Vocabulary
A hole in the floor that you can enter the stage from, exit through, or bring scenery through.
Trap
The process of telling the actor where to move and what to do.
Blocking
Plays the main roles, and can be called the leading actor.
Principal Actor
This type of curtain covers things that the theater doesn't want the audience to see. They have legs and boarders and can be found above the stage and in the wings of the stage.
Masking Curtain
Where everyone gathers before going onstage. The origin of the name for this room is unknown, but rumors started back in Shakespeare's time that it was called this due to the moisture of the plants kept here to benefit the actor's voices.
Greenroom
Responsible for finding and bringing in potential actors for every role so that the producer and director can decide who can play what character.
Casting Director
The technical crew loads in scenery and lights which is called...
Load-In process
In a musical, plays many smaller roles and appear in the larger musical numbers.
Ensemble Actor
The curtain that separates the audience from the stage. Usually the first curtain you are likely to see.
Front Curtain
Designed for getting dressed.
Dressing Room
When actors perform in some way for the creative team of the show to demonstrate that they are right for a certain part.
Audition
Technical rehearsal where all the scene changes and lighting cues are sorted out and practiced before the actors get onstage.
Dry Tech
Called this because they can just "swing in" to any role during the dance and production numbers.
Swing Actor
A piece of fabric that is stretched so tight that it looks like a solid wall. One of the most common forms of theatrical scenery. Can be painted to look 3-D or be one solid, flat color.
Backdrop
Where the cast and crew and anyone who walks backstage enters the theater. Three important elements come with this: stage doorman, call board, and sign-in sheet.
Stage Door
When actors audition for a second (or third or fourth) time after the first audition.
Callback
Kind of rehearsal that can be long and slow and painstaking, as the entire cast and crew goes from the top of the show and rehearses every light cue, every scene change, every entrance, with all the elements in place.
Technical Rehearsal
(Cover actors) play the leading roles when the regular actor is sick, on vacation, or unavailable.
Understudy Actor
A large black or dark blue velvet curtain with tiny little lights pulled through it from the back.
Star Drop
The room where the wardrobe department maintains and prepares the costumes for each performance.
Wardrobe Room
The process of learning the script and learning what to do on stage.
Rehearsal
When actors perform the show in full costumes, wigs, and makeup on the set with all the lighting, props, and scenery just as they will be when the audience gets to see it.
Dress Rehearsal
Made out of a special fabric that when lit from the front looks like a normal painted backdrop, but when you light up what's behind it you can see right through it.
Scrim
Where the hair department manages the hair for all the characters in the play.
Wig Room