Actor's Craft
Talking between two or more characters on stage.
What is Dialogue?
The specific words a character is assigned to say in a play.
What are lines?
The area of the theatre where the audience sits to watch the performance.
What is the House?
Making up words and actions on the spot without a written script.
What is Improv?
The final rehearsal before opening night where all costumes, lights, and sounds are used.
What is a Dress Rehearsal?
Speaking loudly and clearly so the audience can hear you in the back row.
What is Projection?
The "actor’s map" that includes terms like upstage, downstage, stage left, and stage right.
What are Stage Directions?
The offstage spaces on the sides of the stage where actors wait for their cues.
What are the Wings?
A signal (a word, movement, or light change) that tells an actor it is time to speak or move.
What is a Cue?
The goal or "want" a character has in a scene. Their BLANK.
What are Objectives?
Acting without using any words, relying only on body movement and facial expressions.
What is Pantomime?
The planned movement and positioning of actors on stage during a scene.
What is Blocking?
The imaginary wall between the actors and the audience.
What is the Fourth Wall?
A long speech delivered by a single character to other characters on stage.
What is a Monologue?
How Characters go about trying to get their objectives in a scene.
What are Tactics?
Turning your body slightly toward the audience while talking to another character so the audience can see your face.
What is Cheating Out?
Moving from one area of the stage to another.
What is a Cross?
The House is where we stack the chairs. So what would you call the sides of my room using stage directions? The wall with the book shelves=BLANK, the wall with the windows=BLANK, the wall with the board=BLANK
The wall with the book shelves=STAGE RIGHT, the wall with the windows=STAGE LEFT, the wall with the board=UPSTAGE
Making sounds (but not directly talking) onstage. Making up movements to fill in awkward/empty space.
What are Non-verbals?
A type of stage where the audience sits on all four sides of the performers.
What is "In-the-Round"?
The process of an actor "becoming" a character by exploring their motivations, background, and personality.
What is Characterization?
To move in the opposite direction of another actor to maintain a balanced stage picture.
What is a Counter-Cross?
The area behind the stage where actors change costumes and prepare. HINT: not "Backstage"
What is the Green Room?
Performing a scene or monologue with minimum to no practice. Often used for Auditions.
What is a Cold Read?
The underlying meaning behind a character's lines—what they are really trying to say without directly saying it.
What is Subtext?