Who's Who
Perform roles of characters in a play.
What are actors?
Stage directions and movements given to an actor by the script or the director.
What is Blocking?
A speech performed by one performer, giving depth and insight into a characters thoughts or feelings; also called a soliloquy.
What is a Monologue?
The term the Stage Manager calls at the start of the show.
What is Places?
A sunken area, directly in front of the forestage, usually partially screened from the audience, where instrumentalists sit to play for onstage performers.
What is The Orchestra Pit?
A group of performers that make up the community of characters within a play, having few lines individually, and seen on stage as one entity.
What is an Ensemble?
An appearance by performers at the end of the play in order to acknowledge the applause of the audience
What is Curtain Call?
A superstitious and widely accepted alternative to 'Good Luck' (which is considered bad luck). You may say this before an audition.
What is "Break A Leg"
To move from one point of the stage to another. Symbolized by an X in blocking notation.
What is a Cross?
Rooms containing mirrors (often surrounded with lights) in which actors change into their costumes and apply make-up.
What is The Dressing Room?
The designers, actors, and crew all answer to this "directive" individual.
What is a Director?
A body position for the stage wherein the actor faces more towards the audience.
What is Cheating Out?
Process where the director of a production asks performers to show him/her what they can do.
What is an Audition?
A command called out by a director wherein the actors must hold their stage positions or take a pause in the action of the scene.
What is a Hold?
A stage area out of sight of the audience.
What is Backstage?
A performer who studies the part of another role, so that they might perform it in the absence of the actor who was originally cast.
What is an Understudy?
The strength of speaking or singing whereby the voice is used loudly and clearly.
What is Projection?
A second, more specific audition where a director looks closer at given actors.
What is a Callback?
The area of a theatre where the audience sits or watches from.
What is The House?
Calls a show for cues and transitions, and keeps consistency accurate from show to show. Works very closely with actors, technicians, and the director.
What is The Stage Manager?
The final rehearsal(s) of a play before it opens to the public; utilizing all costumes, props, lighting, sound, and set changes.
What is a Dress Rehearsal?
A first look at a script, seeking an actors interpretation of the text, without rehearsing first; used at an audition.
What is a Cold Read?
Items that are carried onstage by the actor during a performance.
What is a Prop?
A common area where performers wait until it is time to go onstage. Warm-ups are often done here.
What is The Green Room?