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Theatre Study Guide:
Playwrights:
The playwrights that wrote Theater of the Absurd are Samuel Beckett, Christopher
Durang, and Eugene Ionesco.
The Greek tragic playwrights are Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
The Greek comedic playwright is Aristophanes.
The Roman comedic playwrights are Terrance and Plautus.
The Roman tragic playwright is Seneca.
Euripides questioned the idea of “fate.”
Sophocles wrote Oedipus.
Arthur Miller wrote All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and A View From
the Bridge. He was married to Marilyn Monroe.
The playwrights that wrote about the struggles of African Americans are LeRoi
Jones/Amiri Baraka. Lorraine Hansberry, and Athol Fugard.
Anton Chekhov was a realistic playwright who wrote about the mundane lifestyle of the
characters, and is known for working with Stanislavski at the Moscow Art Theatre. He
was a master of understatement and being subtle. He wrote The Seagull.
Oscar Wilde is known for writing Comedy of Manners and for his brilliant wit. He wrote
The Importance of Being Earnest.
Moliere is a French playwright from the 1600’s, who is known for being a master of
comedy.
Henrik Ibsen is known as the “Father of Realism”. His plays were considered repulsive
in his time.
The Modern American playwrights are Neil Simon, David Mamet, Thorton Wilder,
Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman, Christopher Durang, Clifford Odetts, Tennessee
Williams, Marsha Norman, August Wilson, and Sam Shepard.
David Mamet is known for his style of writing dialogue, marked by a cynical, streetsmart edge, precisely crafted for effect. It’s so distinct that it came to be called Mamet
Speak. His characters frequently interrupt one another, their sentences trail off
unfinished, and their dialogue overlaps.
Jean Paul Sartre was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy,
existentialism, and Marxism, and his work continues to influence fields such as Marxist
philosophy, sociology, critical theory and literary studies.
A German poet, playwright, and theatre director, Bertold Brecht was also well known as
an influential theatre practitioner of Epic Theater.
August Wilson wrote The Pittsberg Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer prizes for
Drama.
Thorton Wilder is an Expressionistic playwright. He wrote Our Town.
The Realistic playwrights are Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, and George Bernard
Shaw.
Shakespeare was the most influential writer of his time. He contributed nearly 3,000
words to the English language.
Christopher Marlowe was a spy for Queen Elizabeth. At this time, he was more
popular than Shakespeare.
Thomas Kyd wrote The Spanish Tragedy.
Clifford Odett was the Group Theatre’s first original playwright.
Emile Zola was a Naturalist playwright from France.
George Bernard Shaw wrote “high comedies”.
Eugene O’Neill was an expressionistic playwright.
Brian Friel was an Irish playwright who wrote Dancing at Lughnasa.
Marsha Norma wrote ‘Night Mother, The Color Purple, and The Secret Garden.
Terms:
Acting Area – A small area of the stage that has its own set of lights; lighting designers
often divide the stage into acting areas in order to create balanced lighting.
Adlib – To improvise lines or speeches that are not part of the script.
Alliteration – Repitition of a particular sound in the first syllable of a phase.
Apron – Stage area in front of the proscenium.
Articulation – The process of speech that uses the lips, the teeth, and the tip of the
tongue.
Aside – A character’s thoughts spoken aloud directly to the audience, but not heard by
the other characters on stage.
Assistant Stage Manager (ASM) – Part of the stage management staff; is usually in
charge of backstage crew.
Auditory Cue – A cue that is called when a sound or musical note is heard; it often is
executed by the sound board operator without being given a go by the stage manager.
Back Drop – A large piece of canvas hung from a batten and painted to represent a
particular scenic element. Also called a drop.
Back Light – Light coming from upstage of an actor.
Battens – Metal pipes that hang over a stage; used for flying scenery and lighting
instruments.
Beat – A break or pause for effect.
Blackout Drop – A black drop that lives behind a scrim drop, making it fully opaque.
Blocking – Planning the movement of the actors in the acting areas; the movement of
actors onstage.
Border – A horizontal drape that runs across the top of the stage, hiding the lighting
instruments.
Bounce – Stray light beams that bounce off shiny surfaces and go where they don’t
belong.
Box Sets – And interior set with three complete walls; the fourth wall is open to the
audience.
Breakaway – Any scenery or prop designed to break on cue.
Bustle – The back of an actor’s dress.
Calling a Show – The process of calling out the lighting, sound, and scene-change cues
during a performance; usually done by the stage manager over a headset.
Calls – Announcements made backstage (usually by the stage manager) telling cast and
crew how many minutes remain before the beginning of an act (15 minute call, 10 minute
call, etc.). Also means the notice of the time of rehearsal or performance when the cast
and crew must be at the theatre.
Catharsis – Purging of emotions (i.e. anger and fear) through art, such as music.
Catwalk – An immobile platform above the stage that reaches from one end of the stage
to the other, used to gain access to the stage equipment.
C-Clamp – The metal clamp that holds a lighting instrument to the bar it’s hanging on;
so named because of its C-like shape.
Center Line – An imaginary line down the center of the stage, from upstage to
downstage. (Used for constructing the set designs and building the set.)
City Dionysia – Annual spring festival in early March that featured music, dance, and
art. Greeks wrote 3 tragedies and 1 satyr (comedy) for this festival.
Color Balance – The overall color of the light onstage.
Concept Meeting – One of the first meetings of the production period, where general
concepts are hammered out.
Counter Cross – Cross a performer takes to adjust to the cross of another actor.
Couplet – A pair of lines of meter in poetry; two lines that rhyme and have the same
meter.
Crossfade – A lighting action in which a particular light cue fades down as the next light
cue fades up.
Crossing (A Cross) – Moving form one part of the stage to another, as an actor.
Cue (Q) – Something that happens at a particular point in the show, such as a change of
lighting, scenery, or other technical event; also used to describe the verbal command to
do that thing. The Stage Manager will call a lighting cue as “Lighting Q” or “LX” –
either is acceptable. Sound cues are called as “Sound Q”. Lighting cues are usually
numbered; sound cues are usually identified by a letter of the alphabet.
Cue-to-Cue (Q to Q) – A run-through of the performance with actors skipping dialogue
and action from one technical cue to the next.
Curtain (Curtain Time) – Time set for the production to begin.
Curtain Call – When all the actors come onstage for a bow after the show has finished.
Curtain Line – The line on the stage floor where the front curtain touches when brought
in; The final line in the play. Also called the Tag Line.
Cyclorama (Cyc) – A large curved drop or wall used as a background to partially
enclose the set. Quite often meant to resemble the sky.
Denoument – The resolution; the resolving of the conflict.
Dialect – Distinctive sound of a culture, region, or language.
Dimmer – An electronic device to reduce the amount of power a lighting instrument
receives, thereby reducing the intensity of light it is putting out.
Discovered – A person or an object onstage when the curtain goes up.
Dithyrambs – Songs sung and danced in praise of Dionysus.
Dressing a Set – The decoration of the set with items that are principally for aesthetic
purposes only.
Drop – A flat piece of fabric, generally painted, that forms part of the scenery.
Dry Tech (Paper Tech) – A technical rehearsal without actors.
Dionysus – The Greek god of fertility and wine.
Electric – A batten specifically used for lighting instruments.
Elizabethan Ruff – The white fabric on the actor’s neck.
Exposition – Writing intended to give information of explain the circumstances in a play.
False Perspective – A scenic effect that, by exaggerating the effects of perspective,
makes a set look bigger than it really is.
First Electric – The most downstage electric; generally contains the greatest number of
lighting instruments of any electric.
Flats – Vertical walls of scenery.
Flies – The area above the stage that contains lines to be raised or lowered.
Floor Plan – The diagram showing the placement of the scenery as viewed from above.
Fly Loft – Large space above the stage where battens are set and flown.
Flying – Being raised up in the air. To “fly” a piece of scenery is to raise it up using
ropes or cables.
Focus – To direct and lock down a lighting instrument in its specified stage area.
Footlights – Strip lights used for general lighting May be permanent or mobile.
Fourth Wall – An imaginary wall between the actors and the audience that disallows
interaction between the two groups of people.
Free Verse – Verse that does not follow a fixed pattern, such as iambic pentameter.
Fresnel – A type of lighting instrument that emits a soft-edged, diffused light.
Front of House (FOH) – Anything in the audience, e.g. lighting positions; also
commonly used to describe staff (such as ushers, box office).
Front Light – Any light coming from downstage of an actor.
Gel – Name for lighting color filters.
Gel Frame – The metal frame that holds the color filter within the lighting instrument.
Given Circumstances – Information given about a character that the playwright has
written into the script.
Glow Tape – Tape that glows in the dark; placed in small pieces around the set so the
actors and crew will not bump into anything during a blackout.
Ground Plan (also called a Floor Plan) – A technical drawing that indicates the
position of scenery and set props on stage.
Hand Props – Properties that are handled by actors during the performance.
Hanging – The process of putting a lighting instrument in its designated spot according
to the light plot.
Hot Spot – The center of a beam of light; the brightest part of the beam.
House – The part of the theatre where the audience sits.
House Left – The left side of the auditorium, from the audience’s point of view.
House Lights – Lights used to illuminate the area where the audience sits.
House Right - The right side of the auditorium, from the audience’s point of view.
Inciting Incident – The situation that causes conflict.
Ingénue – The young innocent female character; usually a love interest.
Instrument – A term used for any lighting device.
Iris – The control on a follow spot that makes the circle of light bigger or smaller.
Jack – One of the most common bracing devices; used to support light weight scenery.
Knap – A method of making sound to add effect to a staged punch.
Lamp – The thing inside a lighting instrument that makes the light; often erroneously
called a bulb.
Legs – Drapes that hang to the side of the stage, hiding the backstage area.
Leko – A particular brand of ellipsoidal spotlight. This term is often (and erroneously)
used to describe any brand of ellipsoidal spotlight.
Light Plot – A drawn-up plan that designates the placement of lighting instruments
relative to the set.
Light Trees – Freestanding metal poles with wide bases; designed to hold lighting
instruments.
Lighting (Electrics) Crew – The crew members who hang, adjust, and operate the
lighting instruments.
Lighting Cues – The instructions that tell the lighting operators what to do and when to
do it.
Musical Director – The person responsible for interpreting the musical score for voices
and instruments.
Objective – What a character wants; their goals.
Paper the House – To give away free tickets to a theatre performance to give the
impression of a successful house.
Parados – A choral ode.
Perspective – To make a two-dimensional space look three-dimensional.
Platform – Any horizontal playing surface, or piece thereof.
Producer – The person who organizes and facilitates the production team; handles
finances and communications.
Production Team – Includes everyone who is actively involves in the production; heads
of departments, such as stage manager, props manager, designers, producer, director as
well as cast and crew. Sometimes used to refer to everyone involved in the production,
except the cast; sometimes used to refer to Production Heads only.
Prompt Book (Prompt Script) – The notebook that houses the stage manager’s script as
well as forms, notes, blocking; contains all the pertinent information about the show.
Proscenium Arch – The architectural wall that separates the stage area from the
audience.
Public Domain Plays – Plays whose copyright has expired and can be performed
without paying royalties.
Raked Stage (Rake) – A stage that is slanted, either to increase visibility or to produce
false perspective.
Read Through – An early rehearsal in which the script is read and discussed from
beginning to end; designers may make presentations.
Rehearsal Prop – A prop that is used during rehearsal, substituting for the prop that will
be used in performance.
Rendering – A drawing or painting that shows what the set or costumes will look like.
Resonance – Enriches vocal tone by vibrations.
Rhymed Couplet – A pair of lines in poetry, usually rhymed with the same meter.
Royalties – The fee that must be paid when using a copyrighted work.
Run Through – A rehearsal of the entire show (or an entire act) in order.
Running Crew – The technical crew needed to operate a production; deck crew, costume
crew, light board operator and sound operator are all positions on the running crew.
Running Lights – Backstage lights that are dim enough to not affect the stage lighting
but bright enough to allow cast and crew to move safely in the wings. Sometimes called
“blue lights”.
Safety Cable – A cable that secures a lighting instrument to the batten.
Satyr – Half man, half goat.
Scrim – A drop that can be opaque or transparent, depending on how it is lit.
Set Designer – The person responsible for planning the style, colors, textures, and
arrangement of the physical environment.
Sides – A page of the script.
Skene – Small wooden hut for quick changes and masks or props.
Soliloquy – An interior monologue in which the audience overhears the character’s
thoughts, motivations, and reflections.
Sonnet – A poem written during Shakespeare’s time.
Spike – To tape the position of the set and set props on the stage floor.
Spike Tape – Colored tape used to mar (or “spike”) scenery positions onstage.
Spill – Extraneous light that can be cut off with a shutter.
Stakes – The matter of concern in the story (i.e. to “raise the stakes”).
Stage Braces – One of the most common bracing devices; used to support light weight
scenery.
Stage Crew – The crew that works backstage during the show, shifting the scenery.
Stage Direction – Instructions written into a play, indicating stage actions or production
requirements.
Stage Left - The left side of the stage, from the actor’s perspective.
Stage Makeup – Typically used to enhance an actor’s facial features that are washed out
by the stage lighting. Also used to age a character, and for many special effects.
Stage Manager – The person who runs rehearsals, calls the cues during the show, and in
general, is in charge of the technical aspects of the production.
Stage Right – The right side of the stage, from the actor’s perspective.
Stock Scenery – Scenery that is stored and used for many different productions, e.g.,
flats and platforms.
Strike – To remove any item from the stage. Also, to clear the theatre of all remnants of
the show after the last performance.
Subtext – The character’s thoughts; the hidden meaning underlining what the character’s
saying.
Tactics – Various means an actor uses when pursuing a character’s objective.
Tape the Stage – The process of depicting the outlines of the set on the rehearsal room
floor, using colored tape; generally done by the stage manager before the first rehearsal.
Teaser – A horizontal drape across the stage, designed to hide the first electric.
Technical Director (Technical Advisor) – The person who is responsible for
maintaining technical equipment associated with play production, e.g., lighting
instruments, sound equipment, headsets, etc. and will also recommend purchase of new
and/or replacement equipment.
Technical Rehearsal – A rehearsal that includes technical effects, such as light, sound,
scenery.
Template (Pattern, Gobo) – A metal pattern that, when placed inside an ellipsoidal
spotlight, throws a shadow pattern on the stage.
Theatre Review – An article that presents a critical evaluation of a text, performance, or
production (for example, a book, movie, concert, or video game). A review customarily
includes the following elements: identification of the genre or general nature of the
subject being reviewed, a brief summary of the subject matter (such as the basic plot), a
discussion supported by evidence of the specific strengths and weakness of the subject
reviewed.
Theatron – The place of seeing; wooden benches that the audience sat on.
Timbre of Voice – The quality of the voice, involving tone and resonance.
Upstage – The part of the stage furthest from the audience.
Verisimilitude – Quality of realism in film, literature, or art.
Wash Light – Unfocused, soft light that erases shadows and gives color to a scene.
Wings – The right and left sides of the backstage area.
Theatre Types:
Augusto Boal created Theatre of the Oppressed to give the lower class people of Brazil
an outlet for keeping up with what was going on in the world.
Commedia dell’arte uses masks, exaggeration, and stock characters in their shows.
Futurism incorporates machine and technology in its theatre because it promotes
progress and speed.
When the main character is brought to ruin or extreme sorrow, especially as a
consequence of a moral weakness, flaw or inability to cope with unfavorable
circumstances, you are witnessing a Tragedy.
Epic Theatre is when the audience is meant to be distanced from the characters in the
play so they would think about what the play was saying instead of sympathizing with the
characters. The audience is always aware that they are watching a play.
If you’re watching a play filled with improbably situations, disguise, and mistaken
identity, physical and verbal humor of varying degrees of sophistication, which may
include sexual innuendo and word play, you are watching a Farce.
Realism was formed with the aim of bringing a greater accuracy of real life to texts and
performances through theatrical conventions. It was the dominant style of theatre in the
late 19th century. Its goal was “likeness to life”. It has lost influence in today’s theatres.
It came before Naturalism.
A modern musical-dramatic work that incorporates singing, dancing, and acting is
Musical Theatre. It was invented in America at the end of the 1800’s.
Opera started in Italy at the end of the 16th century.
Melodrama has exaggerated plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It
may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or
events which resemble them. It is usually based around having the same character traits,
e.g. a hero (usually likes the fearless one), heroine (the love of the hero, usually the one
the hero saves), villain (usually likes the heroine too) and villain’s sidekick (typically gets
in the way of the villain). It is also used in scholarly and historical musical contexts to
refer to dramas of the 18th and 19th centuries in which orchestral music or song was used
to accompany the action. (melos- means music).
Comedy of Manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class. He plot of
the comedy, often concerned with an illicit love affair or some other scandal, is generally
less important that its witty and often bawdy dialogue.
If you were in a theatre that exposed life as a brutal, harsh reality with the use of flashing
lights, screams, disturbing sounds, and other disturbing theatrical elements, you would be
experiencing Theatre of Cruelty.
American Vaudeville shows had comic sketches and circus acts.
A Drama is a prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is
intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the
dialogue and action. Comes from the Greek word meaning “action” or “to do”.
A Comedy is a dramatic work that is light and humorous in tone and that usually
contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.
A Satire is a literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony,
derision, or wit.
To Pantomine is to act without words.
Surrealism is a mystical, metaphysical, dream-like theatre.
The Theatre of the Absurd presents a world that cannot be logically explained.
Avant Garde Theatre: Playwrights in the 1900’s decided to distance themselves from
Realism and previous conventions.
Naturalism is a “photographic” Realism.
Comedy of Errors is humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a
series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically, culminates in a happy
resolution of the thematic conflict.
Guerilla Theatre had plays that spoke to the social change of the 1960’s, by including
nudity, profanity, and taboo subjects, marked by spontaneity and unpredictability in the
performances. It was a 1960’s type of Avant Garde Theatre.
Stages:
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A proscenium stage:
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A Thrust or 3/4 stage:
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An Arena or Theatre in the Round stage:
Plays:
The quote “To be or not to be, that is the question” means “Is it better to live or die”. It is
said by Hamlet.
Oedipus became king of Thebes by answering the Riddle of the Sphinx.
Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy inspired Hamlet.
Tragic poets in ancient Greece did not draw on the events of everyday life as an
inspiration for their plays.
The Hairy Ape is an almost textbook example of an expressionistic play.
For the Romans, entertainment, including theatre, was about spectacle and was only
partly connected to any kind of religious philosophy.
Costumes:
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A bustle:
Equities:
Some unions include SAG, AFTRA, AEA, AGMA, AGVA, Actor’s Equity, and
ACTRA.
Jobs:
Producer is the money behind the show.
The Business Representative negotiates contracts for the actors and stage managers.
Actors Equity Association Deputy would file an injury report on behalf of an actor.
The Assistant Stage Manager (ASM) is part of the stage management staff; is usually in
charge of backstage crew.
The Lighting (Electrics) Crew is made up of the crew members who hang, adjust, and
operate the lighting instruments.
The Musical Director is the person responsible for interpreting the musical score for
voices and instruments.
The Production Team includes everyone who is actively involves in the production;
heads of departments, such as stage manager, props manager, designers, producer,
director as well as cast and crew. Sometimes used to refer to everyone involved in the
production, except the cast; sometimes used to refer to Production Heads only.
The Running Crew is the technical crew needed to operate a production; deck crew,
costume crew, light board operator and sound operator are all positions on the
running crew.
The Set Designer is the person responsible for planning the style, colors, textures, and
arrangement of the physical environment.
The Stage Crew is the crew that works backstage during the show, shifting the scenery.
The Stage Manager is the person who runs rehearsals, calls the cues during the show,
and in general, is in charge of the technical aspects of the production. They oversee the
backstage crew, props, and sound and lighting cues. The call the show, are in charge of
the crew, and take blocking notes.
The Technical Director (Technical Advisor) is the person who is responsible for
maintaining technical equipment associated with play production, e.g., lighting
instruments, sound equipment, headsets, etc. and will also recommend purchase of new
and/or replacement equipment.
The House Manager’s job is to “open the house”. They are also in charge of the ushers,
perform safety checks, and reports to the stage manager to say when the show can start.
They stop audience members from going backstage.
Ushers show the audience members to their seats and hand out programs. They can also
stop audience members from going back stage.
The Lighting Designer’s jobs are to research the production, create a light plot, and hire
the master electrician.
The Director directs the show in their vision.
Elizabethan Theatre:
Flags were used to tell what play was being performed that day. Red = Historical, white =
Comedy, and black = Tragedy.
Puritans thought theatre was the temptation of the devil.
4 fluids/humors: Blood = cheerful, Phlegm = sluggish, Black Bile = depressed, and
Yellow = easily angered.
Theatres were built outside of cities and on the South side of the Thames River.
They used realistic swordplay and sheep’s blood for realism as well as trapdoors for
ghosts and spirits. Also used cannons for battles. No attempts at costumes.
No women were involved; young boys played women’s parts.
Actors were masterless. If they were caught, they were branded with a V and put into
temporary slavery. If branded with an S, they were put into slavery for life.
Federal Theatre Project:
Included The Living Newspaper, The Negro Project, and The New Deal.
It was described as free to the public, geared towards an adult audience and
uncensored.
The primary purpose was to employ out of work directors, writers, actors, and artists.
Hallie Flanagan was the head of the FTP and was questioned by the House of
Representative’s Specially Committee on Un-American Activities.
The Negro Theatre Project did not only produce new plays written by African American
playwrights.