Actor's Terms
He/She learns a part in case a principal is unable to complete the part due to illness, inury, etc.
What is an Understudy?
This is an "imaginary" wall that separates the actor from the audience in most plays.
It is believed that if you have a bad one of these, your actual performance will be good.
This person's job is quite simply defined as providing a vision for the production, which includes leading actors into that vision.
This is the name where a band or orchestra belongs.
He/She is literally an emergency performer who might not even know the play, but is willing to go onstage to cover.
What is a Stand By?
This is the name for the framed walls that surround the stage, giving it a "framed effect."
According to tradition, you never say this show title in a theater, unless you are actually performing it.
What is Macbeth?
This person is responsible for planning and implementing all aspects of a production.
This is a term to describe a group of folks, like the Spirits in Midsummer. Often, they are a group or actors, dancers, or secondary characters without names or titles.
What is an Ensemble?
This is the name of a theater in which there is no front, back, or sides.
According to tradition, you say this painful expression if you want to bow multiple times at the end of a show.
This person is responsible for running audition and casting a play.
This is actually the correct name for the first few rows of seats in a theater. They are the most expensive and prized seats you can buy.
This is actually the correct title for a secondary character, like an Officer O'Hara in "Arsenic and Old Lace."
What is a Supporting Actor?
This is a stage that goes into the audience, like the stage extension, which creates a more intimate or close encounters with the audience.
According to tradition, if you place this under your pillow, you will learn your lines. Science disagrees.
This person is responsible for coordinating every aspect of the production from scheduling to calling all of the cues during a performance to maintaining the director’s artistic vision of the show once performances have begun.
Who is the Stage Manager?
These seats are typically elevated and run down the left and right side of a theater?
They are also known as Opera Boxes.
This is the title for a multi-talented actor/dancer who knows the entirety of a play and is willing to jump in and do any part at any time.
What is a Swing?
This the generic terms for when you convert a theater, house, seating, etc, to be used as part of the set. In other words, the house, the stage, everything, is part of the set.
What is a Environmental Set?
Also called "Site Specific."
According to theater tradition, you should never do this in a theater, unless you want a light or a rigging bar to hit you in the head.
According to tradition, stage crew, lighting, etc, communicated by whistling while the orchestra was playing. If you whistled, you might have something dropped on your head.
This person is the ultimate production guru. He/She is supposed to know all the history of a piece, have insights into the playwright, and is ultimately responsible for making sure the piece is being performed authentically and accurately according to the playwright's demands and directions?
These are known as "second tier" seats. They are not directly at the front, and they are not far to the rear.