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JUNG LE T H EA TE R 2 01 0 SE ASO N
WHO’S AFRAID OF
VIRGINIA WOOLF?
STUDYGUIDE
A CLASSROOM GUIDE TO
THE JUNGLE THEATER
PRODUCTION
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WHAT’S INSIDE
About The Jungle Theater………..............................................................................3
Theater Etiquette………............................................................................................4
ON STAGE: Exploring Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
What’s it About?........................................................................................................6
Who’s Who?..............................................................................................................9
Meet the Playwright..................................................................................................10
An America Classic..................................................................................................13
OFF STAGE: Exploring the Context & Language
Time Capsule—Snapshots of 1962…………..........................................................14
Wit and Word-Play……............................................................................................15
The Latin Mass—A Translation................................................................................17
BEHIND THE SCENES: Activities for the Classroom
Resources for Further Exploration….......................................................................18
Questions for Discussion………..............................................................................19
Be a Theatre Critic...................................................................................................21
Glossary of Theater Terms......................................................................................22
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JUNG LE T H EA TE R 2 01 0 SE ASO N
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ABOUT THE JUNGLE THEATER
A Closer Look
With a reputation for artistic excellence
both locally and nationally, the Jungle
Theater occupies a unique niche in the cultural landscape of the Twin Cities.
Founded in 1991 in a storefront space at the corner
of Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue in South Minneapolis, the Jungle Theater quickly established a
loyal following and received widespread critical acclaim for its productions. In 1999, the theater
moved into its permanent home, an intimate 149seat space across the intersection from its original
location. In addition to the Jungle’s main stage productions of classic and contemporary plays, the
theater also maintains community arts education
and outreach programs which serve the Greater
Metro area, and reflect the theater’s commitment to
neighborhood and community.
Because of its small size, the Jungle offers the audience an unparalleled intimacy to the stage: powerful
writing, exceptional acting, and top-notch direction
and design are all presented in a playhouse that
feels as intimate as your living room.
Now celebrating it’s Twentieth Anniversary Season,
the Jungle Theater continues to have a substantial
impact on the Twin Cities theater scene, upholding a
reputation for excellence that stems from a commitment to high artistic standards and the contributions
of many respected and celebrated local artists. A
flagship example of the transformative power of the
performing arts, the Jungle plays a continuing and
vital role in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood’s economic,
social and cultural development.
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THEATER ETIQUETTE
Thank you for exposing your students to live professional theatre. To assist you in preparing your students for the experience, we have created some guidelines which we hope
may be of use.
Live theatre is different from the experience of attending a rock concert, where the performers may “break the third wall” and interact with the audience. At rock concerts, it might
be acceptable for an audience member to get up and go talk to someone else in the audience, or to leave to bring concessions back into the auditorium. This is not the case in the
theatre.
At a small theatre such as ours, there is no enhancement from microphones. Hence, it is
essential that the audience refrain from talking, scraping chairs, rustling papers and the
like. More important, the story and the message are in the language, not in the visuals,
close-ups and/or special effects - and that requires a careful ear. Audience members must
concentrate on what is being said, and the distractions of extraneous noise interfere with
concentration. Theatre is also different from television or movies. At a movie, if you leave
to get popcorn or whisper to someone sitting next to you, it doesn’t disrupt the performance or distract the performers. In the theatre, the audience becomes the “other character
in the play.” The actors can feel when an audience is with them. Often a performance is
improved or heightened when an audience is intensely involved in the action or words of
the play. The audience helps shape the experience.
Live theatre is an “intimate” experience. Because we are close to the actors, who, if they
are good, are portraying powerfully the deepest human emotions, we are able to feel that
emotional tenor ourselves. Concentrating on what the actors are feeling enhances an audience’s enjoyment.
Many of our participating schools have thoughtfully prepared and trained their student
body to be a good live audience, and the following are some suggestions we know other
schools have found effective:

There shall be no late seating. All students and staff should arrive by 9:30 a.m. and be
seated before the program begins.

Instruct your teachers and chaperones to sit throughout the theatre with the students.
The presence of an adult is sometimes enough to remind students to behave.

The opening and closing of doors, for whatever reason, creates distraction and can disrupt the performance. Therefore, once the performance has started no one will be allowed to leave the theatre unless it is an emergency, so be sure to advise your group
use the restroom before the performance begins and then again at intermission.
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THEATER ETIQUETTE
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
Encourage positive audience participation; applause and laughter appropriate to the action
are expected. They are to refrain from catcalls and any response which is likely to distract
others. Remind them of the importance of listening carefully.

Refreshments from our concessions stand are allowed in the theater, but students should
refrain from crinkling soda cans or plastic water bottles: this noise is very disruptive to the
actors on stage and fellow audience members.

The use of cell phones, pagers, i-Pods and the like is strictly prohibited. Students found
using these devices during a performance will be asked to surrender these items to the
usher until the completion of the performance at which time they will be returned.

The taking of photos, with or with out a flash and the use of any recording device is prohibited by law and strongly enforced at our theatre.

If you haven’t already done so we invite you to use the contents of this study guide to prepare your students in advance. Students who have previous exposure to the subject matter through in class discussions and exercises are more likely to be an attentive audience.
Finally, the Jungle Theater staff and artists, want to thank you for your participation and look
forward to personally welcoming you to the Jungle. If we can be of help to you, or if you have
ideas regarding how we can make this a better experience for your students, please let us
know by contacting Margo Gisselman at [email protected] or by calling (612) 2780141.
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WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Albee describes his play as:
"an examination of the American
Scene, an attack on the substitution of
artificial for real values in our society,
a condemnation of complacency, cruelty, and emasculation and vacuity, a
stand against the fiction that everything
in this slipping land of ours is peachykeen".
ACT ONE, "Fun and Games," opens at two o'clock
on a Sunday morning as middle-aged couple
George and Martha return home from a faculty party
at a small college in the New England town of New
Carthage. Over the course of the scene, as Martha
bickers with George, we learn that George is a going-nowhere history professor, while Martha is the
daughter of the college president. She soon informs
him that she has invited a new member of the Math
Department over for drinks. Martha also loudly
sings, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" a joke of a
song they heard at the faculty party and is angry
that George doesn't laugh. Before their guests arrive, George warns her not to do "the bit about the
kid."
Their guests are Nick, a blond 30-year-old professor
in the Biology Department, and his wife Honey. Nick
and Honey are somewhat shocked at being thrown
into the war zone that is Martha and George's marriage. While Honey copes by drinking brandy after
Brandy, Nick attempts to insinuate himself into his
hosts' good graces. Drunken Martha is shamelessly
flirting with him immediately. Martha goes off to
show Honey to the bathroom. While the women are
gone, George bitterly suggests that Nick will take
over the Biology Department and the college. When
Honey returns, she mentions that she didn't know
Elizabeth Taylor as Martha and George Segal as Nick in the
1966 film version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
George and Martha had a son. George is furious at
Martha, who has told Honey that their son, whose
21st birthday is tomorrow, will be returning home the
next day.
Martha, who has changed into a seductive outfit,
continues shamelessly flirting with Nick and insulting
George, telling a story about how she punched
George when he refused to join in a boxing match
with her father. George grows fed up and leaves the
room. He comes back with a rifle and shocks everyone by firing it at Martha. A parasol, not a bullet,
erupts from the barrel. The tension dissipates a bit
and George, much to Martha's chagrin, insists on
talking about their son. The two argue which has
been the worse influence on the boy, and Martha
proceeds with her tact of humiliation by telling Nick
and Honey how George is flop who failed to take
over the History Department, as she'd anticipated
when they got married. Their shouting match ends
when George grabs Honey and dances around with
her while singing "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Honey rushes off to the bathroom to be sick.
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WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
ACT TWO, "Walpurgisnacht," opens as Martha is
making coffee in the kitchen. George learns from
Nick that he married Honey because she was pregnant with what ended up being a hysterical pregnancy. The added bonus is that she is rich, left
money by her evangelist father. He half-jokingly
confides his plan to rise to power at the college by
sleeping with wives of important faculty members.
George shares an anecdote of a boy, whom he says
he knew in prep school, who ordered "bergin" at a
gin joint with his friends. This boy had accidentally
killed his mother with a shotgun, and a year later,
with his learners permit in his pocket, he crashed
into a tree and killed his father.
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the kitchen, bumping into the doorbell chimes on the
way. Honey stumbles out to the living room, still half
in her dream, telling George that she heard bells.
Honey's half-coherent mumblings reveal that she's
terrified of having children and has actually been
secretly preventing getting pregnant. Honey's continued talk of bells gives George an idea of how to
get even with Martha - he'll tell her he received a
telegram that said that their son is dead.
Martha and Honey return. Martha is even more blatant in her flirtation with Nick. When Honey declares
that she wants to do Interpretive Dance, Martha
takes the opportunity to dance with Nick in a blatant
lascivious manner. George gets fed up when Martha
continues to insult him, suggesting that the boy who
ordered "bergin" and killed his parents was George
and mocking his failed attempt at publishing a novel.
He tries to strangle her, but Nick pulls him off.
George announces it's time for a new game.
They've just finished playing Humiliate the Host, and
there will be time for Hump the Hostess later. Now,
it's time for Get the Guests. George toys with a confused Honey by telling her a story of a girl named
Mousie who puffed up and whose puff went "poof."
Honey again runs off to be sick again.
While Honey is lying on the cool tile of the bathroom
floor, George turns his back to Martha and Nick,
who begin to kiss and grope on the couch. Martha is
annoyed that George is not paying attention and
getting angry. She and Nick eventually move off to
Arthur Hill as George and Melinda Dillon as Honey in the
original Broadway production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?
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WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
ACT THREE, "The Exorcism," opens as Martha
wanders onstage alone. Drunk and exhausted, she
launches into a confused monologue which reveals
her desperation and loneliness. She says that she
and George cry all the time, then freeze their tears
into ice cubes for their drinks. Nick comes back onstage, wondering what has happened. George is
gone, and Honey is back in the bathroom. Martha
calls him a flop and reveals his impotence, surprising him when she tells him that George is the only
one who can satisfy her. She tells Nick not to believe appearances and praises George's ability to
learn the games as quickly as she can change the
rules.
Nick is furious and grows more so when Martha
continually refers to him as a houseboy and a gigolo. When the doorbell starts ringing, she tells the
houseboy to get it. It's George, hiding behind a bouquet of flowers, quoting a line from Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire: "Flores para los
muertos." George pretends to be a Western Union
man and acts as if he's mistaken Nick for his and
Martha's son. Nick gets fed up and calls them vicious, and George and Martha join together in deriding them.
Soon, George and Martha launch into another series of arguments over seemingly meaningless topics - whether or not there is a moon that night,
whether or not George has taken a trip to Majorca that continually reference truth and illusion. George
starts throwing his bouquet of snapdragons at Martha, telling her their marriage has gone snap.
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Martha's overbearing presence. Martha counters
with a story of her own describing an idealized childhood. During her story, George begins to chant the
Requiem. In the midst of this, Honey suddenly cries
out that she wants a child. Martha begins to blame
George for dragging the boy down with him, and
their argument intensifies. Honey pleads for them to
stop.
Slowly and deliberately, George tells Martha that
their son is dead. He was driving on a country road,
swerved to avoid a porcupine, and crashed into a
tree, the exact details of the "bergin" boy's story.
Martha is furious and yells that George has no right
to do this. George insists that those were always the
rules of the game, and that once she broke the rules
by mentioning their son, he had no other choice.
Nick finally realizes that the son is imaginary, and
George confirms his suspicions. They couldn't have
any children. He suggests Nick and Honey go
home.
The last few minutes of the play are quiet and tender. George assures Martha that things will be better and says a quiet ―no‖ to her suggestion that they
create another child. He begins to sing her "Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" as a sort of lullaby, and
Martha answers, "I am."
George drags Honey back into the room and announces one last game, Bringing Up Baby, to be
played to the death. Honey, very drunk and holding
a bottle, wants to play Peel the Label instead.
George assures her they have. George begins to tell
a rehearsed story about their son, scared away by
Elizabeth Taylor as Martha and Richard Burton as
George in the 1966 film version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
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WHO’S WHO
List of Characters
George
George is Martha’s husband, a forty-six-year-old
professor of history who married Martha early in his
career but has failed to live up to her overwhelming
expectations. Because of his professional frustration, George feels threatened by up-and-coming
young faculty members like Nick, and tries to compensate through showy displays of intellectual superiority. George appears to have been responsible
for the deaths of both is parents, and is traumatized
by this fact.
Martha
Martha is a boisterous woman in her fifties, with
loud, coarse ways and a dominating manner toward
her husband, George. Martha had dreams of power
which she feels were defeated by George’s lack of
ambition. Despite her relentless ridicule of George,
Martha is very sensitive to George’s criticisms—of
her heavy drinking, her sometimes lascivious behavior, and her ―braying‖ laugh.
Nick
Nick is blond and good-looking, around thirty-yearsold. He is a young biology professor who represents a threat to George with his good looks and
sexual energy, and his ambition and willingness to
prostitute himself for professional advancement. In
short, Nick seems capable of achieving the promise
to which George never lived up.
Honey
Honey is a twenty-six-year-old blond girl, ―rather
plain.‖ Like her husband, Nick, Honey is from the
Midwest, striving with her husband to make their
way in new surroundings. Honey is not depicted as
particularly bright, but she is capable of exerting her
will. She is afraid of bearing a child, and as George
suspects, she has avoided pregnancy without Nick’s
knowledge.
WHAT’S IN A TITLE?
In the opening scene of Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?, George and Martha argue over George’s
failure to admire a joke Martha made earlier in the
evening: she replaced the ―Big Bad Wolf‖ of the
song, ―Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?,‖ from the
1933 Disney cartoon The Three Little Pigs, with the
name of the avant-garde British writer, ―Virginia
Woolf‖ (1882–1941). The joke conveys the
sophistication of the couple—and their
preoccupation with wordplay and games. Albee first
encountered the joke inscribed in soap on a mirror
behind the bar of a local hangout, long before he
wrote the play. He found it funny and remembered it
years later when he was writing about a couple that
have—and do not have—a son. When asked, Albee
explains that the big, bad wolf is a life lived without
delusions.
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MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT
An Inside Look
Edward Albee was born in Washington,
DC on March 12, 1928. When he was two
weeks old, baby Edward was adopted by
millionaire couple Reed and Frances Albee.
The Albees named their son after his paternal grandfather, Edward Franklin Albee, a
powerful Vaudeville producer who had
made the family fortune as a partner in the
Keith-Albee Theater Circuit.
Young Edward was raised by his adoptive parents in
Westchester, New York. Because of his father's and
grandfather's involvement in the theatre business,
Edward was exposed to theatre and well-known
Vaudeville personalities throughout his childhood.
From early on, Edward's mother Frances tried to
groom her son to be a respectable member of New
York society. The Albees' affluence meant that Edward's childhood was filled with servants and tutors.
The family Rolls Royce took him to afternoon matinees, he took riding lessons, vacationed in Miami in
the winter, and learned to sail on Long Island Sound
in the summer.
In 1940, twelve-year-old Edward entered the Lawrenceville School, a prestigious boys' preparatory
school. During his high school days, he shocked
school officials by writing a three-act sex farce entitled Aliqueen. At the age of fifteen, the Lawrenceville School dismissed Edward for cutting classes.
Hoping to inspire some discipline in his wayward
son, Reed Albee enrolled Edward at the Valley
Forge Military Academy. Within a year, Valley Forge
had dismissed Edward as well.
Ultimately, Edward attended Choate from 1944 to
1946. Even as a teenager, Edward was a prolific
writer. In 1945, his poem "Eighteen" was published
in the Texas literary magazine Kaleidoscope. His
senior year at Choate, Edward's first published play
Schism appeared in the school literary magazine.
After graduating from Choate, Edward enrolled at
Trinity College, a small liberal arts school in Hartford, Connecticut. While there Edward irked his
mother by associating with artists and intellectuals
whom she found objectionable. During his days at
Trinity College, Edward gained a modicum of theatre experience - although it was onstage, as an actor, rather than as a writer. During his
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MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT
sophomore year, in 1947, nineteen-year-old Edward
was dismissed from yet another school. This time,
Trinity College claimed that he had failed to attend
Chapel and certain classes.
Despite his mother's objections, Edward moved to
New York City's artsy Greenwich Village at the age
of twenty. He supported himself by writing music
programming for WNYC radio. In 1953, young Albee
met playwright Thornton Wilder. Later, he credited
Wilder with inspiring him to become a playwright advice he did not follow for a few more years. Over
the next decade, Albee lived on the proceeds of his
grandmother's trust fund and held jobs as an office
boy, record salesman, and Western Union messenger.
In 1958, Albee wrote his first major play, a one-act
entitled The Zoo Story. When no New York producer
would agree to stage it, Albee sent the play to an old
friend in New York. The play was first produced in
Berlin. After its success abroad, American theatre
producer Alan Schneider agreed to produce The
Zoo Story off-Broadway in a double bill with Samuel
Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape. This early association
with Beckett served to cement Albee's connection to
the Theatre of the Absurd. In fact, The Zoo Story
was at the time of its production hailed as the birth
of American absurdist drama.
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Immediately, Albee became perceived as a leader
of a new theatrical movement in America. His success was in part predicated on his ability to straddle
the two divergent traditions of American theatre - the
traditional and the avant garde, combining the realistic with the surreal . Thus, critics of Albee can
rightfully see him as a successor to American playwrights Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and
Eugene O'Neill while at the same time unmistakably
influenced by European playwrights like Samuel
Beckett and Harold Pinter. Albee has also called
Ring Lardner, James Thurber, and Jean Genet important influences on his writing.
Throughout the following years, Albee strengthened
his reputation with a series of one-act plays, including The Death of Bessie Smith and The Sandbox,
which he dedicated to his beloved grandmother, in
1960. In 1961, The American Dream dealt with
themes that would be drawn upon in Albee's later
career. That same year, Albee adapted an unsuccessful production of Melville's short story Bartleby
with his friend William Flanagan.
Despite the success of his original work, Albee's
adaptations - Carson McCuller's The Ballad of the
Sad Cafe in 1963 and James Purdy's Malcolm in
1965 - have not been critically or popularly successful. Critics described them as being static representations of literary works, simply transplanting existing scenes from the books to the stage.
Albee's real successes have always come from his
original and absurdist dramas. His first three-act
drama and the play for which he is best known,
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, was produced in
New York in 1962. Immediately it became popular
and controversial. When its nomination for a Pulitzer
was not accepted unanimously by the prize committee, two members of the Pulitzer Prize committee
resigned. Nonetheless, the play received the Tony
Award and New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
Edward Albee, seen here in 1962
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Meet The Playwright
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After the failed McCullers adaptation in 1963, Albee's original drama, a dream play called Tiny Alice, opened
in New York. That same year, Albee joined with two friends in creating an absurdist group called "Theater
1964," which produced, among other things, Beckett's Play and Pinter's The Lover at Cherry Lane Theatre.
After Malcolm closed after only five days, Albee rebounded with the success of A Delicate Balance in 1966.
For this play, he received the Pulitzer Prize.
Albee continued to write plays throughout the 1960's and 1970's. Everything in the Garden, adapted from a
play by Giles Cooper, was produced in 1967, followed by the original plays Box and Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung in 1968, All Over in 1971, and Seascape in 1975. For Seascape, Albee was awarded a
second Pulitzer Prize.
Throughout the 1980's, Albee's playwriting career failed to produce a substantial commercial hit. Plays from
this period include The Lady from Dubuque (1980), an adaptation of Lolita (1981), The Man Who Had Three
Arms (1983), Finding the Sun (1985), and Marriage Play (1987). During this time, Albee also taught courses
at various universities and maintained his residence in New York.
In 1994, Albee experienced a much-awaited success with the play Three Tall Women. That play earned Albee his third Pulitzer Prize and his first commercial hit in over a decade. Three Tall Women also won the New
York Drama Critics Circle Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Albee's most recent productions have
been Lorca Play in 1993 and Fragments: A Concerto Grosso in 1995.
EDWARD ALBEE : IN HIS OWN WORDS
“ I despise restful art.”
Edward Albee: A Singular Journey
“And I would hope that every
play I write shakes a few people
up, asks a few questions that people would rather not think
about.”
The New York Times, September 1, 1991
“ But there is not always a great relationship between popularity and excellence. If you know that, you can
never be owned by public opinion or
critical response. You just have to
make the assumption you’re doing
good work and go on doing it. Of
course, there are the little dolls you
stick pins in privately.”
The New York Times, April 13, 1994
“ I think you can change the way people think about their consciousness –
you can change just about everything
about them. You make them aware
that they’re missing the boat, that
they’re not being fully alive.”
The Guardian (U.K.), January 10, 2004
“ Each play is an act of aggression against the
status quo. Too many playwrights let the audience off the hook instead of slugging them in
the face, which is what you should be doing.”
The Boston Globe, March 7, 2004
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AN AMERICAN CLASSIC
Edward Albee was already hugely celebrated—and criticized—as the leader of a
revolution in American playwriting when
his first full-length play, Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?, opened on October 13,
1962.
Virginia Woolf was more than a huge theatrical
success; it was a cultural watershed. The play
fulfilled the hopes of those eager for a rebirth of
American drama, but also outraged many who
found the play obscene, morbid and decadent.
The conservative Pulitzer Prize Committee overruled the recommendation of its own judges and
refused to award the Drama prize to Albee, on
the grounds that his play did not present a
―wholesome‖ view of American life. Familiar to
tens of thousands who have never seen or read
it, influencing countless plays, movies, novels
and short stories, Virginia Woolf is one of the
very few American dramas to fully permeate
American life.
REFERENCES IN POPULAR CULTURE:
Mad Magazine published a spoof of the movie, entitled
Who in Heck is Virginia Woolf?! At one point, it is remarked "This is an art film, so the censors have to let us
talk dirty!" Their son turns out to be real, and to George
and Martha's dismay, a clean-cut non-dysfunctional
bore, in keeping with Mad's tradition of altering the endings of the movies that they parody.
The film was spoofed on The Benny Hill Show, with Hill
playing both Burton's and Taylor's parts.
In an episode of The Simpsons, Marge and Homer go on
a marriage counseling session with other couples, one
such couple acts and sounds similar to George and Martha. However, just by looking into each other's eyes, the
two fall in love again and walk off into the sunset within
seconds.
In an episode of American Dad!, Roger the Alien and
Francine adopt a role playing game to escape the boredom of their daily lives. Roger adapts the persona of
Professor Jordan Edilstein, while Francine chooses the
character of Amanda Lane. The two meet a new couple
in town, Rick and Candy, and invite them for a dinner
party in which Jordan and Amanda get drunk and verbally and physically fight, while Rick and Candy sit there.
In an episode of Will & Grace, Jack refers to Will and
Grace when he mentions not wanting to stay at the dinner party with George and Martha.
In "Dinner Party" from The Office, Michael and Jan invite
Jim, Pam, Andy, and Angela to their home. As the night
progresses, Jan and Michael begin bickering to a greater
extent. Once Dwight arrives uninvited, their arguing gets
worse until Jan destroys Michael's TV.
The 1966 movie won 5 Academy Awards, and occupies
an iconic place in the history of American film.
In the television series, Gilmore Girls, in the episode
Presenting Lorelai Gilmore, main characters Rory and
Lorelai arrive at their grandparents to find them engaged
in a large argument, screaming at each other. Lorelai
remarks, "I think George and Martha are joining us for
dinner."
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TIME CAPSULE—Snapshots of 1962
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
opened on Broadway on October 13,
1962. The play is set on the campus of
New Carthage, a small New England
College. Here's some of what was going on beyond the campus.

For one week the world seems on the brink of
nuclear war as the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
square-off over Soviet intermediate-range missiles in Cuba.

France transfers sovereignty to the new republic
of Algeria. The transfer sparks terrorism in both
Algeria and France.

Pope John XXIII opens the Second Vatican
Council. The announced purpose was spiritual
renewal and a reconsideration of the position of
the church in the modern world. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy permits the liturgy to
be conducted in vernacular language instead of
Latin.

John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit
the Earth.

James Meredith becomes first African-American
to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett tries to bar his admission. Angry whites riot, causing three deaths
and numerous injuries.


15,000 U.S. military advisers in Vietnam. President John F. Kennedy defends the U.S. role in
Southeast Asia saying that the troops are "not
combat troops in the generally understood
sense of the word."
Mariner II reaches Venus. The first interplanetary probe sends back photos of the cloudshrouded planet.

Telstar Communications satellite launched,
making it possibly the first live transatlantic television broadcast.

Pat Brown defeats Richard Nixon in California
gubernatorial race

Peter Fechter the first person killed in an attempt to flee East Berlin over the Wall.

Johnny Carson replaces Jack Parr as host of
the Tonight Show
Nobel Prizes
Literature: John Steinbeck
Peace: Linus Pauling
Physiology or Medicine: James D. Watson, Maurice
H.F. Wilkins, and Francis H.C. Crick for determining
the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: "Moon River," Henry Mancini
Album of the Year: ―Judy at Carnegie Hall,‖
Judy Garland
Academy Awards
Best Picture: West Side Story
Tony Awards
Best Play: A Man for All Seasons
Best Musical: How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying
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WIT AND WORD-PLAY
The dialogue in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is rife with literary allusions and
foreign words. Knowledge of these references will enrich the theatre-goers’ appreciation of both the humor and cruelty of the play.
Abomination: A thing that causes disgust or hatred. (Act
I)
Cochon: French; pig (Act II)
Abstruse: To understand (Act I)
worthless or beneath consideration. (Act II)
Aegean: The Aegean Sea is located between the Greek
Convoluted: Folded or twisted in a complex way (Act II)
peninsula on the west and Turkey to the east, with Crete
Crazy Billy: In an interview, Albee said the name was a
forming a geographical division. The Aegean Sea region
private joke; his lover at the time was named Bill,
was the home of two of the world's earliest civilizations
and Albee said they both worked at Western Union. (Act
III)
- the Minoan Civilization of Crete and the intellectual
and military empire of Greece. It was also of the scene
for much of the earliest growth of Christianity. (Act III)
Albatross: An obstacle to success (Act I)
Allegory: A story that contains a hidden meaning. (Act
II)
Bandied: Frequently used in casual conversation. (Act I)
Bête: French; beast (Act II)
Blue games: Not for children, a “ blue” act was an
obscene skit from a nightclub. (Act I)
Blue circles around her: Pagan women would often
paint blue circles on them for use in rituals. (Act I)
Bucolic a description of an idealized rural life; also a
literary form, usually a short descriptive poem, which
Contemptuous: The feeling that a person or thing is
Crete: Home to the Minoans, one of the earliest civilizations. (Act II)
Cretins Someone with a congenital mental deficiency.
(Act II)
Daguerreotype: An early kind of photograph produced
using silver-coated copper plate and mercury vapor.
(Act II)
Declension: The changes in the form of a noun, pronoun
or adjective that identify its grammatical case,
number or gender. (Act I)
Derisively: Expressing contempt or ridicule. (Act II)
Derision: Scornful ridicule or mockery. (Act III)
Dies Irae: Latin, from the Mass for the Dead; day of
depicts rural or pastoral life, manners, and occupations
wrath. "…through all the sensible sounds of men building, attempting, comes the Dies Irae." (Act II)
(remember that Nick and Honey are from Kansas, farm
Fen: A low and marshy or frequently flooded area. (Act
country). (Act II)
I)
Bravura: Great enthusiasm (Act II)
Flagellation: To whip someone, originally as a form of
Canaille: French; scum, scoundrel (Act II)
religious punishment.
Carthage: North African city which fell prey to internal
Flores: “ Flores para los muertos. Flores.
conflicts and eventually was sacked by the Romans
during the Punic Wars (c. 150 B.C.); in Virgil’s The Aeneid, the ancient, tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas
is played out in Carthage. "You think you’re going to be
happy here in New Carthage, eh?" (Act I)
Spanish; Flowers; flowers for the dead. Flowers.”
Chippie: Slang; promiscuous woman. "Ohhhh! I’ll bet!
Chippie-chippie-chippie, hunh?" (Act III)
Cipher: An unimportant person or thing
Quoted from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named
Desire. (Act III)
Frau: German for Mrs., sometimes meant as an insult to
describe someone as dowdy and unappealing
Gelding: A castrated animal, especially a male horse.
(Act III)
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that are fired in sequence as the cluster is rotated. (Act
Penguin Island: From a satirical treatment of French history by Anatol France (L’Ile de Pingouins, 1908); an
III)
island proselytized by a near-blind French monk who
Gird: Encircle or secure with a belt or band. (Act III)
baptizes the island’s inhabitants without realizing that
Gomorrah: Biblical city which was destroyed by fire
they are all penguins. (Act I)
Gatling gun: A machine gun with a cluster of barrels
from God for its wickedness .
Peritonitis: A serious inflammation of the abdomen’s
Harridan: A bossy or aggressive old woman. (Act III)
lining (Act I)
Ibid: In the same source. (Act I)
Pyrrhic victory: Won at too great a cost to have been
Illyria: City on the coast of the Adriatic Sea; home of a
contentious people, the city was destroyed by Rome
during the Punic Wars; the setting for Shakespeare’s
Twelfth Night. "And this… this is your heart’s content—
Illyria… Penguin Island… Gomorrah…" (Act I)
worthwhile. (Act I)
Poe-bells: Reference to Edgar Allen Poe’s poem "The
Bells" (1849), which through rhythm and onomatopoeia
evokes the sound of ringing bells. "I was asleep, and the
bells started… they BOOMED!… Poe-bells… they were
Incredulity: Being unwilling or unable to believe something. (Act I)
Poe-bells." (Act II)
Ineffectual: Ineffective (Act II)
play, A Streetcar Named Desire. "Up the spout: THE
Insinuate: Gradually move oneself into a favorable position. (Act II)
POKER NIGHT. Up the spout" and the original name of
Lady Chatterley: Character in Lady Chatterley's Lover
Punic wars: A series of wars during which Rome
(1928) by D.H. Lawrence. She is an aristocrat who
attacked and conquered the powerful city-state of
elopes with her groundskeeper. "A kind of junior Lady
Carthage. The effort transformed Rome from a regional
Chatterley arrangement…the marriage." (Act I)
power into an empire. (First Punic War 264, 241 B.C.,
Majorca: Island of the Mediterranean coast of Spain;
second 218-202, Third 149-146 B.C.)
once occupied by Carthaginians and their conquerors,
Putan: French for vulgar, whore (Act II)
the Romans; there are also many remains on the island
Sacre du Printemps: French; Rite of Spring; ballet
of a primitive masonry technique referred to today as
“ Cyclopean” (connects to George’s calling Martha a
(1913) by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, with dramatic, almost violent rhythms the work evokes Russian
Cyclops); Majorca also experienced a decline at one
pagan rituals. "Martha’s going to pin on some rhythm
point because of fighting among the different groups living
on the island. (Act III)
she understands… Sacre du Printemps, maybe." (Act II)
Manchuria: The northeast area of China; Japan and
Snapdragons: In Western folklore, snapdragons are
Russia long struggled for control of this rich,
believed to ward off evil. (Act III)
strategically important region; at the end of WWII,
Sonny-Jim: A term for an “ all-American guy” that was
Chinese Communists were strongly established in
initially used genuinely during the 1930s-50s but
Manchuria, and from 1949-1954, it was one of the
eventually became more cynical; also a political reference to Republican James Rolph, Jr., who served as the
staunchest Communist areas in China. (Act II)
Monstre: French: monster (Act II)
Ostensibly: Apparently true, but not necessarily so. (Act
I)
Parnassus: In Greek mythology, a mountain whose twin
summits were devoted to Apollo and to the muses.
Considered to be the seat of poetry and music. (Act I)
The Poker Night: A scene from Tennessee Williams'
the play. (Act III)
Salaciously: Having too much interest in sexual matters.
mayor of San Francisco for 19 years and became governor of California in 1930. (Act III)
Walpurgisnacht: German; the eve of May Day; witches’
Sabbath celebrated in medieval Europe; night of orgiastic
celebration on which evil spirits are exorcised from
cities and towns. (Act II).
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THE LATIN MASS—A TRANSLATION
George recites this mass in Act III. In
the Catholic faith, the Mass for the Dead
is said on the occasion of a funeral or
anniversary of a death.
Absolve, Domine, animas omnum fidelium defunctorum ab omni vinculo delictorum.
Absolve, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed
from every bond of sin.
Et gratia tua illis succurrente, mereantur evadere
judiciumultionis.
And by the help of Thy grace, may they be enabled
to escape the judgment of punishment.
Et lucis aeternae beatitudine perfrui..
And enjoy the happiness of eternal light.
In Paradisum deducant te Angeli.
May the angels lead you into paradise.
In memoria aeterna erit justus: ab auditione
mala non timebit.
The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he
shall not fear the evil hearing.
Dominus vobiscum.
The Lord be with you.
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die illa
tremenda: Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra:
Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio
venerit, atque ventura ira. Quando caeli movendi
sunt et terra. Dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et
miseriae; dies magna et amara valde.
Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Libera me Domine de morte
aeterna in die illa tremenda: quando caeli movendi sunt et terra; Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.
Deliver me, O Lord, from death everlasting, upon
that dread day of terror: When the heavens and
earth shall be moved: When Thou shalt come and
judge the world in fire. Trembling and full of fear I
approach the time of the trial of the wrath to come.
When the heavens and earth shall be moved. Day
of anger, day of terror, day of calamity and misery,
day of mourning and woe. When Thou shalt come
and judge the world in fire. Eternal rest grant them,
Lord: and light perpetual shine down upon them.
Deliver me, O Lord, from death everlasting, upon
that dread day of terror: When the heavens and
earth shall be moved: When Thou shalt come and
judge the world in fire.
Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Requiescat in pace.
Rest in peace.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Eternal rest grant them, Lord.
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
And light perpetual shine down upon them.
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RESOURCES
Interested in knowing more about Edward Albee and his plays?
Here are some websites, books and films to check out.
Books:
Edward Albee has written over 30 plays, including
one-acts and adaptations. Most are available in individual editions and all but the most recent are
collected in the (so far) three volumes of The Collected Plays of Edward Albee:
The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: Volume 1
1958–1965 by Edward Albee (Overlook, 2004)
Includes the landmark works The Zoo Story (1958)
and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962)
The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: Volume 2
1966–1977 by Edward Albee (Overlook, 2004)
Includes All Over (1971) and the Pulitzer Prize
winners A Delicate Balance (1967) and Seascape
(1974)
The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: Volume 3
1978 – 2003 by Edward Albee (Overlook, 2006)
Includes The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (2000), The
Play About the Baby (1996) and the Pulitzer Prizewinning Three Tall Women (1991)
Edward Albee: A Singular Journey by Mel Gussow (Simon & Schuster, 1999) A candid biography
of the complex and brilliant dramatist by the late
drama critic for The New York Times
Edward Albee holds his lifetime achievement Tony Award.
Websites:
www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/alb1int-1
A June 2005 video/audio interview with and biography of Edward Albee on the Academy of
Achievement site
arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1119811,00.html
A 2004 interview with the playwright on the Web site for the British newspaper The Guardian
Film & Video:
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? directed by Mike Nichols (Warner Brothers, 1966)
Starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (who was very young for the role) as George and Martha, the film was controversial for its profanity but was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won five, including a Best Actress Oscar for
Taylor.
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Was written and set in the United States in
the early 1960s. What political and social circumstances define this time period? How does the play reflect and comment upon this social and historical
context? Give examples from the
script. What makes this play rele“The dramatist is always
vant?
2. Albee called early drafts of his play
The Exorcism. What does this alternate title suggest about the events of
the story?
3. How do the humor and the serious
edge of the play mix and to what effect? Consider the „sense of humor‟
displayed by George and Martha.
What do they seem to find funny?
What is meant when their characters
talk about “taking a joke?” What do
you find funny in the dialogue, personalities and situations of the play?
4. Find examples from the script
which illustrate Albee‟s facility with
language in this play. Notice the
rhythms of speech, the patterns of exchange, the levels of meaning, the wit,
the allusions, the musical structure.
commenting on people, and
the problem is to comment effectively and make art out of
it. You’re making a critical
comment when you create the
life of somebody. You can
only make propaganda out of
it if you think somebody is entirely bad, entirely good. You
must expose both attributes.
A character totally unworthy
of sympathy or love would be
totally unworthy of attention—the author’s attention
of the audiences’.”
Edward Albee
address at the
Overseas Press Club 1965
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
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5. Discuss the tortured relationships portrayed in this play. Do these individuals love one another? What do you think holds these characters together?
What do these relationships suggest about relationships in society?
6. Discuss the idea that it is difficult to determine which of the
characters‟ stories about themselves and each other is true?
How important is it that the truth
about the characters‟ past is
clear?
7. Discuss the catalysts for the
conflict between George and
Martha: the alcohol, the presence
of Nick and Honey, the lateness of
the evening, the events of the faculty party. Can you identify other
catalysts? How and why does the
presence of these factors contribute to the conflict? Why for instance, do George and Martha
seem to need witnesses? In what
way do the characters of Nick and
Honey parallel the presence of the
audience in the theater?
“Condemned by some
and worshipped by
others, Edward Albee
is clearly the most
compelling American
playwright to explode
upon the Broadway
stage since Tennessee
Williams and Arthur
Miller in the middle
1940s.”
—Newsweek
February 4, 1963
8. Cite instances when George and Martha say the exact opposite of what they
mean. When do they lie to express the truth? Do they ever tell the truth in order to deceive? What is the impact of this?
9. What happens the next day between George and Martha? Do they start the
games again? Have they evolved in their relationship?
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BE A THEATER CRITIC
A very strong element in the success or failure of a new production is the Theatre Critic.
Use the following outline to write a review of the Jungle Theater’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Paragraph 1: ABOUT THE PLAY
(1) What was the title or the play?
(2) Who wrote the play?
(3) Which theatre company produced it?
(4) What was your overall reaction to the play?
(5) Give a brief synopsis of the plot of the play.
Paragraph 2:
(1) What aspects of the production (i.e. sets, costumes, lights, sound, acting), were similar to how you envisioned them?
What aspects were different? What aspects would you like to have changed and why?
(2) What scenes in the play did you find most/least interesting, entertaining, and enjoyable?
What about these scenes made you like or dislike them so much?
(3) Did the production move too slowly, quickly, or at the right speed?
Paragraph 3: ABOUT THE CHARACTERS/ PERFORMERS
(1) Did any characters touch you personally? Who was your favorite?
(2) Were the character’s motivations clear? In other words, could you understand what each character wanted?
(3) Which actor do you think gave the best performance? What did this actor do that made you think s/he gave
the best performance?
(4) How did the way the actors use their bodies onstage enhance their performances?
Paragraph 4: ABOUT THE SE T
(1) Did the set provide the right environment/atmosphere for the production? If so, how? If not, why not?
(2) Did the set reflect the themes and style of the play?
(3) Were there any interesting details in the set? If so, what?
Paragraph 5: ABOUT THE LIGHTING AND THE SOUND
(1) Did the lighting establish the right mood and atmosphere for the production? If so, how? If not, why not?
(2) Did the music/sound add to the mood and atmosphere of the production or take away from it? How?
Paragraph 6: ABOUT THE COSTUMES
(1) Were the costumes appropriate for the mood and style of the production? If so, why? If not, why not?
(2) Did any of the costumes reflect a character’s personality or wealth? What clues did the costumes give about the characters?
Paragraph 7: CONCLUSION
Would you recommend this production to someone? If so, to whom? If not, why not?
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Glossary of theater terms
ACOUSTICS: qualities that evaluate the ability of a
theatre to clearly transmit sounds from the stage to
the audience.
ACT: main division of a drama, ACTS may be further divided into SCENES.
ACTOR: a performer in a play; may be male or female.
ADAPTATION: a reinvention of an existing story or
play; includes turning novels into plays, plays into
musicals, or making changes in language or plot.
AD-LIB: making up a line not originally in a play,
usually done when an actor forgets a line or someone misses an entrance.
ANTAGONIST: the opponent or adversary of the
main character (protagonist); provides the obstacle
the protagonist tries to overcome.
AREN A STAGE: stage placed in the center of a
room with audience seating surrounding it, also
known as theatre in the round.
ASIDE : a brief remark made by a character and
intended to be heard by the audience but not by
other characters.
ATMOSPHERE: tone or mood established by
events, places, or situations.
AT RISE : refers to the action taking place as the
curtain rises.
AUDITION: a brief performance of either a monologue or a short scene done by actors for the director of a play in order for the director to decide which
actor he or she wants to cast in a particular role.
BACKSTAGE: refers to the areas not a part of the
actual stage, but restricted for actors and crewmembers. It usually includes the green room and the
dressing rooms, and frequently offices and scenic
shops as well.
BOOTH: the small room set up for the management
of the technical elements needed during a play, usually set behind the audience with a window facing
the stage. The Stage Manager calls the show from
there. The sound and light board operators run the
audio and lighting equipment from there as well.
“BREAK A LEG”: a superstitious good luck wish
exchanged by actors who feel that saying ―good
luck‖ is a jinx.
CALL: the time at which an actor is supposed to be
at rehearsal or performance.
CALLBACK: a second or third audition used to further narrow the field of actors competing for a particular role in a play.
CAST: (verb) to assign parts to the actors in a play.
CAST: (noun) group of actors in a particular play.
CASTING CALL: notice to actors of an audition for
parts in a play.
CHARACTER: a person in a play created by the
playwright and represented by an actor.
CHOREOGRAPHER: the artist in charge of creating
the dances and/or movements used by actors in a
play.
CLIMAX: (of a script or play) the moment of highest
tension or suspense in a play; the turning point after
which all action moves to a resolution.
COMEDY: a story where the protagonist (main character) achieves his/her goal.
COMIC RELIEF: a humorous moment, scene or
speech in a serious drama which is meant to provide relief from emotional intensity and, by contrast,
to heighten the seriousness of the story.
COSTUMES : the clothes worn by actors in an a
play designed to fit the era, mood, and personality of
the characters as well as enhance the overall design
look of the production.
COSTUME DES IGNE R: the artist in charge of creating the look of the costumes for a play.
COSTUME SHOP MANAGER: the person in charge
of realizing the vision of the costume designer in
actual clothes, responsible for maintaining the costumes and wigs during the course of the production.
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Glossary of theater terms
CRITIC: a writer who reviews plays.
CROSS OVER: a hidden passage, often behind the
scenery, through which actors can go from one side
of the stage to the other without being seen by the
audience. It is used if actors need to exit on one
side and make their next entrance from the opposite
side.
CUE: the last words or actions that come before
another actor’s speech or entrance; a light, sound or
curtain signal.
CURTAIN: end of a scene; closing of a curtain to
depict the end of an act or scene.
CURTAIN CALL: the process of actors taking their
bows, receiving applause, and/or being reintroduced
to the audience at the end of a play.
DANCE CAPTAIN: member of the cast in charge of
working with the dancers to maintain the quality of
the dance numbers, make sure dancers are properly
warmed up before performance, and teach understudies and new cast members existing numbers
DESIGNER: a person who conceives and creates
the plans for scenery, costumes, lighting, sound,
makeup, hairstyles, props and other visual aspects
of a performance.
DIALECT: a speech pattern which is distinctive, or
the use of a cultural accent on stage.
DIALOGUE: conversation between two or more actors in a play.
DIALOGUE COACH: person responsible for working with a cast on correct pronunciation and dialect
usage.
DIRECTOR: a person responsible for initiating the
interpretation of the play, enhancing that interpretation with the concepts of the designers and making
all final decisions on production values; tells the actors where to move and how best to communicate
the interpretation of the play to the audience.
DOWNSTAGE: front area of the stage, nearest to
the audience.
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DRAMA: the playscript itself; the art of writing and
staging plays; a literary art form different from poetry
or other fiction
DRAMTIS PERSONAE: cast of characters in a
drama or, more generally, participants in an event.
DRESSER: a person in charge of assisting actors
with their costumes, wigs, and makeup during a production.
DRESSING ROOM: the place where actors take
their costumes, wigs, and makeup on and off.
EXEUNT: stage direction meaning ―they exit.‖
EXIT: stage direction telling an actor to leave the
stage.
EXPOSITION: dialogue which gives the audience
the background information it needs to follow the
action of the play; most will occur early on in the
play.
ENTRANCE: the movement of an actor onto the
visible areas of the stage.
FALLING ACTION: (of a script or play) the acceptance of the situation derived from the climax; the
conflict is worked out or resolved.
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER: the artist in charge of
staging fight scenes, can include swordplay, other
weapons, or barehanded combat.
FORESHADOWING: a hint of what is to come in the
story. This is often used to keep the audience in a
state of expectancy
GHOST WRITER: person hired by an author to
write on his or her behalf; receives no public credit.
GREEN ROOM: a small lounge backstage where
actors can relax and get ready to go on.
HALF-HOUR: the usual call for actors to be at the
theatre, thirty minutes before curtain.
HOUSE : the audience or the theatrical building.
HOUSE MANAGER: the employee in charge of the
audience during performance, trains ushers, runs
the concessions, and solves seating problems.
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Glossary of theater terms
IMPROVISATION: to make up as you go along;
often used as a rehearsal technique to make actors
more comfortable with their characters; may be a
part of some performance situations.
INCITING INCIDENT: (of a script or play) the
launching pad of the play; the action or short sequence of actions that constitute the point of attack.
IRONY: a contrast between what is and what appears to be. Two types of irony are--- VERBAL
IRONY when a character says one thing and means
another; DRAMATIC IRONY when the audience
knows something that the character does not
LIGHTING DESIGNE R: artist in charge of creating
the lighting effects for a play.
MAKEUP: cosmetics, wigs, hair colorings, or other
items applied to the actors to change or enhance
their appearance.
MELODRAMA: play with exaggerated plot and
emotion.
MONOLOGUE: long speech spoken by one actor
without interruption.
MOTIVATION: a character’s reason for saying or
doing something; actors search for this in studying
their role and use voice and movement to relay it to
the audience.
MOVEMENT COACH: a person familiar with the
ways people physically relate to one another in different historical periods, as well as general historically and culturally accurate movements. (How to
properly use a fan, how women walk while corseted,
where and how men and women might stand in relation to one another, etc.)
NARRATOR: one who tells the story; speaks directly to the audience.
OBJECTIVE: what the character wants/needs/
desires.
OFFSTAGE: areas on the stage which are not seen
by the audience, like the wings or the crossovers,
where action can take place and be heard by the
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audience, or where actors can wait for their entrances.
PLAYWRIGHT: author of a play.
PLOT: the story of the play.
PROP: any moveable item used on the set of a play
or handled by an actor.
PROSCENIUM: a form of staging in which an arch
frames the stage; the stage is at one end of a room
and the audience sits in front of it, watching the play
through an arch which frames the action.
PROSCENIUM ARCH: opening in the proscenium
through which the audience views the play.
PROTAGONIST: the main character; the person
whose success or failure the audience is most concerned.
PUT-IN REHEARSAL: a special rehearsal called
when an understudy is going to go on, so that the
rest of the cast has an opportunity to get used to the
presence of a different actor.
REHEARSAL: the time period before a play opens
involving the practice of the dialogue, movement,
rhythms and interpretations of the play.
RISING ACTION: (of a script or play) the sequence
of action and events that leads to the climax of the
play; the conflict becomes clear and tension builds
as obstacles are presented.
RUN CREW: people in charge of moving scenery
and props onstage during a performance, and helping create live audio or visual special effects.
SCENE : a small unit of a play in which there is no
shift of locale or time.
SCENIC ARTIST: a painter or machinist who reproduces the scene designer’s drawings in full scale on
the stage.
SCRIPT: the written words and stage directions created by a playwright.
SET: the scenery of the play; depicts time, place
and mood.
JUNG LE T H EA TE R 2 01 0 SE ASO N
W HO’S AFR A ID O F V IR G IN IA W OO LF— A S T U DY G U ID E
Glossary of theater terms
SET DESIGNER: the artist in charge of creating the
physical world in which the play will live; usually creates in drawings and scale models.
SOLILOQUY: a speech given by a character alone
on the stage where the audience gets to know the
inner thoughts and feelings of the character.
SOUND BOARD OPERATOR: the person who discharges the correct sounds or music at the appropriate moment in the play
SOUND DESIGNER: the artist responsible for the
creation of the sounds heard during a performance,
including music and special effects.
STAGE BUSINESS : small pieces of physical action
put into a scene to heighten its appeal, suspense or
sense of reality.
STAGE DIRECTIONS : information written into a
script which tells the actors when and where to
move, or describes the intent or mood of action,
may also describe scenery or props.
STAGE LEFT: side of the stage on the actors’ left
as they face the audience.
STAGE RIGHT: side of the stage on the actors’
right as they face the audience.
STAGE MANAGER: person who coordinates all
aspects of the production during production and performance, runs or calls the show.
SUBTEXT: the thoughts behind the words the actor
speaks.
THEME: the main idea or ethical precept the play
deals with.
THRUST STAGE: a stage set at one end of the
room which extends out into the audience area; audience surrounds the stage on three sides.
TONY: awards given annually by the American
Theatre Wing for outstanding contributions to the
theatre; officially the Antoinette Perry Awards.
TRAGEDY: a story where the protagonist does not
achieve his/her goal.
TRANSLATION: taking a play in one language and
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converting it into another.
UNDERSTUDY: an actor who has memorized all
the lines and action of an actor in a play, so that if
the original actor falls ill or cannot perform, there is
someone prepared to take his or her place at a moment’s notice.
UPSTAGE: the part of the stage farthest from the
audience. Also, to steal the scene from another actor by moving upstage, forcing the downstage actor
to turn his or her back on the audience.
WINGS: the areas offstage right and left, hidden
from the audience, where actors can enter or exit,
do quick costume changes, receive or discard
props, or speak lines meant to be heard as if from
another room.