Set Design
Backstage Basics
Lighting
Sound
Stage Directions
100

What is a set?

What is the physical scenery on stage?

100

What is the area where the audience sits called?

What is the house?

100

What is the name of the lights that hang above the stage?

What are stage lights or overhead lights?

100

You’re playing a ghost and need your voice to sound spooky and echoey. What might the sound tech add?

What is reverb?

100

The director tells you to “cheat out” during your scene. What should you do?

What is turn your body slightly toward the audience so they can see your face?

200

Who designs the sets for a play or musical?

Who is the set designer?

200

What do you call the edge of the stage closest to the audience?

What is the apron?

200

What’s the main light used to light actors’ faces from the front?

What is a spotlight?

200

During a rehearsal, an actor’s mic suddenly stops working. What’s the first thing the sound tech should check?

What is the battery?

200

You're told to exit upstage left. Which direction do you go?

Toward the back of the stage and to the actor’s left.

300

What do we call fake walls or pieces used to make the stage look like a place?

What are flats?

300

What’s the big curtain at the front of the stage called?

What is the main drape or grand curtain?

300

What’s the name of the person who runs the lighting board?

Who is the lighting technician?

300

A phone rings on stage as part of the scene. What is that ringing called in theatre tech terms?

What is a sound cue?

300

The choreographer wants you to cross from downstage right to upstage left. What kind of movement is this?

A diagonal cross across the stage.

400

What is a model or sketch of a set called before it’s built?

What is a set rendering or set model?

400

What is the open space above the stage used to hide lights and scenery called?

What is the fly space or fly loft?

400

What do you call a colored piece of plastic placed in front of a light?

What is a gel?

400

You hear a loud screeching noise from the speakers when someone speaks. What is that sound called?

What is feedback?

400

You’re standing center stage and another actor enters from stage right. From whose perspective is “stage right”?

The actor’s perspective while facing the audience.

500

What’s it called when you take apart the set after the show ends?

What is strike?

500

What type of theatre space has the audience sitting on three sides of the stage?

What is a thrust stage?

500

What is it called when the lights slowly go off?

What is a fade out?

500

The director wants thunder and rain to play at the exact moment an actor opens a door. What’s the sound operator watching for?

What is a cue line or cue timing?

500

You’re blocking a scene and the director says, “That’s too flat!” What might they be asking you to change?

To add levels or dynamic movement

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