered at high speed with a dense syllable count, in which the humour lies partly in the sheer difficulty of getting the words out. The form is associated above all with Gilbert and Sullivan — 'I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General' is the archetype — and survives in modern musical theatre wherever a character is required to be verbally overwhelming. Patter demands exceptional diction and breath control.

performing edition#per-form-ing e-di-tionpəˈfɔːmɪŋ ɪˈdɪʃn̩

noun — a published text of a play prepared to reflect how it was actually staged rather than how it was originally written, incorporating cuts, revisions and staging detail from a particular production. Performing editions typically include stage directions recording the original blocking, along with practical material such as props lists and set plans, and are issued by licensing houses for the use of producing companies rather than for reading.

pitch#pitchpɪtʃ

noun; verb — the height to which a voice is raised in tone; to raise or lower the voice, not in volume, but according to the musical scale

places#pla-cesˈpleɪsɪz

noun — the final call before a performance begins, instructing the company to take their positions onstage or in the wings for the opening. Places follows the sequence of calls given by stage management through the half hour before curtain — the half, the quarter, the five, then places — and once it has been given the show is effectively running. In UK houses the equivalent call is 'beginners'.

play#playˈpleɪ

noun — a work of theatrical storytelling carried by spoken dialogue rather than song, as distinct from a musical. Plays are conventionally divided into acts and scenes and range from a ten-minute short to an evening in several parts. On Broadway plays and musicals are separate categories at every level — different Tony Award races, different economics, and typically shorter runs and smaller budgets for plays, which usually carry no orchestra, no ensemble and a shorter rehearsal period.

Playbill#Play-billˈpleɪbɪl

noun — the program distributed free to audiences at Broadway and many other American theatres, containing the cast list, song list, performer biographies, production credits and any insert announcing a cast substitution. The publication has been produced since the 1880s and its yellow-and-black masthead is one of the most recognisable pieces of design in American theatre. Collecting them is a long-standing habit among theatregoers, and a lower-case 'playbill' historically meant any printed poster or program advertising a performance.

playwright#play-wrightˈpleɪraɪt

noun — a person who writes plays. The playwright supplies the text — dialogue, structure and stage directions — that a production interprets, and under the Dramatists Guild's standard terms retains ownership of that text, so no word may be changed in a licensed production without permission. The '-wright' ending means a maker or builder, as in shipwright or wheelwright, which is why the word is not spelled 'playwrite'. A playwright who adapts existing material into a play or musical is a dramatist.

preset#pre-setˈpriːset

noun; verb — the state everything is put into before an audience arrives or before a scene begins — props laid out on their tables and on the set, scenery positioned, the opening lighting state up, costumes hung in order. To preset is to establish that state. Preset checks are run by stage management before every performance from a written list, and a missed preset is one of the most common causes of a problem once the show is running.

previews#pre-viewsˈpriːvjuːz

noun — public performances given before a production's official opening night, at which the show is still being worked on. Audiences pay to attend previews knowing the production may change between one performance and the next: songs are cut, scenes restaged, and rewrites rehearsed during the day and played that evening. Critics are embargoed until opening. A Broadway musical typically plays several weeks of previews, which is where much of its final shape is found.

principal#prin-ci-palˈprɪnsəpl̩

noun — a performer engaged to play a named leading or featured role, as distinct from a member of the ensemble. In union terms 'principal' is a contractual category carrying its own minimum salary, billing entitlements and working conditions, not merely a description of a part's size. A production's principals are typically covered by standbys or understudies, and a performer may be contracted in the ensemble while also understudying a principal role.

producer#pro-du-cerprəˈdjuːsə

noun — the person who assembles and finances a production: acquiring the rights, raising the capital, hiring the creative team, booking the theatre, setting the budget and overseeing marketing. The producer carries the commercial risk and, if the show recoups, the return. A lead producer runs the enterprise while co-producers and investors contribute capital; the Tony Award for Best Musical is presented to the producers, since the production as a whole is their work.

prop#propprɒp

noun — short for 'property'. Any object used in a performance that cannot be classified as scenery, technical equipment or costume — a letter, a teacup, a sword, a suitcase. Props handled by actors during the action are hand props; those carried in a costume pocket are personal props; those that dress the set but are not touched are set props. Props are tracked on a props table in the wings, preset before each performance and checked by the stage management team.

proscenium#pro-sce-ni-umprəˈsiːniəm

noun — the architectural frame that separates the stage from the auditorium in a traditional theatre, and the arch that forms it. The proscenium creates a single fixed picture-frame through which the whole audience views the action, which is why this configuration is sometimes called picture-frame staging. Almost every Broadway house is a proscenium theatre. The frame defines what can be masked and hidden, making the proscenium the reference point for a great deal of theatre vocabulary: front of house, back of house, tormentors, teasers and the apron are all described in relation to it.

put-in rehearsal#put-in re-hear-salˈpʊt ɪn rɪˈhɜːsl̩

noun — a full rehearsal staged to integrate a new performer into a running production, with the rest of the company present, so that the replacement can run their part in context before facing an audience. Put-ins are held on stage, often with costumes and sometimes with the orchestra, and are how a long-running show absorbs cast turnover without ever going dark. For the incoming performer it is frequently the only complete run they get.

Q

quarter#quar-terˈkwɔːtə

noun — the call given to the company fifteen minutes before a performance begins — one of the standard sequence of calls made by stage management, which runs the half, the quarter, the five and then places. As with 'the half', the times are counted to beginners' call rather than to curtain up, so the quarter is given thirty minutes before the advertised start. The convention is British in origin and is standard in UK theatres.

quick change#quick changekwɪk tʃeɪndʒ

noun — a costume change that must be completed in a very short time, sometimes under thirty seconds, usually offstage in the wings with one or more dressers assisting. Quick changes are engineered into the costumes themselves — magnets, velcro, hidden zips, garments built to be stepped into rather than pulled on — and are rehearsed as carefully as choreography. A quick-change booth is a small curtained space set up in the wings for the purpose.

R

radio play#ra-di-o playˌreɪdɪəʊ ˈpleɪ

noun — a drama written specifically for an audio-only medium, in which everything the audience understands must be carried by voice, sound effects and music. Radio plays cannot rely on anything visual, so exposition, location and physical action have to be established through dialogue and sound design. The form flourished from the 1920s through the 1950s, and has been revived through podcast drama and audio-first commissioning.

rake#rakereɪk

adjective; noun — the upward slope of a stage away from the audience, or of an auditorium floor toward the back. A raked stage tilts up as it runs upstage, which improves sightlines and is the origin of the terms upstage and downstage themselves. Raked stages were standard for centuries and are still built for particular productions, though they are physically punishing for dancers. A raked auditorium, by contrast, is near-universal and simply lets each row see over the one in front.

read for a part#read-for-a-partriːd fər ə pɑːt

verb — to read aloud from a script at an audition, for a director or casting team. The material may be sides supplied in advance or handed over minutes beforehand as a cold reading. Reading well for a part is a specific skill distinct from performing a prepared piece: it requires taking meaning off the page quickly, making clear choices without rehearsal, and lifting the eyes from the script often enough to play the scene rather than recite it.

reading#read-ingˈriːdɪŋ

noun; verb — a presentation of a new play or musical in which performers read from scripts, seated or with minimal movement, without sets, costumes or staging. Readings let writers hear the work aloud and let producers and artistic directors assess it, and sit at the earliest end of the development ladder below a workshop and a full production. An industry reading is presented to invited professionals; a public reading is often followed by an audience discussion.

rehearse#re-hearserɪˈhɜːs

verb — to prepare a production for performance: to work with actors on lines, characterisation, blocking and business until the whole becomes coherent and repeatable. A rehearsal process typically moves from read-through to blocking, then scene work, then runs, then technical and dress rehearsals. Rehearsal hours and conditions are governed by union agreement, and rehearsal continues after opening in the form of brush-up, understudy and put-in calls.

repertory#rep-er-toryˈrepətr̩i

noun — a performing arts organization, usually with a permanent company of actors, where each production has a run of limited length; multiple plays performed on a rotating schedule

reprise#re-priserɪˈpriːz

noun; verb — the return of a song, or part of one, later in a musical, usually with altered lyrics or a changed dramatic meaning. A reprise works because the audience already knows the tune: hearing it again after events have moved on measures how far a character has travelled. A song sung hopefully in Act One and bitterly in Act Two is doing something no new number could. Reprises also tie a score together and are a standard component of a finale.

revolve#re-volverɪˈvɒlv

noun — a turntable built into or laid onto the stage floor, on which action can be played and scenery preset and then driven into view. A revolve allows continuous, cinematic transitions in which one location turns away as the next arrives, without a blackout or a visible scene change. The device is centuries old but is associated in modern musical theatre above all with the original production of Les Misérables, where it was fundamental to the staging.

rigging#rig-gingˈrɪɡɪŋ

noun — the ropes, wires, blocks, pulleys, pins, counterweights and associated hardware used to suspend and move scenery, drapes and lighting above the stage. A counterweight system lets a small crew balance and fly very heavy pieces by hand. Rigging is the most safety-critical work in a theatre, since it involves loads suspended over people, and it is governed by inspection regimes, load limits and — in most professional houses — restriction to qualified personnel.

rights#rightsraɪts

noun — the author, via the representative or publisher, confers on a theater company the right to produce a staged production as set forth in the contract signed by the producing company.

road show#road-showrəʊd ʃəʊ

noun — a production that tours rather than sitting in a single theatre. A road show plays a series of engagements — a week here, three nights there — and its scenery, lighting and sound are designed to be loaded in, played and loaded out fast, often in a single day. In North America a Broadway show's touring life is frequently the larger part of its commercial return, and a first national tour may run for years after the New York production has closed.

rush#rushrʌʃ

noun — discounted tickets sold on the day of performance, usually at the box office when it opens and usually in limited numbers. General rush is open to anyone; student rush requires valid student identification. Rush is one of several mechanisms — alongside lotteries and standing room — by which productions fill seats that would otherwise go empty while giving younger and lower-income audiences a way in at a fraction of the usual price.

S

scene#scenesiːn

noun — section of a play or musical depicting a different location or different day or time; the location in which a dramatic action is supposed to occur

scenery#sce-ner-yˈsiːnəri

noun — the elements of a stage setting, especially those made of wood and canvas, or any other material used to construct platforms, flats, walls, doors and backdrops

score#scoreskɔː

noun — the written music of a theatrical work, and the body of songs and underscoring a composer creates for it. A piano/vocal score contains the vocal lines with a piano reduction and is what performers rehearse from; the full score contains every orchestral part and is what the conductor works from. 'Score' also names the music as an artistic whole, as when a musical is praised for its score. Distinguish it from the book, which is the spoken text, and the libretto, which is all the words.

scrim#scrimskrɪm

noun — a loosely woven gauze cloth used as a drop. Lit from the front, a scrim reads as a solid painted surface; lit from behind with the front light taken out, it turns transparent and reveals whatever is behind it. That single property makes it one of the most useful materials in the theatre — used for dissolves between locations, for ghostly reveals, and for softening a scene into memory or dream. A sharkstooth scrim gives the cleanest disappearing effect.

sides#sidessaɪdz

noun — short extracts from a script — a page or two containing a particular scene — given to actors to read at an audition or callback rather than the full text. Sides let a casting team hear specific material and compare candidates on the same passage, and are often released only a day or even minutes in advance. The term dates from a period when actors were given only their own lines with cues, rather than a complete script.

sitzprobe#sitz-probeˈzɪtsˌprəʊbə

noun — from the German for 'seated rehearsal', the first rehearsal in which the cast sings the score with the full orchestra rather than with a rehearsal piano. Nobody stages anything and nobody moves; the singers sit or stand and simply sing, so that everyone can hear how the vocal lines sit against the orchestrations for the first time. It is traditionally one of the most emotional days of a production period, and companies now often film it. A sitzprobe held with the cast standing and lightly moving is sometimes called a wandelprobe.

sound designer#sound de-sign-erˈsaʊnd dɪˈzaɪnə

noun — An artist responsible for all of the sound-related needs of a given production, providing the design for all pre-recorded music, sound effects, and the reinforcement of live voices, musical instruments and sound elements.

spike#spikespaɪk

verb; noun — to mark a position on the stage floor with tape so that scenery, furniture or a performer can be returned to exactly the same place at every performance. The marks themselves are spike marks, laid in small strips of coloured tape, with different colours often assigned to different scenes. Spiking is done during technical rehearsals and is what allows a set to be reassembled identically eight times a week in the dark.

stage business#stage bus-i-nesssteɪdʒ ˈbɪznəs

noun — the small physical activity an actor performs during a scene — pouring a drink, folding laundry, loading a pipe — as distinct from blocking, which is where they move. Business gives a character something to do with their hands, controls the rhythm of a scene, and can carry as much characterisation as the dialogue. Business invented in rehearsal often becomes fixed in the staging, and business added to a licensed script without permission counts as interpolation.

stage door#stage doorsteɪdʒ dɔː

noun — the performers' and crew's entrance to a theatre, separate from the public front-of-house doors and controlled by a stage door keeper who signs people in and out. It is also where audience members gather after a performance to meet the cast, a ritual known as stage dooring. The call board, the sign-in sheet and the company's mail are traditionally kept just inside it.

stage left#stage-leftsteɪdʒ ˈleft

noun — the left-hand side of the stage from the point of view of a performer facing the audience — which is the audience's right. Stage directions are always given from the actor's perspective, which is why stage left and house left are opposite sides of the same room. Written SL, and combined with upstage and downstage to give the nine standard stage areas: USL, USC, USR, SL, C, SR, DSL, DSC, DSR.

stage manager#stage man-ag-ersteɪdʒ ˈmænɪdʒə

noun — the person who runs a production in performance and holds it together in rehearsal. In rehearsal the stage manager records blocking, tracks changes to the script, and coordinates the schedule; in performance they call the show, giving every lighting, sound, scenery and automation cue over headset from the prompt book. Once a production opens the stage manager is responsible for maintaining it as the director staged it. In the United States stage managers are members of Actors' Equity Association.

stage right#stage-rightsteɪdʒ ˈraɪt

noun — the right-hand side of the stage from the point of view of a performer facing the audience — which is the audience's left. Abbreviated SR. Because all stage directions are given from the actor's perspective rather than the audience's, a director asking for a move stage right is asking the actor to move toward what the house sees as its own left. The convention is universal, and the corresponding audience-side terms are house left and house right.

stagecraft#stage-craftˈsteɪdʒkrɑːft

noun — the technical craft of staging a production — scenery, lighting, sound, props, rigging, costume construction and the practical skills that realise a design onstage. Stagecraft is the working knowledge of how effects are actually achieved, as distinct from design, which decides what they should be, and it is taught as a discipline in its own right. The word also extends to the general skill of making theatre work in practice.

standby#stand-byˈstændbaɪ

noun — a performer contracted to cover a single leading role who does not otherwise appear in the production. Unlike an understudy, who performs elsewhere in the show, a standby's whole job is readiness: they are present at the theatre or reachable within a set time for every performance, and may go months without going on. Star vehicles almost always carry a standby, because the role is too large to be covered by someone already dancing in the ensemble.

standing room only#stand-ing room on-lyˈstændɪŋ ruːm ˈəʊnli

noun — the condition of a performance for which every seat has been sold, and the standing places sold behind the last row of the orchestra when that happens. Usually abbreviated SRO. Standing room tickets are among the cheapest in the house and are typically released only once the performance is otherwise sold out. The abbreviation is also used more loosely in advertising to signal that a production is in heavy demand.

strike#strikestraɪk

verb; noun — to remove something from the stage — 'strike the chair' — and, as a noun, the process of dismantling an entire production at the end of its run. A strike takes down the set, clears the deck, restores the theatre to its bare state and returns or disposes of the scenery, and in a school or community theatre it is traditionally done by the whole company together on the final night. In professional practice the strike is the first phase of the load-out.

subtext#sub-textˈsʌbtekst

noun — what a character means, wants or feels beneath what they actually say. Subtext is the gap between line and intention, and playing it is much of what distinguishes acting from reading aloud. A line as flat as 'it's fine' can be delivered so that an audience understands it is anything but. Writers create room for subtext by leaving the important thing unstated; actors and directors identify it during rehearsal and build performances on it.

swing#swingswɪŋ

noun — an offstage performer who learns and covers multiple ensemble tracks so they can step into any of them at short notice. A swing may be responsible for six or eight different sets of choreography, harmonies, entrances and quick changes, kept straight in a swing book, and may be told an hour before curtain which track they are playing. A universal swing covers more than one company of the same show. Swings are among the most technically demanding jobs in musical theatre.

T

teaser#tea-serˈtiːzə

noun — a border, usually black, set behind the proscenium and linked with tormentors to form an inner frame to the stage, and to mask the upper parts of the fly tower

tech week#tech weektek wiːk

noun — the period immediately before a production opens in which lighting, sound, scenery, automation and costumes are added to the staging and rehearsed together for the first time. Tech is slow, technically driven and demanding on a company's patience, since actors may spend hours holding positions while cues are built. It typically runs through cue-to-cue, technical rehearsals and dress rehearsals, and in a school or amateur context is sometimes called hell week.

technical rehearsal#tech-ni-cal re-hear-salˈteknɪkl̩ rɪˈhɜːsl̩

noun — the first rehearsals in the theatre at which lighting, sound, scenery, automation and effects are added to the staging and made to work together. Technical rehearsals are slow by nature, with long holds while cues are set and recorded, and are usually preceded by a cue-to-cue that skips the material between cues. Actors work in costume for some or all of it, and the process leads into dress rehearsals and then previews.

theater#thea-terˈθiːətər

noun — a building or area designed for dramatic performances; by extension, a place or sphere in which significant events play out. A theater comprises the house, where the audience sits, and the stage, where the action happens, plus the backstage and front-of-house spaces that support both. Broadway houses are counted as theaters with 500 seats or more; Off-Broadway venues seat 100 to 499. In American usage 'theater' most often names the building, while 'theatre' names the art form — though the two spellings are used interchangeably in practice.

theatre#thea-treˈθiːətər

noun — dramatic representation as an art form or a profession — the whole discipline of staging stories live for an audience, as distinct from a theater, meaning the building. British and American usage split here: the UK spells both senses 'theatre', while American usage often reserves 'theatre' for the art form and 'theater' for the venue. In practice the two spellings are used interchangeably across the industry, and many American companies deliberately keep the 'theatre' spelling in their own names.

thespian#thes-pi-anˈθespɪən

noun — pertaining to acting, or an actor. Derived from the name of Thespis, a Greek tragic poet of the sixth century BC, who is said to have first introduced an actor into dramatic presentations, which until then had been performed only by a chorus with a leader.

thrust stage#thrust stageθrʌst steɪdʒ

noun — a stage configuration in which the acting area extends into the auditorium with the audience seated on three sides. A thrust brings the audience much closer to the action than a proscenium does and makes the staging inherently three-dimensional, since there is no single front and no possibility of masking from the sides. Shakespeare's Globe was effectively a thrust, and the form was revived in the twentieth century by theatres such as the Guthrie and the Stratford Festival.

thunder sheet#thun-der sheetˈθʌndə ʃiːt

noun — a large, thin suspended sheet of steel with handles, shaken or struck to produce a rolling sound very like thunder. It is one of the classic live sound-effect devices, alongside the wind machine and the rain box, and predates recorded sound in the theatre by centuries. Many productions still prefer it to a recording, because the sound is genuinely three-dimensional in the room and can be played live against the action.

tormentor#tor-men-tortɔːˈmentə

noun — a narrow masking flat standing just upstage of the proscenium, at or near right angles to it, that conceals the wings from the audience and narrows the visible opening. Tormentors work with the teaser above to form an inner frame around the stage picture, letting a designer tighten the proscenium opening to suit a particular production. The odd name is of uncertain origin and predates most of the other terms in the same family.

tracking#track-ingˈtrækɪŋ

noun — the complete path of everything one performer or crew member does across a performance — every entrance, exit, costume change, prop handled and piece of scenery moved, in order. Each such path is a track. Tracking documents are how swings learn multiple ensemble roles, how replacements are put into a running show, and how stage management guarantees that nothing is dropped when someone is out.

transverse#transverseˈtrænzvɜːs

adjective — a staging configuration in which the audience sits on two opposite sides of a long, narrow acting area, facing each other across it. Also called traverse or alley staging. It produces a strong sense of confrontation and makes every entrance visible from a distance, but it demands blocking that constantly shares the actors between the two banks of seating, and it severely limits the height and solidity of any scenery.

trap#traptræp

noun — an opening in the stage floor, fitted with a removable section or a hinged door, that allows performers, scenery or effects to appear from and disappear below the stage. Traps have been standard equipment since the Renaissance and gave rise to a whole vocabulary of effects: a grave trap for the gravedigger scene in Hamlet, a star trap for launching a performer upward at speed, a corner trap for a discreet exit. The space beneath is the trap room.

traveler#tra-vel-erˈtrævələ

noun — a draw curtain rigged to open and close horizontally by travelling along a track, rather than flying out overhead. A traveler can be centre-split, with two halves parting to the sides, or single-draw, pulled across from one side only. Travelers are used as act curtains and as mid-stage masking, letting a scene play downstage while the crew resets behind — one of the oldest and most reliable ways of keeping a show moving without a blackout.

U

understudy#un-der-stu-dyˈʌndəstʌdi

noun — a performer, usually cast in the ensemble or a smaller role, who is prepared to take over a larger role if the regular performer is out. Understudies rehearse separately in understudy rehearsals and may go on with very little notice; the audience is told by a slip in the program or an announcement before curtain. Distinguish an understudy, who performs elsewhere in the show, from a standby, who is contracted to cover one role and does not otherwise appear, and from an alternate, who is scheduled for a set number of performances each week.

understudy rehearsal#un-der-stu-dy re-hear-salˈʌndəstʌdi rɪˈhɜːsl̩

noun — a rehearsal call held for covers, at which understudies, standbys and swings work the roles they are responsible for. These calls are typically run by the resident or associate director and the dance captain rather than the original creative team, and are scheduled regularly through a run. Under Actors' Equity agreements a performer is entitled to a minimum amount of such rehearsal before they can be required to go on in a role.

upstage#up-stageˌʌpˈsteɪdʒ

adverb; verb — the area toward or at the rear of a theatrical stage, furthest from the audience; also, to upstage another actor is to draw the audience's attention away from them, originally by moving further upstage so that a scene partner has to turn away from the house to address you. The term survives well beyond the theatre: to upstage someone anywhere is to steal their moment. Both senses come from the raked stages of earlier centuries, which genuinely sloped upward as they ran away from the audience.

usher#ush-erˈʌʃər

noun — a member of front-of-house staff who greets audience members, checks tickets, shows them to their seats and hands out programs. Ushers also manage latecomers, watch for recording during the performance, and are part of the venue's safety plan in an evacuation. On Broadway they are represented by the Theatrical Protective Union and work under the house manager. In many regional and community theatres, ushering is done by volunteers, often in exchange for seeing the show.

V

vamp#vampvæmp

noun; verb — a short repeated musical figure played until a cue arrives, allowing the music to wait for the stage. A vamp covers an entrance, a costume change, applause or dialogue of unpredictable length, and is marked in the score as 'vamp till ready'. To vamp is to play that figure and keep playing it. A performer who needs the band to hold will signal the conductor, and the vamp simply cycles until the show is ready to move on.

vertical sight lines#ver-ti-cal-sight-linesˈvɜːtɪkl̩ saɪt laɪnz

noun — imaginary lines drawn from the highest and lowest audience seats to determine what parts of the stage and how much of the flying space are visible from them. Vertical sightlines govern how low borders and masking must hang to conceal the rig from the front row, and how high scenery must be to remain visible from the back of the balcony. They are checked at the design stage, since a masking error found during technical rehearsals is expensive to fix.

visual cue#vi-su-al cueˈvɪʒuəl kjuː

noun — a cue that a technician takes from something happening onstage — an actor reaching a mark, a door closing, a gesture — rather than from the stage manager calling it over headset. Visual cues are used where the timing must be tighter than a called cue allows, or where the action's exact timing varies from night to night. The operator watches for the trigger, which is written into their cue sheet as a description rather than a number.

vomitorium#vom-i-to-ri-umˌvɒmɪˈtɔːriəm

noun — a passageway, originally for spectators, used to clear the seating area in quick fashion; also used to describe a ramped passage that allows actors to run onstage from below (and run back).

W

wardrobe#war-drobeˈwɔːdrəʊb

noun — the general name for the costume department of a production or venue, covering its staff, its stock, and the space it occupies. Wardrobe maintains, launders and repairs every costume in the show, runs the quick changes during a performance, and keeps the costume plot up to date as casts change. On Broadway the department is staffed under IATSE, and the head of the department is the wardrobe supervisor. See also dresser and wardrobe plot.

wardrobe plot#war-drobe-plotˈwɔːdrəʊb plɒt

noun — a detailed inventory of every costume in a production, broken down actor by actor and scene by scene, listing each separate garment, accessory and item of underwear that makes up each look. The wardrobe plot is the working document of the costume department: it drives the fitting schedule, the preset before each performance, the quick-change plans, and the process of putting a replacement performer into a running show.

wash#washwɒʃ

noun; verb — an even spread of light covering a large area of the stage rather than a tightly focused pool, and the act of creating one. Washes provide the general illumination a scene sits in, and are usually built from several instruments in a colour, angled so their beams overlap and leave no visible edges or gaps. Designers commonly rig warm and cool washes covering the whole acting area and mix between them to shift the temperature of a scene.

wings#wingswɪŋz

noun — the offstage areas to the left and right of the acting area, out of the audience's sight, where actors wait for entrances and crew stage scenery and props. The wings are masked from the house by legs — vertical fabric drapes — and are kept clear, taped and lit with low blue running lights so that people can move safely in the dark. 'Waiting in the wings' has passed into ordinary English to mean ready and standing by.

work lights#work-lightsˈwɜ:k laɪts

noun — high wattage lights used in a venue when the stage/auditorium lighting is not on. Used for rehearsals, fit-up, strike, and resetting; low wattage blue lights used to illuminate offstage obstacles.

workshop#work-shopˈwɜːkʃɒp

noun — a development period in which a new musical or play is rehearsed and presented in minimal form — usually with scripts in hand, a piano, no sets and no costumes — so the writers can hear it, test its structure and rewrite. A workshop sits between a reading and a full production in scale. Under Actors' Equity's development agreements, performers in a workshop may be entitled to a continuing financial interest in the show if it goes on to commercial life.

X

X#Xkrɒs

noun; verb — the standard abbreviation for 'cross' in blocking notation, meaning to move from one position on stage to another — written in a prompt book or script margin as, for example, 'X DSL' for cross downstage left. Stage managers and actors use it constantly when recording staging, since blocking has to be written fast during rehearsal and read back accurately months later. Related shorthand includes DS, US, SL and SR for the stage areas.

Y

yoke#yokejəʊk

noun — the U-shaped bracket that holds a lighting instrument and attaches it to a clamp, allowing the unit to be tilted up and down and locked in position. Together with the clamp's own rotation on the bar, the yoke gives an electrician the two axes needed to point a light anywhere in the space. Yoking a fixture in an unconventional orientation — under-hung rather than over-hung — is a common solution when sightlines or trim heights are tight.

Z

Ziegfeld Follies#Zieg-feld Fol-liesˈziːɡfeld ˈfɒliz

noun — the lavish annual revue produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. in New York, running in various forms from 1907 into the 1930s and setting the template for American spectacle entertainment. The Follies combined comedy sketches, songs, and elaborately costumed chorus tableaux, and gave early prominence to performers including Fanny Brice, W. C. Fields and Will Rogers. The form's influence on the visual grammar of the Broadway production number long outlasted the series itself.

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