What is Theater
Suspension of Disbelief
people in the audience know that what they are seeing on stage or screen is a pretend reality, but they are pretending that they do not know that
Climax/Resolution
Or crisis, is the decisive moment, or turning point, at which the rising action of the play is reversed to falling action. It may or may not coincide with the highest point of interest in the drama.
In the Moment
Being in the moment is about focus. It's about paying attention to what is happening right now. If you can truly focus on the scene you are in, moment to moment, everything else will fall away.
Proscenium Theatre
Proscenium stages have an architectural frame, known as the proscenium arch, although not always arched in shape.
Unit Set
Director's Concept
A short statement that sums up your ideas about the play.Their vision for a production. This vision is reflected through every element of the production.
Exposition
The portion of a story/ play that introduces important background information to the audience such as setting, events occuring before the main plot, characters' back stories
Virtuoso
Acting that draws attention to itself. It is self consciously performing and the audience is aware of and marvel at the skill of the performer. Suites Non-naturalistic styles of performance.
Thrust Stage
What are three sides or an audience sitting on three sides?
Transition
the process of moving from one scene or set to the next
EDI
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Rising Action
The part of a plot consisting of complications and discoveries that create conflict.
Body Centers
Your character's “body center” is the point from which all of his or her movement tends to originate.
Theatre in the Round
What is a Central performance area enclosed by the audience on all sides.
Calling a Show
The Stage Manager keeps time and gives cues to actors and board ops.
Objective
A character's pursuit of a specific goal in a scene. Also referred to as the intention or driving question.
Inciting Incident
an event that hooks the viewer into the story and sets everything else that happens into motion
Ensemble
The actor uses and interacts with the people on stage with them. They bounce off each other's energies to build the scene. An approach to acting that aims for a unified effect achieved by all members of a cast working together on behalf of the play, rather than emphasizing individual performances.
Site Specific
Site-specific theatre is usually performed in a non-traditional theatre space such as a pub, home or warehouse, often reflecting the history, atmosphere or experiences of a particular location.
Light Plot
The map that shows where lights are hung in a space.
Catharsis
An emotional release for the characters in a literary work, or an emotional release for the audience of the work
Denouement
the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.
The Method
Method acting is a range of training and rehearsal techniques that seek to encourage sincere and emotionally expressive performances, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners. Created by Stanislavski.
Environmental Staging
A production that attempts to immerse the audience in the performance by bringing the action off the stage area. This is most common for interactive theater pieces.
Mise en Scene
the contents of the stage and their arrangement:
- composition
- blocking
- props
-lighting
-costuming