Pop

“All the other stars would leave the theatre wearing fur coats, fancy hats, and imported French shoes,” said Pop Stern, a longtime stage-doorman.

1982, Jhan Robbins, Front Page Marriage, page 186:

[…] George Melford (Pop, stage doorman) […]

1999, Amy Dunkleberger, Patricia King Hanson, AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, page 216:

[…] Ralph Sanford (doorman); A.S. “Pop” Byron (stage doorman); Allen Fox (photographer); […]

2020, Edwin M. Bradley, Hollywood Musicals You Missed, page 65:

(colloquial, US, theater) Traditional nickname for a stage doorman.


dutchman

From Dutchman. Attested mainly in the US from the late 19th century.

(theater) A cloth strip attached to a flat to conceal a joint.


induction

en-noun

induction (countable and uncountable, plural inductions)

Inherited from Middle English induction, from Old French induction, from Latin inductiō, from indūcō (“I lead”). By surface analysis, induct + -ion or induce + -tion.

(theater) Use of rumors to twist and complicate the plot of a play or to narrate in a way that does not have to state truth nor fact within the play.

en:narration or plot development of a low-truth type


breakaway

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-breakaway.wav

From break + away, a deverbal from break away.

EFFECT […] This usually refers to special effects such as flash pots, torches, crashes, breakaways, etc.

1980, Robert Anderson, Theatre Talk, page 19:

(theater) An item of scenery designed to be broken or destroyed during the performance.


dramaturgy

dramaturgy (usually uncountable, plural dramaturgies)

/ˈdɹæməˌtɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒi/

(theater) The art of dramatic composition for the stage.


squib

Possibly imitative of a small explosion.

unk

Possibly

(film, theater) In special effects, a small explosive used to replicate a bullet hitting a surface or a gunshot wound on an actor.


improv

en-noun

improv (countable and uncountable, plural improvs)

(acting) A form of live entertainment characterized by improvisation and interaction with the audience.


walk-on

(theater, film) An actor of a small (or "bit") part in a theatrical production or film, often without speaking lines.


revolve

From Middle English revolven (“to change direction”), borrowed from Old French revolver (“to reflect upon”), from Latin revolvere (“turn over, roll back, reflect upon”), from re- (“back”) + volvō (“roll”); see voluble, volve.

der

(theater) The rotation of part of the scenery within a theatrical production.

[…] a revolving stage, two-level platforms stage left and stage right, and a large bridge that connected the platforms midstage, twelve feet up off the revolve.

2003, Gary Philip Cohen, The Community Theater Handbook, page 134:


blender

→ Turkish: blender

A blender is added to a wig in the same way that a quick front is added. It can be added at the same time as the fronting lace is added or after the wig is completed.

2013, Martha Ruskai, Allison Lowery, Wig Making and Styling: A Complete Guide for Theatre & Film, page 80:

(theater) A piece of fabric sewn into the front of a theatrical wig to make it blend in with the performer's natural hair.


auguste

From French auguste, from German (dumme) August.

It had been used for clownish mock-disappearences, one auguste looking for another through endlessly circling blackness, an apparatus not now much in use.

1971, Anthony Burgess, M/F, Penguin, published 2004, page 93:

(theater) A kind of clown, usually serving as an anarchic foil to the whiteface.


trapdoor

trapdoors (plural)
trap door (alternative)
trap-door (alternative)

(theater) Such a trap set into the floor of a stage to allow fast exits and entrances.


ditty bag

Suggested to be a clipping of commodity bag, a British naval term.

(theater) A bag used to hold costume pieces that do not hang on hangers, such as socks or gloves.


monologue

monologues (plural)
monolog (alternative US noun)

dialogue

antonym(s) of “a monopolizing utterance”

First attested in c. 1550. Borrowed from Middle French monologue, modeled on dialogue, ultimately from Byzantine Greek μονόλογος (monólogos, “soliloquy, monologue”).

(drama, authorship) A long speech by one person in a play; sometimes a soliloquy; other times spoken to other characters.


repetiteur

(music, theater) A tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers.


mezzanine

PIE word
 *médʰyos
The noun is borrowed from French mezzanine, and from its etymon Italian mezzanino, from mezzano (“(adjective) middle; (noun) go-between”) + -ino (diminutive suffix). Mezzano is derived from Latin mediānus (“central, middle”, adjective), from medius (“mid, middle”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

(theater, obsolete) A floor under the stage, from which contrivances such as traps are worked.


juvenile

Borrowed from Latin iuvenīlis (“youthful; juvenile”), from iuvenis (“young; a youth”) + -īlis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to). Iuvenis is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁en- (“young”), from *h₂óyu (“long life; lifetime”) (from *h₂ey- (“age; life”)) + *h₁én (“in”).

'Home,' as, following his habit of giving monosyllable titles to his pieces, T[homas] W[illiam] Robertson christened his version of 'L'Aventurière,' has been revived. […] In a juvenile part, Mr. Lytton Sothern made a successful début.

1875 February 6, “Drama. [Haymarket.]”, in The Athenæum: Journal of English and Foreign Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music and the Drama, number 2467, London: Printed by E[dward] J. Francis & Co., […] published […] by John Francis. …, →OCLC, page 201, column 3:

(theater) An actor playing a child's role.


mise en scène

en-noun

mise en scène (plural mises en scène or mise en scènes)

mises en scène (plural)
mise en scènes (plural)
mise-en-scène (alternative)
mise en scene (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mise en scène.wav

Borrowed from French mise en scène (literally “placing on stage”).

bor+

Although this mise en scène may sound like a contrived “Twilight Zone” setup, it provides Mr. Powers with the perfect opportunity to show off his virtuosic skills as a writer[…]

1995 June 27, Michiko Kakutani, “Playing Pygmalion to a Hermeneutic Computer”, in New York Times:

For reasons explained in the previous volume, noticeably absent are mises en scène representing productions at the Théâtre-Italien.

1998: H. Robert Cohen, Original Staging Manuals for Ten Parisian Operatic Premières, 1824–1843, page xiii (Pendragon Press; →ISBN, 0945193610)

Dupont interrupts the continuity of the master narrative of lighthouse-keeping and marital and extramarital love with visually arresting mise-en-scènes and mise-en-shots.

2010, Paul Matthew St, E. A. Dupont and His Contribution to British Film, Pierre: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, page 173:

This is also the point at which mise en scène no longer simply describes the passage of a text to the stage, but rather encompasses the autonomous organisation of the theatre work, the 'synthetic' vision of theatre and of mise en scène which is the subject of an accomplished study by Guido Hiss.

2013, Patrice Pavis, translated by Joel Anderson, Contemporary Mise en Scène, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), pages 9–10:

(film, theater) The arrangement of props and actors on a stage or for film.


minstrel show

After the barbecue Roosevelt was to attend a minstrel show staged by the polio patients at the Playhouse. Hazel Stephens, a physical therapist and the recreational director, coordinated the production. Betty Brown, also a therapist who helped with the patients, assisted her. The curtain was set to go up at 5:30 P.M.[…]
Graham Jackson, a black recruiting officer in the Coast Guard at Macon, Georgia, was Roosevelt's favorite musician. He had performed for him on numerous occasions and was scheduled to do so again at the minstrel show. He was equally talented playing the accordion or the piano. A moving photograph of a tearful Jackson with his accordion at the Warm Springs ceremonies was circulated worldwide.

1991 Spring, William Warren Rogers, Jr., “The Death of a President, April 12, 1945: An Account from Warm Springs”, in The Georgia Historical Quarterly, volume LXXV, number 1, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, pages 110, 114:

(theater) A variety show performed by minstrels, primarily white people in blackface.

minstrel show

A variety show performed by white people in blackface


jukebox

jukeboxes (plural)
juke box (alternative)

1939, juke (“roadside café”) + box, replacing older collocational terms such as nickel-in-a-slot phonograph, coin-in-the-slot phonograph, and coin-operated phonograph.

Jukeboxes have frequently been compared to the megamusicals and are considered a direct offshoot.

2022, Kevin Byrne, Emily Fuchs, The Jukebox Musical: An Interpretive History, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN:


Mummerset

Blend of mummer (“actor in a pantomime”) + Somerset (“county in the west of England”).

Mummersetin murre

(often theater) An invented English-language dialect used by actors that mimics a stereotypical West Country rural accent.


marker

en-noun

marker (countable and uncountable, plural markers)

marker interface → marker interface pattern

Someone or something used to mark a position or amount, particularly

(film, theater) A location on a stage or set where an actor is to stand or move to during a scene, usually indicated by a small X design placed on the floor.

A direction issued by a camera operator for actors to be on their locations in readiness for a take.


number two

number two (countable and uncountable, plural number twos)

(theater) A somewhat small town, between a number one and a number three, where the success of a theatrical performance is unlikely to be very great.


brail

From Middle English brayle, from Old French braiel, from Medieval Latin bracale (“girdle”) (from bracae (“breeches”)).

(theater) A rope or line used to suspend lights or scenery in a certain position.


koken

Borrowed from Japanese 後見(こうけん) (kōken, “a staff in noh and kabuki”).

ja-r

McAllister uses the Japanese device of the koken for changing scenes, distributing props, and creating furniture.

1988 July 8, Diana Spinrad, “Tango; Chicago Young Playwrights Festival”, in Chicago Reader:

(theater) A black-clad person who enters the stage to rearrange the set, unremarked by the actors


special effect

So popular was trickwork and spectacle with nineteenth-century audiences, in fact, that hundreds of plays were written solely as vehicles for magic, special effects, or elaborately trapped settings.

2013, Joel Schechter, Popular Theatre: A Sourcebook (page 16)

(film, television, theater) An effect that cannot be reasonably achieved by normal means, as for example by the digital manipulation of previously filmed footage.


box office

en-noun

box office (countable and uncountable, plural box offices)

box offices (plural)
box-office (alternative)
boxoffice (alternative)

1786, presumably from sales of boxes, box seats (“separated private seating”). Sense of “total sales” from 1904.
Folk etymology is that this derives from Elizabethan theatre, where theater admission was collected in a box attached to a long stick, passed around the audience. However, the term is first attested over a century later (theaters were closed in 1642), making this highly unlikely.

(countable, film, theater) A place where tickets are sold in a theatre/theater or cinema.


icebreaker

icebreakers (plural)
ice breaker (alternative)
ice-breaker (alternative)

/ˈaɪsˌbɹeɪkəɹ/

From ice + breaker, in the figurative sense from the expression to break the ice.

At the moment the curtain went up there had to be a lively ensemble number of principals and chorus singing and dancing, the traditional “icebreaker” that also covered up the noise of late-arriving ticket holders getting to their seats.

(theater) A lively song and dance routine at the start of a musical.


exeunt

en-verb

exeunt (third-person singular simple present exit or exeunts, present participle exeunting, simple past and past participle exeunted)

exit (present singular third-person)
exeunts (present singular third-person)
exeunting (participle present)
exeunted (participle past)
exeunted (past)

Borrowed from Latin exeunt (“they leave”), the third-person plural present active indicative of exeō (“leave”).

bor+

Get thee to bed, and rest; for thou hast need. [Exeunt Lady Capulet and Nurse.]

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

Enter two Devils.
 Wagner. How now sir, will you serve me now?
 Robin. Ay, good Wagner, take away the devils then.
 Wagner. Spirits, away! [Exeunt Devils.] Now, sirrah, follow me.

1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC:

Jane, Ursa, carrying Thomas, and Moss Bud start to exeunt.

1921, Montrose Jonas Moses, A Treasury of Plays for Children, page 504:

On that dixit we exeunted.

1957, Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, page 249:

That let the small problem of getting the van within proximity, running a few yards of cable, spiking the phone line, revving the engine and frying the phones, removing the cable, and exeunting, south

1997, Richard Marcinko with John Weisman, Task Force Blue, page 311:

The lasses picked up their skirts and exeunted.

2003, Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver, page 142:

(archaic, drama) They leave the stage (a stage direction to two or more actors, the plural counterpart of exit).

退场

"they leave", usually in the context of theatre


typecast

en-verb

typecast (third-person singular simple present typecasts, present participle typecasting, simple past and past participle typecast or typecasted)

typecasts (present singular third-person)
typecasting (participle present)
typecast (participle past)
typecast (past)
typecasted (participle past)
typecasted (past)

(acting) To cast an actor in the same kind of role repeatedly.

encasellar

to cast an actor in the same kind of role repeatedly


legit

(theater, slang) A legitimate; a legitimate actor.


peripeteia

en-noun

peripeteia (countable and uncountable, plural peripeteias)

peripeteias (plural)
peripetia (alternative)
peripety (alternative)

/pɛɹɪpɪˈtɪə/

/pɛɹɪpɪˈtaɪə/

/pɛɹɪpɪˈtiə/

/pɛɹɪpɪˈteɪə/

From Late Latin peripetia, and its source Ancient Greek περιπέτεια (peripéteia), from περιπίπτω (peripíptō, “to change suddenly”), from περί (perí, “round, around, about”) + the stem of πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”).

(drama) A sudden reversal of fortune as a plot point in Classical tragedy.

перипетия

a reversal of fortune; a sudden change in circumstances


number one

(theater) A large town where theatrical performances may expect to achieve success.


dress rehearsal

dress rehearsal (plural dress rehearsals)

We've got three dress rehearsals before the opening night to prepare ourselves for any potential technicalities.

(theater) A rehearsal prior to a public spectacle, where all the performers are in costume, in order to test all aspects of the production by closely reproducing the actual conditions of a performance.


Verfremdungseffekt

Verfremdungseffekte (plural)
verfremdungseffekt (alternative)

Borrowed from German Verfremdungseffekt.

Brecht's famous ‘Verfremdungseffekte’^([sic]) or ‘alienation effect’, intended to counter the magical associations of stage illusion and the tendency for spellbound audiences to identify emotionally with characters on stage, both of which Brecht found abhorrent.

1997 May, Clive Barker, Simon Trussler, editors, New Theatre Quarterly, volume 13, number 50, page 114:

(theater, literature) Brecht's distancing effect.


in character

It was difficult to stay in character, because I kept wanting to laugh.

(idiomatic, drama, roleplaying games) Acting as the character, not as oneself.


off book

After 5 days studying the script, Jane is now off book, and can concentrate on gesture more.

"He will glibly parse a sentence ... and repeat the catechism and whole chapters of the Bible 'off book.'"

1873, Thomas Wright, Our New Masters, Strahan & Co., page 125:

"In all likelihood, the director will leave you alone throughout the rest of the production and focus attention on the guy who isn't off book yet."

1993, Doug Moston, Coming to Terms with Acting, →ISBN, page 74:

"'So if Antigone wants to be off book, I think the rest of you should be off book too.'"

2003, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, Picador,, →ISBN, page 332:

(theater) No longer needing the script to rehearse.


out of character

I was out of character for most of the first act because those people in the third row wouldn't stop chatting.

(idiomatic, acting) Not in character; not in the zone; not successfully performing within the mindset of a given character in a theatrical performance.

After watching him perform so energetically, it is a bit of a trip to hang out with him when he's out of character. In real life, he's really mellow.

Susan asked the GM, out of character, whether she was able to sense magic in the room.

The comedian stepped out of character to mug directly to the audience.

(idiomatic, acting, roleplaying games) Not acting; not "on"; behaving within one's natural personality rather than that of a character, or taking actions entirely outside the fictional context.


teaser

→ German: Teaser

→ Japanese: ティーザー (tīzā)

→ Korean: 티저 (tijeo)

→ Russian: ти́зер (tízɛr)

(theater) A short horizontal curtain used to mask the flies and frame the top of the inner stage opening, adjustable to the desired height.


catchword

(theater) The last word of a speech, serving as a cue for the next speaker.


flogger

From flog + -er. Compare Low German flogger (“a flail”).

Schlepitchka is a texturing trick done by twirling a feather duster or flogger around gently and dabbing it on the surface of the scenery between each twirl of the tool so that the splayed pattern prints on the scenery.

2012, Susan Crabtree, Peter Beudert, Scenic Art for the Theatre: History, Tools and Techniques, page 303:

(theater) A handle with strips of cloth attached, used for beating away charcoal dust etc.


coryphée

coryphées (plural)
coryphee (alternative)

Borrowed from French coryphée, from Latin coryphaeus, from Ancient Greek κορυφαῖος (koruphaîos, “leader of the chorus in an Ancient Greek drama”), from κορῠφή (korŭphḗ, “top of the head, crown”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘belonging to, pertaining to’).

der

The piece [...] contains a passage for men's voices marked "Les Travailleurs," topped by a tenor solo (in alto clef) marked "Coryphée," a term originally meaning leader of the chorus, as in a Greek tragedy. [...] [T]he aforementioned "Coryphée" line grows out of a recitative for first tenor.

1986, Ralph P. Locke, “The Rue Monsigny and Salle Taitbout: Music in the Formative Years”, in Music, Musicians and the Saint-Simonians, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Practice), page 86:

Two coryphées, or coryphæi, the term for the leader of a Greek chorus, were stationed in towers on either side of the stage. A device borrowed from Léon Chancerel's Mission de Jeanne d'Arc, the coryphées are present for the entire length of the drama. Like the messenger, they commented upon the action in a Manichean dialogue: one cheering on Joan of Arc, the other deriding her.

2013, Lucie Kayas, Christopher Brent Murray, “Olivier Messiaen and Portique pour une fille de France”, in Christopher Dingle, Robert Fallon, editors, Messiaen Perspectives, Farnham, Surrey, Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, →ISBN; republished volumes 1 (Sources and Influences), Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2016, →ISBN, page 52:

(Ancient Greece, drama, historical) The conductor or leader of the chorus of a drama.


sit on one's hands

en-verb

sit on one's hands (third-person singular simple present sits on one's hands, present participle sitting on one's hands, simple past and past participle sat on one's hands)

sits on one's hands (present singular third-person)
sitting on one's hands (participle present)
sat on one's hands (participle past)
sat on one's hands (past)

While Boston is a "musical town," audiences here sat on their hands a good part of the time.

(theater, informal) To fail to applaud when expected to.


gridiron

en-noun

gridiron (countable and uncountable, plural gridirons)

From resembling the shape of a gridiron (a square rectilinear grid).

(theater) A raised framework from which lighting is suspended.


costar

The once famous actor objected to his costar having a bigger dressing room.

(acting) a person who shares star billing

Alas, always a costar but never a star.

(acting) a person who slightly lacks the status to be considered a star


coryphaeus

coryphaeus (plural coryphaeuses or coryphaei)

coryphaeuses (plural)
coryphaei (plural)
coryphæus (alternative)
corypheus (alternative)
koryphaios (alternative)

/ˌkɔɹəˈfiːəs/

/ˌkɒɹɪˈfiːʌs/

Borrowed from Latin coryphaeus, from Ancient Greek κορυφαῖος (koruphaîos, “leader of the chorus in an Ancient Greek drama”), from κορυφή (koruphḗ, “top of the head, crown”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘belonging to, pertaining to’).

Then the coryphæus finishes the remaining part of the strophe. But when they have returned to order, Bacchus again interposes by beginning the antistrophe β', which the coryphæus ought to have done.

1830, Gottfried Hermann, Gottfried Hermann, translated by John Seager, Hermann's Elements of the Doctrine of Metres, page 165:

The chorus, that is those members of the komos who have not become specialized as actors and continue singing and dancing, are headed by a coryphaeus, who sometimes addresses them, exhorting them to action, or to begin the song or the rite, or else anticipates or summarizes their words, or represents them in conversation with the actors.

1975, Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, “Festival, Comedy and Tragedy: The Greek Origins of Theatre”, in Christopher Holme, transl., [1972, Festia, Comedia y Tragedia], page 250:

Post-classical references to the famous ‘chorus-trainer’ Sannio indicate that his role extended to performing and thus taking the coryphaeus role. The coryphaeus was both leader and teacher, and in performance played a crucial role in setting the time that the other dancers followed.

2000, David Wiles, Greek Theatre Performance: An Introduction, page 135:


thunderbox

thunderboxes (plural)
thunder-box (alternative)
thunder box (alternative)

From thunder + box. Senses 1 and 2 (“portable commode; any lavatory or toilet”) are probably because of the noises that may be made while defecating.

[T]wo articles, both indispensibly necessary to a theatre, are not blundered, viz. a property room, and thunder box!—no they are omitted altogether!!

1806 September, Argus [pseudonym], “Provincial Drama, &c.”, in The Monthly Mirror: Reflecting Men and Manners. […], volume XXII, London: […] J. Wright, […] [a]nd published by Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, […], →OCLC, pages 205–206:

[H]e [the English actor West Digges] said, "Take the child to the slips;" and I was led through the carpenter's gallery, the cloudings and thunder boxes, and placed in a good seat, where I saw the play with great delight.

1833 May, O’Keeffe, “The Late Mr. O’Keeffe”, in Edward Bulwer-Lytton, editor, The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, volume XXXVIII, 2nd part, number CXLIX, London: [F]or Henry Colburn by Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 37:

It was what is called a good passage, and a feather in the Casco’s cap; but among the most miserable forty hours that any one of us had ever passed. We were swung and tossed together all that time like shot in a stage thunder-box.

1891 February–December, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Hatiheu”, in In the South Seas […], New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1896, →OCLC, part I (The Marquesas), page 65:

The pouring and pattering of rain and the beating of hail require four different contrivances. The most novel of these is a wooden box, about twelve feet long and six inches square, inside of which are numerous slanting sheets of tin, punctured with small holes. A number of peas are rushed continuously up and down the box, rolling over the punctured tin and tumbling from one sheet to the other in a manner like that described of the iron balls in the "thunder box."

1892 January, “Ingenious Stage Machinery”, in The Theatre: A Record of the Stage, Drama, Music, Art, Literature, volume VIII, number 1 (number 179 overall), New York, N.Y.: The Theatre Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 32, column 1:

Thundercrashes, on the other hand, are made by a number of barrel strakes, suspended above one another on a rope to one side of the stage. At a given signal they are allowed to drop to the floor with a crash, followed by loud peal of thunder from the thunderbox.

1991, Paul Britten Austin, transl., edited by Hans Åstrand, Inger Mattsson, and Gunnar Larsson, Gustavian Opera: An Interdisciplinary Reader in Swedish Opera, Dance, and Theatre, 1771–1809 (Kungliga Musikaliska Akademiens Skriftserie [Royal Academy of Music Book Series]; 66), Stockholm: Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien [Royal Swedish Academy of Music], →ISBN, →ISSN, page 101:

(theater) A box of metal balls which is shaken to create a thunder sound effect.


dramatic beat

(theater, film) The smallest division of action in a play, film or other work of drama; The moment at which increasing dramatic tension produces a noticeable change in the consciousness of one or more characters.


byplay

byplay (countable and uncountable, plural byplays)

[...] there had been some amusing byplay with the enginemen as to what might be expected to happen if the engines failed to behave themselves properly.

1959 October, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 477:

The father-son byplay is occasionally overdone and tedious, but there is a genuine warmth in both the Oland-Luke and the Toler-Sen Yung teamings.

1983, Frank Northen Magill, Magill's American film guide, volume 1, page 647:

(theater) Any action, carried out onstage during a performance, apart from the main action.

controscena

any action carried out onstage during a performance, apart from the main action


parterre

Borrowed from French parterre (“on the ground”), from par (“on”) + terre (“ground”).

Brussels
Buckinghamshire
Cliveden
Parterre
Parterre (theater audience)
Taplow

(theater) A part of the section of theater seats located on the ground floor, on the same level as the orchestra.

The part of the ground-floor section nearest the orchestra and the stage; the stalls.

(British) The part of the ground-floor section behind the stalls and underneath the galleries; the pit.

That was Selwyn's first encounter with the Ruthvens. A short time afterward at the opera Gerald dragged him into a parterre to say something amiable to one of the amiable débutante Craig girls—and Selwyn found himself again facing Alixe.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(theater, by extension) That part of a theater audience seated in the parterre, sometimes regarded as belonging to a lower social class.


nub

Either directly from Middle Low German, or from knub, from a Middle Low German word (compare Low German Knubbel, Knobbel (“knot; lump”)). Compare knob.

cog

A nub is a passage of blank verse that Shakespearean actors have sometimes relied upon when they forget their lines. It doesn't have to make any sense, but it must sound plausible. To alert the other actors on stage that the speaker is in difficulty, the word nub is used in the first line.

2009, David Crystal, Walking English, Overlook Press, page 183:

To an audience a clever nub can pass for Shakespeare himself.

2013, Heathcote Williams, Nubbing, Cold Turkey Press:

(theater) A passage of Shakespearean blank verse.


jobber

Most of the music circuses use jobbers in four to eight of the leading roles for each show. These jobbers are principal actors who are employed for one or two leading roles during the season. There is no difference between a star and a jobber, except that a jobber is not necessarily a "big-name" performer […]

1957, Lorna Marie Wildon, A survey of contemporary American musical arena theatres, and an analysis of problems of organization and production:

Jobbers are used as needed.

1986, J. Allen, The 1986 Summer Theater Guide, page 83:

(theater) An actor temporarily employed for a specific role, often in a touring company.


box set

(theater) A set with a proscenium arch stage and three walls, creating the appearance of an enclosed room.


warhorse

a Wagner warhorse

I remember taking the old warhorse, “Una Voce Poco Fa,” from Il Barbiere (Rossini) to three of the greatest living singing masters in Italy.

1910, Millie Ryan, What Every Singer Should Know, Omaha, Nebr.: Franklin Publishing Co.:

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo[…] presented a typical program of Russian warhorses of the 19th and early 20th centuries[…]

1997 August 6, Jennifer Dunning, “Horsing Around With Balletic Warhorses”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A Mendelssohn Warhorse Gets the Perlman Treatment [title]

1995 August 5, Anthony Tommasini, “A Mendelssohn Warhorse Gets the Perlman Treatment”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

[…] the ROH mounts a new production of an Italian repertory warhorse that is fully on the level of the one it replaces […

2006 June 11, Stephen Jay-Taylor, “Tosca dress”, in rec.music.opera (Usenet):

(theater, music) A regularly revived theatrical or musical work, as with Hamlet or a Beethoven symphony, or as excerpts thereto. May imply that the work in question has become hackneyed.


cold read

en-verb

cold read (third-person singular simple present cold reads, present participle cold reading, simple past and past participle cold read)

cold reads (present singular third-person)
cold reading (participle present)
cold read (participle past)
cold read (past)

At the audition you will be required to cold read a script.

(intransitive, transitive, acting, newsreading, education) To perform (a script) without preparation.


stage right

He enters stage right.

(acting) The area to the right of the stage when looking towards the audience.

näyttämöoikea

area to the right (facing audience) of the stage


stage right

en-adv

stage right (comparative more stage right, superlative most stage right)

more stage right (comparative)
most stage right (superlative)


stage left

(acting) The area to the left of the stage when looking towards the audience.

näyttämövasen

area to the left (facing audience) of the stage


stage left

stage left (comparative more stage left, superlative most stage left)

more stage left (comparative)
most stage left (superlative)


center stage

(acting) The area in the center of the stage, especially one towards the front.


understage

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-understage.wav

When deep pits, required in the understage for the machinery and traps, cannot be drained on account of insufficient depth of the street sewer

1900, William Paul Gerhard, Theatres: Their Safety from Fire and Panic, Their Comfort and Healthfulness, page 97:

The understage being only 9 feet (5 braccia) high, the mountain had to rise in telescoping stages

1996, James M. Saslow, The Medici wedding of 1589: Florentine festival as Theatrum Mundi, page 86:

dozens of strapping stage-hands in the understage manipulating warships, cannons dispatching balls of fire, blue smoke.

2001, Augusto Boal with Adrian Jackson and Candida Blaker, Hamlet and the baker's son: my life in theatre and politics:


overstage

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-overstage.wav

(theater, of lighting, machinery etc) Above the stage.


mug up

en-verb

mug up (third-person singular simple present mugs up, present participle mugging up, simple past and past participle mugged up)

mugs up (present singular third-person)
mugging up (participle present)
mugged up (participle past)
mugged up (past)

(intransitive, slang, theater, obsolete) To paint one's face or put on a costume for the purpose of impersonation.


staging

en-noun

staging (countable and uncountable, plural stagings)

The 1984 premiere production (and, judging from a few reviews, the subsequent stagings) was much more solemn.

1988 April 15, S.L. Wisenberg, “On Stage: cartoon characters in a drama of death”, in Chicago Reader:


spear carrier

spear carriers (plural)
spear-carrier (alternative)
spearcarrier (alternative)

[A]ctors would get annual raises through 2008, when even the lowliest spear carrier will make more than $1,500 a week for being on Broadway.

2004 July 15, Jesse McKinley, “Close Call On Broadway Had Its Roots On the Road”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-03-19:

(acting) A person in a play or movie with a minimal part; an extra.


Guffmanesque

en-adj

Guffmanesque (comparative more Guffmanesque, superlative most Guffmanesque)

more Guffmanesque (comparative)
most Guffmanesque (superlative)

From the name of the producer in the 1995 mockumentary Waiting for Guffman, + -esque.

(theater, of a production, mildly derogatory) amateurish or mawkish, but believed worthy of critical praise by its participants


deckhand

Sometimes actors set props on the spikes, or sometimes a deckhand will do it, depending on the action of the play.

2020, John Ramsey Holloway, Zachary Stribling, Illustrated Theatre Production Guide, page 15:


billing

en-noun

billing (countable and uncountable, plural billings)

Actors that may have higher status in the industry won't always get top billing: if they only played a bitpart then it would go to the person whose character was the main focus of the movie.

2014, Nicolae Sfetcu, The Art of Movies:

When Corbyn finally gave a speech – in a stunning piece of billing that could only happen at Glastonbury, he appeared between hip-hop duo Run the Jewels and Southampton’s foremost R&B loverman Craig David – the crowd brought the entire area around the Pyramid stage to a standstill

2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian:

(chiefly film, theater) The act or situation of including someone or something among those that make up a complete list.


lime

lime (countable and uncountable, plural limes)

From Middle English lyme, lym, lime, from Old English līm, from Proto-West Germanic *līm, from Proto-Germanic *līmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Liem (“glue”), Dutch lijm, German Leim (“glue”), Danish lim (from Old Norse lím), Latin limus (“mud”).

der

Sellers moved on until he was actually trusted to operate the limes, the spotlights that can make or destroy an artist's act.

1980, Peter Evans, Peter Sellers: The Mask Behind the Mask, page 30:

Then out of the blue, a spotlight much like the “limes” in a theatre, lit up what seemed like a Punch and Judy tent […] He struggled even more, when from out of the shadows and into the bright light of the limes, stepped Uncle Jolly.

2018, Robert Charles Hines, Twists and Turns: 13 Tales of the Uneasy, page 121:


roadhouse

/ˈɹəʊdˌhaʊs/


callback

callbacks (plural)
call-back (alternative)

(theater) A follow-up audition in casting.

複試 /复试

request for a second interview or audition


soliloquize

en-verb

soliloquize (third-person singular simple present soliloquizes, present participle soliloquizing, simple past and past participle soliloquized)

term-label

(American spelling, Oxford British English)

soliloquizes (present singular third-person)
soliloquizing (participle present)
soliloquized (participle past)
soliloquized (past)
soliloquise (alternative)

"Now, I am quite sure that our beautiful hostess has been making an assignation," soliloquised Charles, who, for want of something better to do, had been watching the various actions of the group in the principal chamber in the castle, […]

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 276:

I rubbed my hands with delight over my happy notion, and soliloquised aloud, "What a joy there is in going about doing good actions."

1899, Knut Hamsun, “Part III”, in George Egerton [pseudonym; Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright], transl., Hunger […], London: Leonard Smithers and Co […], →OCLC, page 164:

(intransitive, drama) Of a character: to perform a soliloquy, to talk to oneself.


snoot

From Scots snoot, snout (“snout”), from Middle English snowte, from Middle Dutch snute; ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snūt, from Proto-Germanic *snūtaz. Doublet of snout.

Snoots have traditionally been round in shape when attached to studio strobes, but with flash photography, they have taken on a more rectangular shape because the flash heads are rectangular.

2014 December 26, Alyn Stafford, Flash Techniques for Location Portraiture: Single and Multiple-Flash Lighting Techniques, Amherst Media, →ISBN, page 36:

(theater, photography) A cylindrical or conical attachment used on a spotlight to restrict spill light.

veitsi

theater: cylindrical or conical attachment on a spotlight


snoot

en-verb

snoot (third-person singular simple present snoots, present participle snooting, simple past and past participle snooted)

snoots (present singular third-person)
snooting (participle present)
snooted (participle past)
snooted (past)

Which might mean shaping it, gelling it, snooting it, barn dooring it, and putting it on a stand or a clamp. Maybe taking the dome diffuser off. Perhaps zooming it. Oh my. And you thought you were just taking a picture.

(transitive, theater, photography) To apply a snoot attachment to (a light).


overact

overact (third-person singular simple present overacts, present participle overacting, simple past and past participle overacted)

overacts (present singular third-person)
overacting (participle present)
overacted (participle past)
overacted (past)

/ˌəʊvəɹˈækt/

He overacted his part.

If governments overact and become oppressive, the terrorists will have won, for their theory is that repression will eventually lead to revolution.

1989, Susheela Bhan, Terrorism: an Annotated Bibliography, page 116:

The scenework proves unsuccessful when Carmichael recalls not the source of her misandry but another episode of overacting, that of castratively biting off the moustache of an amorous man.

2016, Leslie H. Abramson, Hitchcock & the Anxiety of Authorship:

(chiefly acting) To act in an exaggerated manner.


overactor

/ˌoʊvɚˈæktɚ/

/ˌəʊvəɹˈæktə/


final curtain

(theater) The last time the curtain is lowered, after a performance and any curtain calls.

esiripun laskeminen

(theatre) the last time the curtain is lowered


OP

en-noun

OP (countable and uncountable, plural OPs)

(theater) Initialism of opposite prompt; stage right.


forestage

en-verb

forestage (third-person singular simple present forestages, present participle forestaging, simple past and past participle forestaged)

forestages (present singular third-person)
forestaging (participle present)
forestaged (participle past)
forestaged (past)

From Middle English forstage, equivalent to fore- + stage.

There is subtle thought, even profound thought, not so much in the working out of the plots as in the selection and forestaging of such humorous situations as make the plots work themselves out.

1925, O. Henry, Works - Volume 13, page xxiii:

Yet, despite the invocation of cultural practices in images, the facade setting preventing the spectators' attention from wandering to an outside environment, prevented spectators from seeing the action as a natural aspect of a total environment by forestaging the action as a construct in response to particular situations.

1991, Susan Lisbeth Chast, Ellen Stewart and La Mama: A Study of Theatrical Spaces:

(theater) To block so that someone or something appears in the forestage.


blinder

When the 'blinders' are switched off, and the audience's eyes given time to re-adjust, the new scene is in place […]

(theater) A bright light used to blind the audience temporarily during a scene change.


stage whisper

stage whispers (plural)
stage-whisper (alternative)

'[…]When the division was announced, he chuckled exceedingly, and in a stage whisper exclaimed, "Grey is check-mated !" '

1869, “Lives of Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Brougham”, in The Edinburgh Review, volume CXXIX, pages 568–569:

Near to the audience the stage whisper was not much louder, although more distinct, than an ordinary whisper in private life.

1887, Sir Frederick Pollock, Personal Remembrances of Sir Frederick Pollock, page 248:

Perhaps because of this, the convention of the 'stage whisper' came into being. All that distinguishes it from the true whisper is that a very little amount of voice in introduced and so what you end up with is extremely breathy voice production[…]

1998, Michael McCallion, The Voice Book, page 189:

"Pretty legs," said Rebo in a stage whisper as Peter slowed down.

2001, Shelley Freydont, High Seas Murder, page 326:

(theater) A line that is performed on stage as if it were whispered, but is spoken loud enough for the audience to hear.


stage whisper

stage whisper (third-person singular simple present stage whispers, present participle stage whispering, simple past and past participle stage whispered)

stage whispers (present singular third-person)
stage whispering (participle present)
stage whispered (participle past)
stage whispered (past)
stage-whisper (alternative)

The duet was embellished with stage-whispered solos [...]

1878, Things in General, volume 2, p. 132:

“The captain's voice, by G–!” said the stage-whispering ruffian, and both robbers fled by the way of the back door, shutting off their bull's-eye as they ran.

1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, chapter 31 "A Thumb-print and What Came of It"

[...] Bobbie sprang at me like a leopardess. “What on earth are you fooling about for like this, Bertie?” she stage-whispered.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

Into this melodrama stepped the American defence secretary, Leon Panetta. He stopped in both countries, urged both sides to get along better and affirmed America’s pledge of mutual defence with Japan—though an unnamed senior American military official stage-whispered to the Washington Post that America wouldn’t go to war “over a rock”.

2012 September 22, “East Asian rivalry: protesting too much”, in The Economist:

There is some evidence to suggest that in whispered speech, particularly stage whispered speech, the larynx is raised appreciably.


dumb show

en-noun

dumb show (countable and uncountable, plural dumb shows)

dumb shows (plural)
dumb-show (alternative)
dumbshow (alternative)

O it offends mee to the Soule, to ſee a robuſtious Pery-wig-pated Fellow, teare a Paſſion to tatters, to verie ragges, to ſplit the eares of the Groundlings: who (for the moſt part) are capeable of nothing, but inexplicable dumbe ſhewes, & noiſe: […]

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 266, column 2:

The expression “literary and artistic works” shall include every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression, such as books, pamphlets and other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of the same nature; dramatic or dramaticomusical works; choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show; […]

1977, Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convection), Article 2http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works/Articles_1_to_21

(theater) A performance during which the players do not speak; mime.


transpontine

Such transpontine spectacles are not usually seen in our local theatre.

Blood and thunder melodrama was once transpontine : it is now cispontine. It has crossed the Thames, and come over the bridges.

1882, The Theatre: A Monthly Review and Magazine, page 35:

(theater, historical) Of or relating to the sensational melodramas presented on the south side of the Thames in the 19th century or earlier.


off-book

(theater) Able to perform scripted material from memory, without need to refer to the text.


miscue

(theater) The act of missing one's cue or of responding to a cue intended for another actor.


miscue

en-verb

miscue (third-person singular simple present miscues, present participle miscuing or miscueing, simple past and past participle miscued)

miscues (present singular third-person)
miscuing (participle present)
miscueing (participle present)
miscued (participle past)
miscued (past)


upstaging

A situation where somebody or something is upstaged; thus:

(theater, also figurative) A stealing of the spotlight, as (or as if) one performer eclipses another in the audience's attention.


gigging

(film, music, television, theater) The act of engaging in a musical performance, acting in a theatre production, etc.


ghost train

(theater) An excursion done by many tourist railways around the world. Usually, a fictional story is created and performed with static displays or live actors on either side of a train. Actors and actresses play out a story on the long and narrow stage provided by the railcar aisles.


catch-breath

catch-breaths (plural)
catch breath (alternative)

[…] it is possible to obtain the desired effect by allowing sections or individuals within a section to take an unobtrusive catch-breath at different times.

1940, Van Ambrose Christy, Glee Club and Chorus: A Handbook, page 55:

(drama, singing) A pause to take a breath.


open up

open up (third-person singular simple present opens up, present participle opening up, simple past and past participle opened up)

opens up (present singular third-person)
opening up (participle present)
opened up (participle past)
opened up (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-open up.wav

In stage acting, we are frequently asked to cheat out to the audience by opening up our body positions so that we are something halfway between facing them and our partner.

2015, Robert Barton, Acting: Onstage and Off, page 184:

(intransitive, theater) Synonym of cheat out (“to face or turn toward the audience more than would be natural”).


callboy

callboys (plural)
call boy (alternative)
call-boy (alternative)

→ Cebuano: callboy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-callboy.wav

(theater) A boy or man who summons actors when their presence is required for a performance.


kitchen-sinky

en-adj

kitchen-sinky (comparative more kitchen-sinky, superlative most kitchen-sinky)

more kitchen-sinky (comparative)
most kitchen-sinky (superlative)
kitchen sinky (alternative)

From kitchen sink + -y. Sense 1 alludes to the phrase everything but the kitchen sink, sense 2 to the phrase kitchen sink realism.

Not that Warner's is merely a domesticated version of Euripides. It stars, after all, that least kitchen-sinky of actors.

2001 February 4, Susannah Clapp, “Mother knows best”, in The Guardian:

"Here was a kid who was imagining things and inventing things and none of this was odd to her, mum and dad being junkies. I didn't want to comment; I just present the story. And I didn't want to be too kitchen-sinky, because it's a heightened reality."

2007 April 29, Stephanie Bunbury, “Tide and emotions”, in The Age:

"He takes this seedy little story of seedy little people in seedy little rooms, and he makes it big and operatic and grandiose. I love that. It could have all been documentary-like or a bit kitchen sinky, and all rough and tough. […]

2011 February 7, Gina Picallo, “Helen Mirren interview”, in The Telegraph:

(drama) Of or pertaining to the kitchen sink drama; depicting social realities in an unstylized and direct manner.


hamfat

(US slang, acting) A low-grade actor; a ham or hamfatter.


supe

supes (plural)
sup (alternative)
super (alternative)

John Wilkes would go south to Richmond, to join Ford's stock company at the old Marshall Theatre for the 1858–59 season. More work as a supe awaited “J. B. Wilkes,” but his wages this time would be better than in Philadelphia: $440 for the season, the same as his older brother earned in a week.

2010, Nora Titone, My Thoughts Be Bloody:

(dated, slang, theater) Clipping of supernumerary (“an extra or walk-on”).


fat

fat (comparative fatter, superlative fattest)

fatter (comparative)
fattest (superlative)

Of sense: lean

carrying a larger than normal amount of fat; antonym(s) of

Sranan Tongo: fatu

From Middle English fat, from Old English fǣtt (“fatted, fat”), from Proto-West Germanic *faitid (“fatted”), originally the past participle of the verb *faitijan (“to make fat”), from *fait (“fat”).

chubby

He is what the theatre calls a “fat” role — a man suddenly confronted by a terrible duty. He is called upon to revenge the murder of his father and to right a wrong against the state.

1965, Edmund Fuller, A Pageant of the Theatre, page 131:

He seeks a fat role in a hit show, lest he diminish his market value.

1997, Harold Clurman, On Directing, page 12:

Joe Hirakawa, formerly of the Seattle Civic Repertory Theatre, was a waterfront peddler in “Madame Butterfly” and had a fat role in “Beauty Parlor,” an indie.

2012, Greg Robinson, Larry S. Tajiri, Pacific Citizens, page 9:

(theater) Of a role: significant; major; meaty.


Hanswurst

Hanswursts (plural)
Hans Wurst (alternative)

Hanswurst, on the other hand, gained a specific profile in the early eighteenth century. As he is largely known today, in his brightly colored peasant clothing consisting of the trademark baggy yellow trousers, red suspenders, red jacket, […]

2015, Dorothy Chansky, Ann Folino White, editors, Food and Theatre on the World Stage, Routledge, →ISBN, page 87:

(theater) A clownlike character popular in German and Austrian plays during the 18th century.


staple character

en-noun

staple character (plural staple characters)

The mad scientist was a staple character in many horror films.

(writing, theater, film) A stock character, especially one that is overused.


tragic hero

(drama) A hero who suffers from a tragic flaw that eventually causes his downfall.


stage screw

(theater) A forged, or sometimes cast low thread count cut thread screw with a handle (sometimes made up of three holes) used to hold scenery in place in theaters (mostly prior to the 1990s).


variety show

(radio, television, theater) A type of entertainment featuring a succession of short, unrelated performances by various artistes such as (depending on the medium) acrobats, comedians, dancers, magicians, singers, etc.


lazzo

(theater) A stock comedic routine or physical action, traditionally associated with commedia dell'arte.


nuntius

Borrowed from Latin nūntius (“messenger”).


exode

From Latin exodium, from Ancient Greek ἐξόδιον (exódion).

(Ancient Greek drama) The final chorus; the catastrophe.


restage

en-verb

restage (third-person singular simple present restages, present participle restaging, simple past and past participle restaged)

restages (present singular third-person)
restaging (participle present)
restaged (participle past)
restaged (past)

In 2006 the Wrong Gallery restaged this work at the Frieze Art Fair to much less outcry but with its disturbing questions intact.

2009 January 2, Roberta Smith, “Widely Known for Obscurity”, in New York Times:

(theater, transitive) To stage (a production) again; to bring (a production) to the stage again.


restaging

(theater) A subsequent performance on the stage.

A staging again; thus:
A subsequent performance on the stage.


monodrama

The Dicapo Opera Theater presents the world premiere of “Lily,” a monodrama composed and performed by the mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock[…]

2009 January 16, “Classical and Opera Listings”, in New York Times:

(theater) A play in the form of a monologue


trunk-maker

This somewhat may be indeed resembled to the famous trunk-maker in the playhouse; for, whenever the person who is possessed of it doth what is right, no ravished or friendly spectator is so eager or so loud in his applause: on the contrary, when he doth wrong, no critic is so apt to hiss and explode him.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VI, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV:

(theater, obsolete) A critic who pounds upon the benches in a show of approval.


minimusical

Both shows lean heavily on their Jewish orientation, but where Fiddler is a folk musical of size and substance, Kaplan is a minimusical of sweetness.

1968 April 12, “New Plays: The Education of Hyman Kaplan”, in Time, archived from the original on 2010-10-29:

The video consists of a minimusical whose soundtrack sounds as if it were generated by an inexpensive electronic keyboard.

2009 January 25, Randall Stross, “Microsoft Songsmith Is Easy (if Painful to Hear)”, in New York Times:


unstaged

That this incomplete work was presented unstaged, without orchestra, and with little attention to dynamics, and that it was sung by singers difficult to understand, generally in poor French (with no libretto or plot synopsis in the program--either in French or English), prevented this from being the revelatory experience it might have been under better circumstances.

1988 April 1, Dennis Polkow, “Hard Stuff”, in Chicago Reader:

(theater) Not formally staged; not presented to an audience on a stage.


overplotted

en-adj

overplotted (comparative more overplotted, superlative most overplotted)

more overplotted (comparative)
most overplotted (superlative)

Pursuing its preposterous, overplotted premise, Time merrily confuses myth with fact--Romeo and Juliet and Arthur never lived, or they did so under other names.

1988 July 1, Lawrence Bommer, “Channel This, or Die, Yuppie Scum!; Time in a Battle”, in Chicago Reader:

(drama) Having an excessively elaborate plot.


hambone

hambones (plural)
ham-bone (alternative)

HAMBONE — An unconvincing blackface dialectician.

1946, Radio Alphabet: A Glossary of Radio Terms, Hastings House, page 38:

Ferrell is the ubiquitous hambone, an affably oblivious man-child prone to shirtless prancing onscreen.

2009 February 15, Rob Salem, “When comedy geniuses unite”, in Toronto Star:

(US slang, acting) A ham; an eager or inferior performer


semistaged

The director, Kate Bushmann, made resourceful use of the church in a semistaged production that relied on minimal props[…].

2007 December 17, Steve Smith, “A Young Shepherds Ageless Trek”, in New York Times:

(theater) Partially but not entirely staged; thus, partially improvised


stagebound

But the playwright is stagebound: the best he or she can provide (in cinematic terms) is a series of medium-long shots.

1989 December 22, Jack Helbig, “Sleuth”, in Chicago Reader:


unity of time

(theater, literature) The classical unity stating that the action of a play should take place over no more than twenty-four hours.


iron curtain

/ˌaɪən ˈkɜːtn̩/

(theater) A barrier made of iron in a theatre, lowered between the stage and the auditorium for safety or to prevent communication.


catch flies

en-verb

catch flies (third-person singular simple present catches flies, present participle catching flies, simple past and past participle caught flies)

catches flies (present singular third-person)
catching flies (participle present)
caught flies (participle past)
caught flies (past)

(theater, informal) Of an actor: to distract the audience by moving or gesturing when the focus should be elsewhere.


megamusical

Save the C-notes for eye-filling megamusicals or, maybe, a good-for-you drama of intellectual aspirations, preferably with a script from England and a star from Hollywood.

2007 August 2, Ben Brantley, “Titters, Snickers and Guffaws, With a British Accent”, in New York Times:

Jukeboxes have frequently been compared to the megamusicals and are considered a direct offshoot.

2022, Kevin Byrne, Emily Fuchs, The Jukebox Musical: An Interpretive History, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN:

(informal, theater) A particularly elaborate or successful musical.


green man

(entertainment, theater) In performances and pageants, a character adorned in foliage often carrying a club, who represents a wild man of the woods.


Aristophanean

en-adj

Aristophanean (comparative more Aristophanean, superlative most Aristophanean)

more Aristophanean (comparative)
most Aristophanean (superlative)

(dramaturgy, poetry) Of or pertaining to Aristophanes, his plays or his poetry.


antiplay

Samuel Beckett wrote several absurdist antiplays.

(dramaturgy) A play (dramatical production) that deliberately avoids the typical conventions of the play, such as a coherent plot and resolution.

antipeça

a play that deliberately avoids the typical conventions


readthrough

(film, television, theater) An organized reading of the screenplay or script by all of the actors, prior to the actual performance.


antitheater

A.R.T. is a theater group, or rather an antitheater group.

1993 February 5, Bill Wyman, “Calendar”, in Chicago Reader:

(dramaturgy) Works of theater that go against theatrical conventions

antyteatr

works of theater that go against theatrical conventions


tentpole

His [James Rolfe's] reasoning dances around the simple fact that has set this innocuous-seeming movie apart from its fellow blockbusters this summer—that it’s a tentpole genre film starring women.

2016 May 18, David Sims, “The Outcry Against the All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Remake Gets Louder”, in The Atlantic:

(US, attributive, figurative, film, television, theater) A large-scale entertainment production that is a major source of revenue for its studio, television network, or investors.


ASM

en-noun

ASM (countable and uncountable, plural ASMs)

assistant stage manager
assistant stage manager#English

(theater) Initialism of assistant stage manager.


stagewear

The only viable alternative, one that my daughter favored, was an item called boyshorts, a low-riding pair of short shorts loosely, or should I say tightly, based on Britney's stagewear.

2003 October 6, Claudia Wallis, “The thing about thongs”, in Time:

(theater) Clothing designed to be worn while performing on stage.

(theater) Clothing worn by backstage crew.


bit player

(theater, film) An actor who has a minor role in a production.


falling action

(literature, drama) The events of a drama after the climax (or crisis) but before the denouement (or resolution).


Sturm und Drang

sturm and drang (alternative)
Sturm and Drang (alternative)

/ˈʃtɜːm ʊnt ˈdræŋ/

/ˈʃtʊɚm ʊnt ˈdrɑŋ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Sturm und Drang.wav

Borrowed from German Sturm und Drang with the same figurative meaning, from Sturm (“storm”) + und (“and”) + Drang (“pressure, stress; urge, impulse, longing”). The phrase is the title of the play Sturm und Drang (1776) by German dramatist Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (1752–1831).
The fact that the phrase is often italicized suggests it has not been fully assimilated into English.

The best of the Stürmer und Dränger grew out of their Sturm und Drang, and it was necessary to indicate in what ways [Johann Gottfried] Herder and [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe changed as they grew older. It should be stressed, however, that the very principles which forced them to burst the husk of the Sturm und Drang are in themselves a vital element within the Sturm und Drang.

1953, Roy Pascal, “Introduction”, in The German Sturm und Drang, Manchester: Manchester University Press, →OCLC, page xvi:

[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich] Hegel's further observation shows the route taken by those who survived their Sturm und Drang and went on to produce more: "Because the sickness is in the essence itself, its isolated manifestations can be repressed [zurückdrängen] and the superficial symptoms suppressed [dämpfen]."

1985, Larry Vaughan, The Historical Constellation of the Sturm und Drang (American University Studies, Series I (Germanic Languages and Literatures); 38), New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 61:

[page 1100, column 1] The Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) was a literary movement that flourished in Germany in the 1770s and 1780s and represented the protest of a group of young university-educated men against the norms of polite society. […] [page 1101, columns 1 and 2] [T]he Sturm und Drang reflected the growth of modern individualism and the challenge that middle-class ideas of selfhood presented to so-called enlightened absolutism, that is to say, to political and cultural structures that sought legitimacy by assimilating elements of bureaucratic rationalism. […] The Sturm und Drang was nevertheless an important forerunner of Romanticism in its formal experimentalism, its enthusiasm for popular culture and the primitive, its acceptance of the power of unconscious, irrational forces, and above all its concern with individual experience.

2004, David Hill, “Sturm und Drang”, in Christopher John Murray, editor, Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850, volumes 2 (L–Z, Index), New York, N.Y., London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, →ISBN, pages 1100–1101:

It was precisely this reason, science and the eighteenth-century Enlightenment to account for genius in rational terms that allowed the non-rational thinkers who fueled the fires of the Sturm und Drang movement to vivify, and elaborate upon, the ancient Greek notion of genius as a numinous power associated with the Muses and the gods.

2006, Angus [James] Nicholls, Goethe's Concept of the Daemonic: After the Ancients, Rochester, N.Y.: Camden House Publishing, →ISBN, page 81:

The complex figure of Clavigo is therefore a variant on the Sturm and Drang theme of the enemy brothers, which forms the framework for a far older theme: that of Shakespeare's Hamlet who kills Ophelia's brother Valentin. Goethe's play is in fact modeled after Shakespeare's tragedy, and the last act is riddled with references to the cemetery scene from Hamlet. A theme dear to Sturm and Drang is also revisited: fratricide. The period during which Goethe wrote Clavigo was that in which the young Sturm and Drang poets all flocked around the figure of Goethe.

2014, Katalin Nun, Jon Stewart, editors, Kierkegaard's Literary Figures and Motifs: Tome I: Agamemnon to Guadalquivir (Kirkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources; 16), Farnham, Surrey, Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, page 105:

(literature, music, theater) A proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music which occurred from the late 1760s to the early 1780s, emphasizing individual subjectivity and the free expression of emotions.

狂飆突進運動 /狂飙突进运动

a proto-Romantic movement from the late 1760s to the early 1780s in German literature and music


reblock

en-verb

reblock (third-person singular simple present reblocks, present participle reblocking, simple past and past participle reblocked)

reblocks (present singular third-person)
reblocking (participle present)
reblocked (participle past)
reblocked (past)

In less than five hours the actors will perform the ballroom scene, rewritten and reblocked.

2013, Susan Letzler Cole, Playwrights in Rehearsal: The Seduction of Company, page 81:

(transitive, theater) To block, or specify the position of, (actors on the stage) again.


produceorial

en-adj

produceorial (comparative more produceorial, superlative most produceorial)

more produceorial (comparative)
most produceorial (superlative)
producorial (alternative)

I'm always just trying to get direct access to an audience, without having to go through the media hoops, or even theproduceorial hoops

2003, Kathleen Gallagher, “A dialogue with Ann-Marie MacDonald”, in How theatre educates: convergences and counterpoints with artists, scholars and advocates, University of Toronto Press, page 251:

(film, theater) Of or pertaining to a producer; concerned with production


whoops, there go my trousers

/ˈʍʊps ðɛː ˈɡəʊ maɪ ˈtɹaʊzəz/

/ˈwʊps ðɛɚ ˈɡoʊ maɪ ˈtɹaʊzɚz/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-whoops, there go my trousers.wav

A reference to a gag in slapstick comedy theatre plays where a character’s trousers fall to the ground, exposing his underwear, to elicit laughs from the audience.

Four Rooms is the latest attempt to combine multiple directors' skits into one film. It is also an attempt to mix "whoops!-there-go-my-trousers" farce with the slick kitsch pop-art comedy.

1995 December 29, Chris Wright, “Four Rooms [TV review]”, in The Boston Phoenix, Boston, Mass.: Boston Phoenix, →OCLC, section 3, page 19:

But what's this? A play about a Carry On film by Terry "Whoops, There Go My Trousers" Johnson, the man responsible for the National's revival of The London Cuckolds, an 18th-century version of Run For Your Wife?

1998 June 13, “Carry on up the National”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, weekend edition, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10, column 1:

The bolts have to be opened and closed in the right combination to avoid scenes worthy of a French farce. But I feel less a character in ‘Whoops! There go my trousers’, and more like something miserable by [Samuel] Beckett or [Franz] Kafka about the meaningless of life, and the fatuity of communication.

2002, Simon Calder, No Frills: The Truth Behind the Low-cost Revolution in the Skies, London: Virgin Books, →ISBN, page 45:

Instead this relies on the supposedly comical misunderstandings that have been a feature of sitcoms since the 1950s. [...] The children are smart arses, the laughter is canned, the parents befuddled and every line delivered as if they're on stage starring in "Whoops, There Go My Trousers".

2009 January 9, Andrea Mullaney, “TV Review: The Life of Riley, The Green Green Grass, Dexter”, in The Scotsman, Edinburgh: Scotsman Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2009-02-16:

(comedy, theater) Used to describe a genre of farcical theatre plays.


offcast

en-verb

offcast (third-person singular simple present offcasts, present participle offcasting, simple past and past participle offcast)

offcasts (present singular third-person)
offcasting (participle present)
offcast (participle past)
offcast (past)
off-cast (alternative)

From Middle English ofcasten, equivalent to off- + cast. Cognate with Danish afkaste (“to shed”), Swedish avkasta (“to crop, throw off, yield”). The noun is possibly derived from Middle English ofcast (“the refuse of plants”).

inh

The experiment to offcast Davis began in 1937 with That Certain Woman; "She's a lady," we are told.

1985, Tino Balio, The American film industry:

[...] and Paramount was not inclined to offcast its stars, the story was dropped.

White actresses were able to maintain a more multidimensional star persona than actresses of color, thanks in large part to their ability to off-cast themselves in challenging roles and control their off-screen image through publicity.

2015, Emily Carman, Independent Stardom:

(transitive, theater, television) To remove from the cast of a production.


by-play

en-noun

by-play (countable and uncountable, plural by-plays)

(theater) Action carried on aside, commonly in dumb show, while the main action proceeds; action not intended to be observed by some of the persons present.


number three

(theater) A small town where theatrical performances are unlikely to meet with much success.


Aristophanic

en-adj

Aristophanic (comparative more Aristophanic, superlative most Aristophanic)

more Aristophanic (comparative)
most Aristophanic (superlative)

In sculpture and in the drama, in Aristophanic farce and in hieratic rituals, in pictorial art and in the stream of literature, the phallus is transcendent.

1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page iii:


flyman

(theater) Someone who operates a fly system in a theatre.


hamfatter

US, a. 1880. Possibly from a minstrel show song called The Ham-Fat Man (1863).

(US slang, acting) A low-grade actor; a ham.


pochade

In despair, he finally painted a pochade of people leaving the church of Saint-François, in the village of the same name.

2004, David Karel, André Biéler: at the Crossroads of Canadian Painting, page 115:

This painting was very small, not even a study but a pochade — no more than a first idea jotted down in paint.

2008, Martin Gayford, The Yellow House, page 116:


in the round

There is another sense in which we can say that theatre begins in the round. Teachers in schools frequently observe that the dramatic play of children and their early attempts at theatre frequently take a natural in-the-round shape.

1982, Jack Mitchley, Peter Spalding, Five Thousand Years of Theatre, Batsford Academic and Educational:

By staging national identity “in the round,” Arena opens up multifaceted perspectives of who comprises the nation and under what circumstances. Finchandler observed: “Since it has no back, front or sides, the arena becomes a highly democratic form for the audience, […].”

2019, Donatella Galella, America in the Round: Capital, Race, and Nation at Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage, University of Iowa Press, →ISBN, page 15:

Down in the arena, though, it was business as semi-normal with the band members making their traditional promenade through the crowd to a small in-the-round stage with a colourful player piano taking up most of the room.

2022 September 6, Fiona Shepherd, “Music review: Arcade Fire, Hydro, Glasgow”, in The Scotsman:

(theater) Having a stage completely surrounded by an audience.


hold the ring

en-verb

hold the ring (third-person singular simple present holds the ring, present participle holding the ring, simple past and past participle held the ring)

holds the ring (present singular third-person)
holding the ring (participle present)
held the ring (participle past)
held the ring (past)

/ˈhəʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

/ˈhɔʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

/ˈhoʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

Probably from keep the ring. In days past when spectators would encircle participants in a prizefight or a performance, people would be employed to maintain order among them and keep them from coming too near the participants.

(sports, theater, obsolete) To maintain order among spectators encircling participants in a prizefight or a performance and keep them from coming too near the participants.


parascenium

(Ancient Greece, theater) One of two apartments adjoining the ancient stage, probably used as dressing rooms.


lashline

lashlines (plural)
lash line (alternative)

(theater) A rope for tying pieces of scenery together.


postscenium

(Ancient Rome, theater) The part of a theater behind the stage; the backstage area.


sceneman

Holonym: stage crew

(theater) A man who is a sceneshifter; any sceneshifter.


method acting

(acting) An acting technique in which the actor fully immerses themselves into the character they are playing.


corypheus

en-noun

corypheus (plural corypheuses or coryphei)

corypheuses (plural)
coryphei (plural)
coryphæus (alternative)
coryphaeus (alternative)
koryphaios (alternative)

From Latin coryphaeus, from Ancient Greek κορυφαῖος (koruphaîos, “leader”), from κορυφή (koruphḗ, “head”).

uder

In this work Homer and Virgil already appear beside Cicero and Plato as doctrinal authorities. The four corypheuses are infallible; any contradiction between them is wholly out of the question.

1953, Ernst Robert Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, page 443:

(drama, historical) The conductor or leader of the dramatic chorus in Ancient Greece.


stasimon

From Ancient Greek στάσιμον (stásimon, “stationary”); compare stasis.

the lively measures of the Hyporcheme which holds the place of THIRD STASIMON ( V ) speak for themselves

1883, Richard Claverhouse Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments:

1950, Amy Marjorie Dale, Stasimon and Hyporcheme, Eranos, XLVIII, pages 14-20, reprinted in 1969, Collected Papers of A. M. Dale, Volume 2, page 34,
In the Parados the chorus is 'coming on', and has to move on to and across the orchestra to take its place in the middle; in all the stasima, however active and lively the dance, its evolutions are performed from that middle position (a choro tenente stationes suas, as Hermann said in 1844), and do no involve processional movement.

It is interesting to consider the treatment of the stasima in relation to their context. Especially remarkable is the way in which the first stasimon (224 ff.), a hymn to Apollo praying for the success of Dolon's enterprise, is largely composed of sentiments repeated, with many verbal echoes, from the preceding dialogue[…].

1964, William Ritchie, The Authenticity of the Rhesus of Euripides, page 338:

The first stasimon sings of the wonders of man, which culminates in man's city-building and his ethical community.[…]Episodes can be interpreted in the light of the choral stasima.

2013, Jonathan N. Badger, Sophocles and the Politics of Tragedy: Cities and Transcendence, page 78:

(drama, Ancient Greek drama) A song of the chorus during a tragedy, continued without the interruption of dialogue or anapaestics.


nuncius

Borrowed from Latin nūncius, medieval form of nūntius (“messenger”).


noises off

A separate section is given to this subject because as a rule the importance of noises off is badly underestimated in the amateur theatre.

1934, Alfred Kenneth Boyd, The Technique of Play Production:

(theater) Sound effects produced offstage.


castworthy

en-adj

castworthy (comparative castworthier or more castworthy, superlative castworthiest or most castworthy)

castworthier (comparative)
more castworthy (comparative)
castworthiest (superlative)
most castworthy (superlative)

As had Wilfrid Lawson and it is pleasant to record that, after The Devil's General, he was once again considered castworthy and went on to play several other roles.

1987, Vivienne Knight, Trevor Howard: a gentleman and a player: the authorized biography:

That's what we're promoting here, the more he's in the casts, the more castworthy he is.

2001, Gardner Dozois, The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection:

(film, theater, entertainment) Worthy or fit for being part of a cast or of being cast.


two-hander

In May 2011, Chéreau came to the Young Vic theatre in London to direct I Am the Wind, a 70-minute two-hander written by the Norwegian Jon Fosse, which Michael Billington in the Guardian found "hypnotic", admiring the production's "visual bravura".

2013 October 8, Ronald Bergan, “Patrice Chéreau obituary”, in The Guardian:

With a screenplay by Carax and Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks (who also wrote the music and lyrics), the film is largely a two-hander about a famous couple and their talented daughter — the title character.

(theater, film) A play, film, or television programme with only two main characters.


gobo

Uncertain; possibly from go-b(etween) (“intermediary, middleman”) + -o (suffix forming informal terms).

suffix

(theater) A template inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light.


kitchen sink

The noun is derived from kitchen + sink. Sense 2.1 (“miscellaneous item or miscellany”) is probably from everything but the kitchen sink.
The adjective is derived from the noun. Sense 1 (“of or pertaining to a realist style of painting characterized by scenes of dull or untidy domestic interiors of urban working-class people”) was coined by the British art critic David Sylvester (1924–2001) in a December 1954 article entitled “The Kitchen Sink”: see the quotation.
The verb is a back-formation from kitchen-sinking (noun), which is derived from the noun.

back-formation

(by extension, drama, fiction, film, television, originally derogatory) Of or pertaining to a mid-20th-century (especially 1950s–1960s) genre of drama, fiction, etc., in Britain depicting the harsh lives of working-class people; also, of or pertaining to a film, novel, play, etc., of this genre.

työväestön arkielämää käsittelevä

of or pertaining to a genre of drama, fiction, etc., depicting the harsh lives of working-class people; of or pertaining to a film, novel, play, etc., of this genre


timeshift

(film, theater, television, broadcasting) A change from one time period to another.


(theater) Initialism of Henry IV, Part 1, by William Shakespeare.


(theater) Initialism of Henry VI, Part 1, by William Shakespeare.


stageworthy

en-adj

stageworthy (comparative stageworthier or more stageworthy, superlative stageworthiest or most stageworthy)

stageworthier (comparative)
more stageworthy (comparative)
stageworthiest (superlative)
most stageworthy (superlative)

In spite of his parsonical black, and that other well-known clerical disguise, a bad case of Pulpit's Disease, the "king of tears" cuts a more dashing figure than the Rake, and the role is by a long shot the stageworthiest in the opera.

1969, Igor Stravinsky, Robert Craft, Retrospectives and conclusions:

By this we mean each song first must be stageworthy and then must add to the picture of yourself which you are trying to paint for your audience.

1982, John Davidson, Cort Casady, The Singing Entertainer:

(theater) Worthy, fit, or deserving of stage presentation; stageable.


methexis

(theater) An originally Ancient Greek form of theatre in which the audience participates and improvises.


bio box

From biograph, as the rooms were originally set aside to provide space for film projectors at theatres.

(theater, Australia) A room, overlooking the theatre from the back, from which projection, lighting and sound are controlled.


camp it up

en-verb

camp it up (third-person singular simple present camps it up, present participle camping it up, simple past and past participle camped it up)

camps it up (present singular third-person)
camping it up (participle present)
camped it up (participle past)
camped it up (past)

Near-synonym: chew the scenery

Don't camp it up. Just follow the stage directions.

(informal, acting) To act a part in an exaggerated or affected manner.


cheat out

cheat out (third-person singular simple present cheats out, present participle cheating out, simple past and past participle cheated out)

cheats out (present singular third-person)
cheating out (participle present)
cheated out (participle past)
cheated out (past)

In stage acting, we are frequently asked to cheat out to the audience by opening up our body positions so that we are something halfway between facing them and our partner.

2015, Robert Barton, Acting: Onstage and Off, page 184:

(theater, intransitive) To face or turn toward the audience more than would be natural, for instance in a staged conversation.


crosslight

en-noun

crosslight (usually uncountable, plural crosslights)

Again, the crosslight is best designed to angle slightly upstage taking care not to produce shadows on backings.

1967, Jerry J. Lewis, An Approach to Lighting Design from Modern Dance, page 11:

Quick buffo comedy requires the clarity of the straight play, while sustained romantic anguish flourishes in atmospheric backlights and crosslight.

2013, Francis Reid, Stage Lighting Handbook, →ISBN, page 154:

(uncountable, theater) Illumination directed at the performers or subject matter from opposite sides of the set.


tear a cat

en-verb

tear a cat (third-person singular simple present tears a cat, present participle tearing a cat, simple past tore a cat, past participle torn a cat)

tears a cat (present singular third-person)
tearing a cat (participle present)
tore a cat (past)
torn a cat (participle past)

Yet my chief humour is for a tyrant. I could play / Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.

c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 1, scene 2:

Sirha is this you would rend and teare the Cat / Upon a Stage, and now march like drown'd rat?

c. 1599, John Marston, Histriomastix, act 5, scene 1, page [53]:

Till, in his periwig combustion / Will. Shakespeare sounds like Irish fustian, / In which Macready tears a cat, / And Shiel, the patriot, writes so pat;

1835, George Daniel, “The Conversazione”, in The Modern Dunciad, William Pickering, page 224:

From this performance there is no doubt in anyone's mind that Hamlet is an amateur actor having a fling at histrionics, or as Guthrie might say, "tearing a cat."

1970, Alfred Rossi, Minneapolis Rehearsals: Tyrone Guthrie Directs Hamlet, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 21:

(obsolete, idiomatic, acting) To overact; to violently rant and rave on stage.


walking gentleman

en-noun

walking gentleman (plural walking gentlemen)

(theater, slang, dated) A male actor who usually fills subordinate parts which require a gentlemanly appearance but few words.


in two

(theater) Performed further back than "in one", but still not fully upstage.


toi, toi, toi

/tɔɪ tɔɪ tɔɪ/

From German toi, toi, toi, which see for more.

good luck

considered to bring misfortune if used in the theatre

(theater, opera) A superstitious expression of encouragement prior to a performance.


flyperson

(theater) Someone who operates a fly system in a theatre.


word-perfect

en-adj

word-perfect (comparative more word-perfect, superlative most word-perfect)

more word-perfect (comparative)
most word-perfect (superlative)

The oldest actor in the company was word-perfect before any other actor and speaking at twice the rate and getting laughs from his fellow actors, the younger actors, in rehearsal!

1992, Mary Zenet Maher, Modern Hamlets and Their Soliloquies, page 67:

(UK, theater) Having memorized one's lines perfectly; letter-perfect.


assistant stage manager

en-noun

assistant stage manager (plural assistant stage managers)

(theater) A backstage worker whose main responsibility is the maintenance and supply of props.


the show must go on

Originated in the 19th-century circus industry.

Two other very personal issues that Holly discloses are her ongoing struggle to maintain a weight she feels comfortable with, and her virtual breakdown from exhaustion in 1984. Her "the show must go on" martyrdom attitude was painful to read, for her stress-related problems demonstrate the irony that idealistic activists often live exactly the overworked, underpaid life they are hoping to end for everyone.

1990 December 9, Maida Tilchen, “Closer To Near”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 14:

(literally, theater) Regardless of what happens, whatever show has been planned still has to be staged for the waiting patrons.


fit-up

(theater) A portable stage that can be disassembled and taken from one venue to another.


exodos

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔξοδος (éxodos, “a departure”). Doublet of exodus.

bor

1994, Carlo Ferdinando Russo (author and translator), Aristophanes: An Author for the Stage, [1962, Aristofane autore di teatro], page 173,
The exodos requires three actors, one for the Athenian (thirty iambic trimeters), one for his companion (five iambic trimeters) and one for the Spartan Singer (three iambic trimeters and around forty lyrical lines).

Then scenes alternate with choral songs, till the final exodos ("going-out") of the actors and chorus.

2003, Francis Blessington, The Bacchae; Euripides: The Frogs; Aristophanes, page xix:

Every Greek drama ends with an exodos. It is obligatory that the stage be left empty. It is left by the actors and the chorus.

2006, Olga Freidenberg, Image and Concept, page 271:

Non-speaking Characters
Hermione in prologue and exodos, Pylades in exodos, Electra in exodos, Helen in exodos

2013, Cecelia Eaton Luschnig, editor, The Orestes Plays, page 140:

In this respect, the parodoi and the exodoi of Old Comedy may operate as typical literary sphragis-like pieces; see details in Hordern (2002) 228-9; Calame (2004a); on the exodoi of Aristophanes as signature pieces see Calame (2004b) 182-3.

2013, Sophia Papaioannou, “Chapter One: The Innovator's Poetic Self-Representation”, in Sophia Papaioannou, editor, Terence and Interpretation, footnote, page 27:

(drama, Ancient Greek drama) A final scene or departure in a play, especially a tragedy.


fight choreography

(film, theater) The art of arranging and designing sequences of staged combats, such as for use in theatre or film productions.


stage combat

(film, theater) The art of arranging, designing or performing sequences of simulated fighting, especially in theatrical productions.


followspot

In addition to followspots, there will be three frontlight specials on Autoyokes hung on the truss to provide frontlight specials.

2009, Steven Shelley, A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, page 132:

(theater) A spotlight that follows a performer as they move around on the stage.


antode

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀντῳδή (antōidḗ), from ᾠδή (ōidḗ).

For instance, in the agon of the Knights beginning at 757 we first (761 ff.) find a katakeleusmos and a debate in anapaestic tetrameters catalectic, while the symmetrical section, after the antode, is in iambic tetrameters catalectic.

1975, Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, Festival, Comedy and Tragedy: The Greek Origins of Theatre:

(historical, Ancient Greece, theater) A particular ode sung in response to another.


break character

en-verb

break character (third-person singular simple present breaks character, present participle breaking character, simple past broke character, past participle broken character)

breaks character (present singular third-person)
breaking character (participle present)
broke character (past)
broken character (participle past)

Once Lynne and I realized that Jim was going to approach the role of Kaufman in a “method acting,” Kaufmanesque kind of way—i.e., he would become Andy or Tony Clifton for the entire shoot, never breaking character […]

2014, Bob Zmuda, Lynne Margulies, Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally, BenBella Books, →ISBN, page 43:

(intransitive, acting) To fail to act as a certain character; to be or act out of character.


breeches role

(theater) A role in a theatrical production in which an actress appears in male clothing.


tragic heroine

(drama) A heroine who suffers from a tragic flaw that eventually causes her downfall; a female tragic hero.


commedia dell'arte

en-noun

commedia dell'arte (countable and uncountable, plural commedie dell'arte or commedias dell'arte)

commedie dell'arte (plural)
commedias dell'arte (plural)

Unadapted borrowing from Italian commedia dell'arte (literally “comedy of the art”).

ubor

(theater) An early form of Italian theatre characterised by stock characters in a variety of masks, popular in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century.


stage-stricken

en-adj

stage-stricken (comparative more stage-stricken, superlative most stage-stricken)

more stage-stricken (comparative)
most stage-stricken (superlative)

[T]hey entertained themselves […] with a recitation by plump little stage-stricken Ensign Puddock, who, in "thpite of hith lithp," gave rather spirited imitations of some of the players—[…]

1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “Mr. Mervyn in His Inn”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 36:


tear-cat

Fie upon't, mere fustian; I had rather hear two good bawdy jests then a whole play of such tear-cat thunder-claps.

1606, John Day, The Isle of Gulls, in White, Thomas, editor, The Old English Drama, volume 4, published 1830, Induction, page 15:

I am cal'd by those that have seen my valour, Tear-Cat.

1611, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl, act 5, scene 1:


fifth wall

Bottom does not speak as a fictional figure pretending to be its actor, but, having crossed the fifth wall, as a “real” human being, as himself as Bottom.

2010, J. Limon, The Chemistry of the Theatre: Performativity of Time, →ISBN, page 184:

Presenting Silverstone as the protagonist of the former "Cyrin" clip in the context of the narration of the "Amazing" video also hints at a “sideways metalepsis” (a metalepsis between storyworlds) or the “breaking of the fifth wall” which is supposed to separate the different storyworlds in which one and the same actor/actress plays different roles.

2011, Karin Kukkonen, Sonja Klimek, Metalepsis in Popular Culture, →ISBN, page 119:

When wanting to show intimacy with the audience, one will advance in this direction. It is known in acting as “breaking the fifth wall” and is when actor's may make comments, or assides, sharing their internal process with the audience, as if stepping out of the world created on the stage to join with them on an intimate basis.

2014, Ken Ludden, Academy Method: Introduction to Teacher Training, →ISBN, page 149:

This creates a separation of the three worlds: three because, apart from the 'real' world of the audience and the perceiving minds of individual spectators, the one on the stage is in fact dual in nature, material and fictional, with both spheres divided by the fifth wall.

2014, Bryan Reynolds, Performance Studies: Key Words, Concepts and Theories, →ISBN, page 217:

The fifth wall is a progressively reflexive strategy where an actor in a theatrical performance breaks from the prescribed situational character and role and references her/his personal life or experiences (Genzlinger, 2006),

2016, Marcus Aldredge, Singer-Songwriters and Musical Open Mics, →ISBN, page 142:

(theater) The division between the fictional world depicted, and the actual actors, props, etc.

There's a fifth wall here tonight. And that's the wall between men and women. Which may be the toughest of all to crack.

1996, Albert Ramsdell Gurney, The Fourth Wall, →ISBN, page 48:

Performers still made their entrances from the wings of a stage, the stage of the film studio, only now the fifth wall division between onstage and backstage was replaced by the division between the field of action in front of the camera, recorded as the image within the frame of its lens, and the field of inaction outside its lens, outside its frame of reference.

2009, Paul Matthew St. Pierre, Music Hall Mimesis in British Film, 1895-1960, →ISBN:

Whereas the “fourth wall” is the term generally used to refer to the barrier between audience and actors, the “fifth wall” has sometimes been invoked to describe “that semiporous membrane that stands between individual audience members during a shared experience.

2012, Gillian Silverman, Bodies and Books, →ISBN:

We share the ideas The Living Theater experimented with including involving the public in our performance in the “fourth wall,” an imaginary “wall” at the front of the stage or even the “fifth wall” described by Peter Lichtenfels as “that semi-porous membrane that stands between individual audience members during a shared experience.

2013, Keith McHenry, Hungry for Peace, →ISBN:

(theater) Any of various other divisions between groups of people in the theatre.


jukebox musical

en-noun

jukebox musical (plural jukebox musicals)

7. The jukebox musical ‘We Will Rock You’ was written by which comedian and author?

2014, Collins Quiz Master, HarperCollins UK, →ISBN, page 68:

The book writer for “Once Upon a One More Time,” the Britney Spears jukebox musical opening on Broadway Thursday night, often returns to a memory from five years ago, when Spears sat in a Manhattan theater a few rows in front of him and watched an early reading of the show.

2023 June 21, Julia Jacobs, “A Britney Spears Jukebox Musical Hopes for #SeeBritney Energy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(theater) A musical consisting predominantly of songs that had been previously released and are well-known to the public, usually with a plot specifically written to accommodate them in the story.


playworthy

en-adj

playworthy (comparative more playworthy, superlative most playworthy)

more playworthy (comparative)
most playworthy (superlative)


thespianism

en-noun

thespianism (usually uncountable, plural thespianisms)

(theater) Thespian activity or behavior.


persona muta

From Latin mūta persōna (“silent character”).

She will be a persona muta, a non-speaking actor. She will thus have in this episode the function that her father had during the preceding stasimon, except that she will act. And since she will act, she, that is, the movement of her body in the stage space, […]

1996, Lowell Edmunds, Theatrical Space and Historical Place in Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 69:

(theater) A nonspeaking role, a silent actor.


groundplan

groundplans (plural)
ground-plan (alternative)
ground plan (alternative)

In some cases, coordination between the lighting and scene designer may result in a preliminary scenic groundplan that indicates not only all of the scenic and masking information, but temporary lighting positions as well.

2013, Steven Louis Shelley, A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, →ISBN:

You must learn to be ingenious in arranging groundplans. Always avoid the dull and trite—what may be called the no-room: that bare, three-walled room without architectural jogs for relief; that room with a routine selection and placement of furniture; that room with doors placed in balanced positions in the walls. New ideas about illustrating the action will present themselves to both you and the actors if you think and feel freshly about what makes up a groundplan.

2015, Francis Hodge, Michael McLain, Play Directing: Analysis, Communication, and Style, →ISBN, page 78:

It is also a tool for communication, both to your actors and your audience, because the way in which the groundplan shapes the space reveals much about the how the director and designers view the possible uses of the space, its owner(s), and its purpose. The groundplan provides you with the opportunity to create a variety of physical relationships among the characters onstage and shapes the possible patterns of movement that the characters might follow during the action.

2015, Robert Knopf, The Director as Collaborator, →ISBN, page 62:

Another method of recording blocking is to use a groundplan and numbered movements tracking sheet (see Figure 8.3).

2016, Emily Roth, Jonathan Allender-Zivic, Katy McGlaughlin, Stage Management Basics: A Primer for Performing Arts Stage Managers, →ISBN:

(theater) A diagram showing the physical layout of a set, especially the placement of structures on the stage, as opposed to items on the walls or suspended from the ceiling.


ground-plan

Complex shows may require more than one ground-plan; one for each set-change is common.

Alternative form of groundplan.
(theater) A diagram showing set layout.

Alternative form of groundplan.
A diagram showing set layout.


ground plan

You will need the ground plan of the set, a scale rule, a fifty-foot tape measure, a shorter tape measure, spike tape, chalk, chalk line, and pencils.

1992, Daniel Ionazzi, The Stage Management Handbook, →ISBN, page 47:


walking lady

(theater, slang, dated) A female actor who usually fills subordinate parts which require a ladylike appearance but few words.


top billing

top billing (usually uncountable, plural top billings)

She had top billing on the past three films.

(theater, film) The most prominent name on lists of cast and crew, or in advertising.


She is a 2.5D actress.

(theater, drama) Of, belonging or relating to 2.5D musicals, a type of modern Japanese musical theater production which adapts stories originally presented in a two-dimensional medium (anime, manga, or video games).


scenarise

en-verb

scenarise (third-person singular simple present scenarises, present participle scenarising, simple past and past participle scenarised)

scenarises (present singular third-person)
scenarising (participle present)
scenarised (participle past)
scenarised (past)

On the basis of an exceptionally interesting story, skilfully scenarised by Eliot Stannard, Frank Crane has built a photo-play in which humour, tragedy, and romance blend exquisitely.

1922, Motion Picture Studio - Volume 1, Issues 31-52, page 21:

Directed by Joseph de Grasse from a Harvey Gates story scenarised by Ida May Park (Mrs. de Grasse), Hell Morgan's Girl presented Chaney in the role of Sleter Noble, a tough but sexy politician gang leader of San Francisco's Barbary Coast.

1976, DeWitt Bodeen, From Hollywood: The Careers of 15 Great American Stars, page 212:

In fact, Spencer Williams was maligned by the studios, forcing the Pittsburgh Courier to express it's disapproval of such practices by stating, 'Spencer Williams is said to have lost a golden opportunity at Christie Studios by kicking too soon for screen credit for pictures he claims to have helped scenarise. He is said to have forgotten that we have to abide our time.'

1997, Film History - Volume 9, page 105:

(film, theater) To create the physical set and staging for a film or play.


rock opera

(music, theater) A collection of rock songs which tell a story, often released as a single album.


tear-mouth

You grow rich, do you, and purchase, you twopenny tear-mouth?

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster, act 3, scene 1:

How would you, or how do you think I should, relish being the object of such a letter as Kean wrote t'other day to a poor author, who, though a pedantic blockhead, had at least the right to be treated as a gentleman by a copper-laced two-penny tearmouth, rendered mad by conceit and success?

1819 April 2, Sir Walter Scott, [Letter to Robert Southey]:


makeup call

The director scheduled the makeup call for 30 minutes before the play started.

The model had to rush to get to her 8:30 makeup call.

(acting, modeling) A verbal or written request, or a scheduled time, for actors or models to be available for the application of cosmetics, hairstyling, etc. prior to a performance or photography session.


problem play

(theater) A form of drama that emerged in the 19th century as part of realism, dealing with contentious social issues through debates between the characters on stage, who typically represent conflicting points of view within a realistic social context.


yes and

yes and (third-person singular simple present yes ands, present participle yes anding, simple past and past participle yes anded)

yes ands (present singular third-person)
yes anding (participle present)
yes anded (participle past)
yes anded (past)

From a well-known rule in improv acting, wherein improvised lines must (figuratively) be answered with yes and... in order to continue the scene.

If Lord Buckley made standup courageous, then Lenny Bruce “yes anded” that and ushered in standup for a new age

2011, Margaret Hicks, Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History:

(acting) To go along with what is offered, especially in a performative context, and to accept and expand upon it; to go with the flow; to take it in stride.