Drama Vocab
The area of the stage closest to the audience.
What is Downstage?
The storytellers of a Greek drama. Originally the only actors onstage, though over time, the size grew smaller.
What is the chorus?
The goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Her symbol is an owl.
Who is Athena?
The guard to the gates of the Underworld. Hades' BFF.
What is Cerberus?
These two were an unlikely pair -- one whisked the other off to the Underworld (against her mother's wishes). She remains there half the year after eating six seeds from a pomegranate.
Who are Persephone and Hades?
The movement that is done by an actor onstage.
What is blocking?
The god of light and music. His symbol is a lyre.
Who is Apollo?
Half man and half bull. Theseus fought one in his myth.
He received a wish from the god Dionysus, and suddenly was able to turn everything to gold. However, he soon realized the curse of this wish after turning his daughter to gold and begged to reverse it.
Who is King Midas?
Supporting your voice to be heard by the entire audience.
What is projection?
An annual event which celebrated theater and Greek playwrights, which was held every spring in Athens.
What is the Festival of Dionysus?
The goddess of the harvest. One of the original Olympians.
Who is Demeter?
One-eyed giants in Greek mythology -- they have their origins as children of Gaia and Uranus.
What are Cyclopes?
Who is Heracles?
When an actor comes to rehearsal fully prepared with all of his lines and blocking memorized.
What is off-book?
A play written in 441 BC by Sophocles about the children of Oedipus and the fate of Thebes in the hands of its new ruler, Creon.
What is "Antigone"?
The god of the forge and fire. His symbol is the iron.
Who is Hephaestus?
A many-headed, snake-like monster that only multiplies when cut.
What is a Hydra?
He struck a deal with Hades to bring her back from the Underworld by playing his music. However, he could not look back at her until they reached the surface, or lose her forever.
Who are Orpheus and Eurydice?
The place where the audience would sit in a traditional Greek theater. Would usually be dug into the side of a hill.
What is the theatron?
A part of the Greek theater which included the set, backgrounds, a backstage to change, and trapdoors to reveal actors.
What is the skene?
The goddess of hearth and home. One of the original Olympians.
Who is Hestia?
Athena famously turned a woman into one of these as a punishment for vanity.
What is a gorgon?
Who is Prometheus?