A ________________

Abbey Theatre - Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, that was home to the Irish Nationalist movement in the early 1900s. The building itself was purchased by Miss A.E.F. Horniman to house Frank and W.G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Society. The Irish Nationalist movement embraced naturalism, ensemble acting, and plays about Irish life. It premiered many plays by Irish authors such as W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge and Sean O'Casey.

Absurd, Theatre of the Movement in the 1940s-1960s that expressed existentialist philosophy through theatrical style. Absurdist plays are filled with non-sensical dialogue and plot, which convey the inability of people to communicate with each other and the irrationality of existence.

Actor's Studio - Acting school in New York that taught an Americanized versionof Stanislavsky's Method and was veryinfluential in 1950s-60s American drama. It was founded in 1947-48 eitherby Lee Strasberg or by Elia Kazan and Cheryl Crawford, depending on whatsource you consult. Strasberg served as artistic director of the schooluntil his death in 1982.

Ambience The mix of background noise and other reflected sounds that make up a room's acoustic character. More recently, a generic description of new age music.

Amphitheatre An outdoor theatrical setting, usually with a large semi-circular seating area sloping down to the stage. Sometimes a very large indoor venue. The amphitheatre was developed by the Romans to provide convenient accommodation for large numbers of spectators at exhibitions of gladiatorial combats and beast hunts. The amphitheatre was one of the earliest examples of reserved ticketing. Tickets noted which arch to enter through, and the section, row, and seat numbers. They were also big. The amphitheatre at Pompeii, built 80BC sat 20,000, while the Colosseum in Rome, built 29BC by Statilus Tauros, held an estimated 45,000 to 50,000 spectators.

Antagonist The chief opponent of the protagonist in a drama.

Apron A part of the stage projecting towards or into the auditorium. In proscenium stages, the part of the stage in front of the curtain.

ASM See Assistant Stage Manager.

ATAEA The Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees Association - the union for Australian theatre technicians. Now, as part of the move towards the so-called super unions, has been amalgamated into the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, together with Actor's Equity. (Aust.)

At Rise The action occurring on the stage when the curtain opens.

B ________________

Baby Spot A small spotlight under 500 watts.

Back Cloth Cloth, usually painted, suspended from the flys at the rear of the stage. Also Back Drop.

Backstage In proscenium theatres, the area behind the proscenium arch. The term also refers to such areas in non-proscenium theatres and to any part of the stage not in the acting area during a performance.

Baffle 1) A wall of timber or board that separates sound sources such as speakers from surfaces that might reflect sound back and thus to cancel out the sound. 2) A metal plate or strip within a lantern that stops light exiting the lantern housing through openings other than the lens, usually the cooling vents.

Balanced Line An audio cable in which the two audio lines, positive (hot) and negative are kept electrically separate from the earth. A way of reducing hum and noise on the cable.

Ballad Opera A musical with songs based on popular melodies or tunes e.g. THE BEGGARS OPERA.

Ballast A means of giving stability to otherwise unstable electrical loads. 1) Resistive ballast - practice of patching a lantern onto a dimmer that is running an inductive load, for example a fan. 2) Inductive ballast is required by discharge type lanterns as part of the circuitry to control the current that is available to the lamp.

Baroque Theatre A sumptuous, spectacular form of theatre popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. Noted for its ability to extend beyond the confines of the stage and involving elaborate changeable scenery.

Break A Leg Traditional good luck greeting between cast and crew before a performance. Also Chookas, Fall Down Backward.

Breaking Character When actors do or say something which is inconsistent with the character they are portraying.

Burlesque - Type of American theatre entertainment characterized by chorus-girlnumbers interspersed with comedians and other acts. It started in the mid-1800sand became very popular in the early 1900s with stars such as Al Jolson,W.C. Fields, Sophie Tucker, Fannie Brice and strippers Gypsy Rose Lee andSally Rand. It declined with the rise of movies and was finally bannedin the 1940s as a threat to public morality. Note: In Europe prior to the1900s, a burlesque was a parody.

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Cabaret - Type of theatre that emphasizes skits, songs, magic and comedyacts, often performed in a somewhat intimate setting.

Cadenza Range of 2000 watt lanterns by Strand Electric. Cadenza is a good choice for a lantern name - a cadenza is also an elaborate showy passage for a singer near the end of an aria, or for a musician near the end of a concerto.

Cat walk See Bridge.

Chamberlain's Men - An Elizabethan stage troupe. It's most famous member wasa young William Shakespeare.

Charonian Steps Steps used in ancient Greek theatre by actors to emerge from below stage to symbolise their appearance from the underworld.

Chase A repeated sequence of changing lighting states.

Choreographer Designs and creates the dance elements and arrangements for a show.

Chorus Set of performers who speak, sing and/or dance as a group rather than individually.

Chromatic Aberrations Rings of colour visible around the main circle of light, produced by inferior quality lenses or incorrect focus adjustment.

Cod To overstate, play up for all its worth.

Comedie Francaise - The national theatre of France.

Commedia dell Arte - (Also Commedia dell'Arte, Commedia dell-Arte) Type of comedypopular in Italy in the 1500s and 1600s, performed by specialty troupeswho improvised on stock characters in stock situations. It influenced Frenchfarce, English pantomime, harlequinade and punch-and-judy. The charactersincluded: Arlecchino (Harlequin), the young male suitor of the beautifulyoung ingenue Columbine; Pantaloon (comicrelief father of Columbine), Pierrot (Pedrolino,childlike character in dunce cap), and Pulcinella, a humpback servant ina striped costume, who later evolved into Punch in Punch-and-Judy.

Complication A twist introduced into a play which heightens tension and prolongs the climax of the story.

Concert Pitch The common tuning standard for musical instruments, agreed in 1960, where the note A = 440 Hz (or vibrations per second).

Crew Loose term covering all those who work on a show backstage.

Cross The movement of an actor across the stage in any direction.

Cued script A cut down version of the full script, prepared especially for a particular actor, showing only that actor's speeches with a few lines either side for cues. Usually on a smaller paper size such as quarto so it can be kept easily in a bag or pocket.

Cue Light Box with 2 or more lights, usually red and green, to warn an actor or technician to go to stand-by and then do whatever is required. Ensures greater precision when visibility or audibility is limited.

Cue Sheet A list showing the cues in correct order as they are to be carried out.

Cue Synopsis A list of proposed lighting cues drawn up prior to plotting, giving a description of what lights should change when in the performance. An excellent tool to speed up the plotting process, instead of trying to start from scratch in the theatre.

Cue-to-cue A technical rehearsal specifically for the technical crew to work fully through the cues, often by skipping parts of the script. Also Top And Tail Rehearsal.

Curtain 1) The drapery which hides the stage from the audience. See House Curtain. 2) The action of the House Curtain coming down at the end of an Act or the play. 3) The last piece of action on the stage before the House Curtain comes down.

Curtain Down See Come Down.

Curtain Line 1) The final line of a scene or act which gives the cue for the curtain to come down. In a tradition dating from Elizabethan times it is considered unlucky to speak the curtain line in rehearsal. 2) The imaginary line across the stage where the curtain falls.

Curtain Raiser Similar to the after piece, developed in France in the late 18th century as a short play to bridge the gap between the beginning of the performance and the arrival of late audience members. Generally the curtain raiser had nothing to do with the main performance.

Curtain Speech Address to the audience by an actor, without the persona of the character the actor is supposed to be portraying.

Curtain Time See Curtain Up.

Curtain Up The beginning of the show. Also Curtain Time.

Cut And Run Term used towards the end of the 18th century when actors cut their lines and left the stage, for one reason or another.

Cut Cloth Vertical scenic piece cut to reveal more scenery behind it.

Cut Off Angle Light beam angle at which the light striking the subject is 1% of that emitted.

Cut-Out Flat A shaped flat in plywood or hardboard.

Cyclorama A perfectly plain screen with a uniform surface extending around and above the stage to give a feeling of infinite space. It can also be used for the projection of designs and shadows. In English repertory theatres it was traditionally made of concrete and thus the back wall of the stage. (UK) Also Sky-cloth. (From Greek 'Kuklos' = circle and 'Horama' = view).

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DBO See Dead Black Out.

dbx Company best known for its range of audio signal processors such as compressors and noise gates.

Deckle Really any Gobo, but more now commonly a Gobo with a random pattern of holes, often used to produce a dappled or softened light on stage. Also Breakup.

Decibel (db) Unit of measure of the volume of sound.

Delay Unit See Digital Delay.

Deus ex machina The event or person that saves a situation in the nick of time. (from Latin = god from the machinery - a device by which gods were suspended above the stage in ancient theatre).

DI A 'direct inject' box used to feed the output of an electronic instrument e.g. a guitar or synthesiser straight to the audio system.

Dialogue The lines or words spoken by the cast in a show.

Diffusion Filter Used like a gel but to soften and spread the beam of light rather than to colour it. Also Frost.

Dimmer Electrical device which controls the amount of electricity passed to a lamp and therefore the intensity of the light. Dimmers are normally numbered sequentially, and the numbers shown on the Lighting Design in next to the relevant lanterns. The dimmer is controlled from the Lighting Desk via a low voltage control signal.

Dimmer Rack A set of dimmers in a single case.

Diorama A spectacular 3 dimensional effect was created by a specially painted cloth and carefully focussed lighting. Invented by Louis Daguerre in Paris 1822, the man who is also credited with inventing photography. (From Greek, 'Dia' = through, and 'Horama' = view).

Dipless Crossfade A cross fade where lighting already up in the first state, and which appears in the new state, does not visibly alter.

Downstage
Toward the front of the stage. The term derives from stages that were raked -- i.e., sloped downward toward the audience. Thus the front of the stage was "downstage," the rear of the stage was "upstage." To "upstage" someone was to make them more the rearward than oneself, or as it came to be, to distract the audience's attention from them.

Dramaturg
A person who serves as an editor for a theatre company, helping select plays and helping writers refine their work. Sometimes called a literary manager.

Drawing Room Comedy
Broad term referring to witty, upper-class comedes that werepopular from the turn of the century. Chief playwrights included OscarWilde, Noel Coward and Clyde Fitch.

Drury Lane Theatre
Historic English theatre. The first theatre on the site,the Theatre Royal, opened in 1663. As theatres often did in those days,it burned down nine years later, but was rebuilt again in 1874. From 1746to 1776, Garrick was the resident star and co-manager. Richard Brinsley Sheridan succeeded Garrick as manager, and several of his plays were producedthere. The theatre burned down again in 1809, was rebuilt in 1812. Duringthe 1800s it was occasionally home to famous stars like Edmund Kean andGeorge MacReady. In the latter 1800s it was associated with spectacular melodramas and stage machinery. Since the 1920s it has featured big, Broadway-stylemusicals.

E ________________

Elizabethan Theatre
Historical period in English theatre associated with thereign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Along with ancient Greece, it wasone of the great flowerings of theatre. During this time drama re-emergedartistically from the constraints of the church, became a business thatappealed to the general public, and produced such writers as ChristopherMarlowe, Thomas Kyd, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont & Fletcherand many others.

Entr'acte
A musical interlude between play acts.

F ________________

Farce
Labiche, Molnar, Comedy of Errors, Plautus, Menander

G ________________

Grand Guignol
A style of macabre, horrific melodrama, popular in the late1800s and early 1900s, featuring women in peril, ghosts or horrific murders.It first developed in France, notably at the Theatre du Grand Guignol.It appeared in England in the early 1900s, no doubt assisted by the sensationalismsurrounding the "Jack the Ripper" killings.

Greek Theatre
Theatre culture that flourished from approximately 600 BCto 200 BC around what is now Athens, Greece. It was here that the theatreas it is known today evolved from religious rituals. Acting, tragedy, comedy,the architecture and terminology of theatre were all developed. Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and Menander wrote many plays that becamethe models for many subsequent plays and are considered among the greatest ever written.

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I ________________
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K ________________

Kabuki
Type of Japanese theatre, a combination of acting and danceto tell a story, usually featuring stock, superhuman heroes and villains.It is aimed mainly at the common people, as opposed to the highbrow Noh.It was actually created by woman in Kyoto, Japan, but now roles are performedby men, who apply elaborate makeup for female roles (known as onnagata).

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Legitimate Theatre
Term usually meaning the stage in general, as opposed tofilm. In prior days, it referred to pure drama without music or dance.The origin of the term is pre-1900 English, when theatres had to be licensed.

Living Theatre
Influential off-broadway theatre company and acting schoolthat emphasized improvisation and physical theatre. It was founded in 1947by Judith Malina and Julian Beck.

M ________________

Masque
A type of theatre intended for the private entertainmentof the Royal court during Elizabethan times. It consisted of a mixtureof songs, poetry, dance and drama, as well as elaborate staging. Majorfigures were authors Ben Jonson and John Milton, and designer Inigo Jones,who often collaborated with Jonson.

Matinee
Afternoon performance of a play.

Method, The
Acting approach, based on Stanislavsky's teachings. As explained in the book An Actor Prepares, it involves internalrather than external preparation. It was taught by Lee Strasberg and hisActor's Studio, graduates of which included Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger,Montgomery Clift, Julie Harris and others.

Mime (See pantomime)

Morality Play
A style of religious play popular in Western Europe from1300-1500. An outgrowth of Medieval Catholic teaching, morality plays wereintended to teach moral lessons to the common people. The characters inthem were personifications of virtues, vices and metaphysical concepts.The most famous Morality Play is Everyman, an English version ofa Dutch Morality Play. Toward the latter 1400s, Morality plays became lessreligious and more entertainment-oriented, presaging the secular theatreof the Elizabethan period.

Mystery Plays
A style of Medieval theatre that dramatized episodes fromthe Bible, usually the birth, death and resurrection of Christ. UnlikeMorality Plays, Mystery Plays were often staged on a grand scale, and wereusually written and performed annually in series called cycles.The most famous examples of Mystery Plays are the Wakefield Cycle, fromMedieval England, and Passion Plays, such as the one performed regularlyat Oberammergau.
N ________________
O ________________

Off-Broadway
Theatres in the Greenwich Village section of New York whichoften host smaller, less commercial productions compared to Broadway.

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Pantomime
Acted out without dialogue or props, dependent on the skillof the mime to make the audience imagine the props and setting.

Passion Play
Religious drama depicting Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.Passion plays originated in the Middle Ages, when they were performed aspart of the celebration of Good Friday. They are still performed todayin parts of Europe, notably Oberammergau in southern Germany.

Playbill
Poster that advertises a play

Prompter
A person who assists the actors with their lines. The prompteris hidden from the audience, usually in the wings but occasionally at thefront of the stage.

Provincetown Players
Pioneering American theatre company. First formed in ProvincetownMassachussetts in 1916, they later moved to New York. Associated with EugeneO'Neill.
Q ________________

Queen's Men, The
English acting company, founded in 1583 by twelve membersof Queen Elizabeth's court. It was the most well-known of a number of Elizabethanacting companies associated with royal patrons, including The Lord Chamberlain'sMen, of which Shakespeare was a part. It disbanded in 1594, but was revivedseveral times until the London theatres themselves were all closed in 1642.
R ________________

Rake
A stage's angle of incline. Prior to the 1900s many stageswere sloped, higher in the rear than in the front. The purpose was twofold:To make the action at the rear more visible to the audience, and to helpwith the illusion of perspective.

Realism
Theatre movement, associated with Naturalism..Beginning in the late 1800s and gaining momentum through the early 1900s,Realism and Naturalism emphasized character-based plotting, realistic acting,and somewhat minimalistic scene design. It was a reaction against the histrionic,artificial theatre that was popular at the time. Its main proponents includedIbsen and his ardent supporter George Bernard Shaw, Chekhov, Stanislavskyand the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia,W.B.Yeats and others of the Irish Dance Movement.

Repertory
A theatre company that tends to use the same actors and productionpersonnel, and presents plays for a short amount of time.

Revenge Tragedy
Form of violent, gory tragedy first popular in Ancient Romeand later in Elizabethan England. The plots usually involve horrific crimesavenged in equally horrific manner. The main attraction was the sensational,macabre gore, as for example a scene in Seneca and later Shakespeare'sTitus Andronicus in which murder victims are baked in a pie andeaten.

Revue
A sequence of sketches, comedy routines and dance numbers,sometimes satirical. The most famous example were the Ziegfeld Follieson Broadway in the 1920s. They became popular in London during the 1940swith names that included Jessie Matthews, Gertrude Lawrence, Beatrice Lillie,Noel Coward and Fokine. Satirical revues became popular again in the 1960swith Beyond the Fringe and Nichols & May.
S ________________

Sturm und Drang
German phrase meaning extravagant passion and high drama, or literally "storm and stress." An outgrowth of romanticism, its chief proponents were Goethe and Schiller.
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U ________________

Upstage
The back of the stage, so called because the stage used tobe inclined or raked. The opposite is downstage. Also, the origin of the verb "upstage," when one actor moves in front ofanother actor, making him closer to the back of the stage, and capturingthe audience's attention away from him.

V ________________

Vaudeville
Type of American theatre that combined comedy routines, song and dance, and other light entertainment. It thrived in the early 1900s but faded away in the 1930s when sound movies came in. Many popular performers came out of vaudeville, including Al Jolson, Ethel Merman, W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers.

W ________________
XYZ ________________

Yiddish Theatre
Movement among Jews in Europe and Russia to create theatre in the Yiddish language. It began in the late 1700s, and by 1876 the first permanent company had been established by Abraham Goldfaden. Material then consisted mainly of sketches and songs. After being banned briefly in Russia, it sprang up again in the early 1900s with a more artistic tendency. It was popular in Eastern Europe and New York, where there were several influential productions of Sholom Aleichem's stories, particularly The Golem. Yiddish theatre declined in America in the 1930s, but continues to this day in Eastern Europe.