Basic Stage Areas
This area is in the exact middle of the performance space.
What is center stage?
Stages used to be built on this type of slant, which is why "upstage" got its name.
What is a rake (or raked stage)?
"The audience is DOWN there, so this stage area is closer to them."
What is downstage?
This term describes writing down where actors move on stage using proper terminology.
What is blocking?
In "Simon Says - Stage Directions," students must move to areas only when this phrase is said first.
What is "Simon says"?
This stage area is closest to where the audience sits.
What is downstage?
In historical theaters, actors literally had to walk up this to reach upstage.
What is an incline or slope?
"You go UP the stairs to get away from people, so this area is farther."
What is upstage?
In the phrase "Mom enters stage left," this word tells us the character's action.
What is "enters"?
During Stage Direction Bingo, students mark areas on their cards when the teacher calls out these.
What are character movements or entrances?
When facing the audience, this is the area to your left.
What is stage left?
The reason stage directions are from the actor's perspective facing this direction.
What is toward the audience?
To remember stage left and right, actors should always face this direction first.
What is towards the audience?
If an actor needs to move from downstage center to upstage right, they are moving in this general direction.
What is diagonally up and to their right?
When creating a family dinner scene, each actor should start in this type of stage position.
What is a different stage area?
This area combines being far from the audience and to the actor's right.
What is Upstage Right?
This is why "upstage" means farther from the audience in historical theaters.
What is because it was literally higher up on the slanted stage?
This body part helps actors remember which side is stage right.
What is their right hand (when facing the audience)?
A scene where one actor starts center stage, another downstage left, and a third upstage right demonstrates this theatrical concept.
What is stage composition?
If you're designing blocking for a camping scene with 4 actors, you might place the campfire here and have characters enter from various areas.
What is center stage (with characters entering from different directions)?
Name all three areas that include the word "center."
What are center stage, upstage center, and downstage center?
Before standardized stage directions, directors giving regular left and right directions caused this problem.
What is confusion (because everyone has a different perspective)?
Complete this memory trick: "If you're an actor facing the audience, stage left is..."
What is "your actual left side"?
When writing blocking notation, you should use these types of terms rather than regular directional words.
What are proper stage direction terminology (like UR, DL, CS instead of "right," "left," "middle")?
The exit ticket requires students to answer questions about stage directions before they can do this.
What is leave the classroom?