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100
A serious play where the consequences are not as dire as a tragedy.
What is drama?
100
When an actor is pretending to be someone else.
What is "in character"?
100
When an actor abruptly stops acting, or “falls out” of character; this can ruin the audience's suspension of disbelief.
What is "breaking character"?
100
The person who decides which actors will be in the play, where they should stand or move to, how they should speak, and what they should wear.
What is the director?
100
As in a poem, this might end although the sentence continues. These usually have numbers withing the scripts that are listed in the margins of the pages so readers can find them quickly.
What is a line?
200
In the Greek sense, a play that doesn’t end in death. In modern usage, refers to a play that is humorous.
What is comedy?
200
When the “o” is long and the emphasis is on the second syllable, this word means, “to speak loudly and clearly”; refers to the volume of an actor’s voice.
What is project?
200
How an actor says his or her lines. The delivery of lines is as important as what an actor does or looks like, or how he or she dresses.
What is delivery?
200
The building, structure, or space in which dramatic performances take place.
What is the theater?
200
A stage direction that tells the character(s) to come onto the stage.
What is enter?
300
In the Greek sense, a play that ends with the death of at least one of the main characters. In modern usage, refers to a play where a hero suffers a major downfall.
What is a tragedy?
300
To deliver lines with feelings appropriate to the scene; to show emotion through one’s voice. If you overdo this, it’s called “chewing the scenery.”
What is "emote"?
300
A minor character who doesn’t have many or any lines; usually, they don’t have names, but are identified by what they do (“servant,” “boy,” “policeman”).
What is an extra?
300
Silent actions that actors do when they are on stage but don't have lines and are not part of the main action or dialogue; this might include pretending to talk to someone, pretending to shop, pretending to play a game, etc.
What is "business"?
300
A stage direction that tells the character(s) to leave the stage and the scene.
What is exit?
400
A contradiction between what the character thinks and what the audience or reader knows to be true.
What is dramatic irony?
400
A major section of a play, similar to a chapter in a book; it is is usually made up of several scenes.
What is an act?
400
A subdivision of an act; usually, it indicates a specific location or time, and changes if another location or time is supposed to be presented. It usually ends when all the characters leave the stage.
What is a scene?
400
Actors need to consider not only what a character is supposed to do, but WHY a character behaves in a certain way; understanding this helps an actor understand the emotional state of their character, which influences how the character moves, speaks, and behaves.
What is motivation?
400
The right part of the stage from the viewpoint of one who faces the audience.
What is stage right?
500
A speech given by a single character while that character is alone on stage.
What is a monologue?
500
A speech performed by a character while other characters are on stage; the information is not heard by the other characters on stage, even though they may be standing very close by; it is intended to convey the character’s private thoughts to the audience.
What is an aside?
500
The written text of a play.
What is a script?
500
Actors pretend this is invisible....the space between themselves and the audience. Expositions and monologues sometimes break this.
What is "the fourth wall"?
500
When actors project and exaggerate their MOTIONS (actions like pointing or jabbing) and emotions.
What is "larger than life"?
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