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to Live TheatreTheatreClass Notes
Definition of Theatre: "Theater is a unique live event that involved actors and audience, that happens in a particular place at a particular time, that takes place in the present tense and yet has a predetermined structure, that uses understood conventions to communicate through all five senses, and that has a lasting impact on the audience”
10 Traits of Theatre:

Unit 1: Introduction to Live Theatre
Definition of Theatre: "Theater is a unique live event that involved actors and audience, that happens in a particular place at a particular time, that takes place in the present tense and yet has a predetermined structure, that uses understood conventions to communicate through all five senses, and that has a lasting impact on the audience”
10 Traits of Theatre:
A live event – takes place only once; unique experience each time
Actors – someone has to play a part; without actors there is no action
Audience – someone needs to be a recipient of the action; this is what the audience does; a good audience is more than just passive, however
Particular place – theater happens in a particular place; we go to theater, it doesn’t just come to us (except for flash mobs!)
Particular time – theater only happens when all of these elements come together; it doesn’t just “happen” any time we want it to!
Present tense – true, live theater happens in the present moment; recordings never do a performance justice!
Predetermined structure – each show has a predetermined structure to it; a number of acts, scenes, etc.; even though at times the action might become improvised
Understood conventions – there are certain elements of a show that the audience must understand coming into the performance: the fact that what is happening is NOT for real, when the actors take a bow at the end, the audience claps, other actors on the stage pretend not to know what is happening when in fact they’ve read the script
Communication through all five senses – a truly spectacular theatrical experience uses as many of the senses as possible; this is due to the fact that this is how we communicate as human beings
Lasting impact – theater is an experience that we always take with us (hopefully); the goal of any actor is that they are able to leave an impact on their audience
The 6 Elements of Theatre of Aristotle:
Plot – the “life and soul of the drama”; this is perhaps the most important; this is the story itself, what is it that we are trying to say by this performance
Character – the “agent for the action”; when we describe a scene, we are referring to what the characters do; without characters, there is no action!
Thought – the meaning of a play, or the “message”; what is the universal idea that we want the audience to come away with?
Diction – refers to both the vocabulary that the playwright uses and the order in which the words are placed; diction will vary from writer to writer; Puccini wrote in a very formal manner when he wrote “La Boheme” where Jonathan Larson writes in a very modern, almost crass way at times when he wrote “Rent”; both tell the same basic story but in two very different ways!
Music – this includes everything we hear during a performance: the musical accompaniment, sound effects, even sometimes the voices of the actors.
Spectacle – the special components that finish off a performance; not just visual!
Types of Theatre
A: Play – a show that is dialogue-driven
Drama – a category of play that is serious but not tragic
Comedy – the genre of play that makes you laugh, has plots that end happily, and reaffirms the values you hold to be important
Tragedy – a serious play that makes you feel exhilarated because the hero’s experience teaches you some profound truth about your life; a tragedy guides you toward feeling a sort of calm affirmation that your worst expectations about life are true, and you feel wiser for reaching this certainty
B: Musical – a show that uses music in telling the story
Opera – a form of theatre that is entirely sung, is serious in subject, and is musically complex
Operetta – a form of theatre that is light in subject, has scenes of spoken dialogue, and is less musically complex than an opera
Rock-Opera – a form of theatre that is entirely sung, using contemporary, rock music
Concert – a performance which focuses on the music alone; sometimes singers may be costumed, but the focus is on the music

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Hallahan Catholic Girls’Girls' High School
Theater Arts I; Father Steve Paolino
50 Theater Terms

Girls’ High SchoolTheaterSchool
Theater Arts I; Father Steve PaolinoTheaterPaolino
50 Theater Terms
Below are 50 terms used in theater. You must memorize these terms and be prepared to be tested on them.
1)Act – a lengthy segment of a show, comprising several scenes

Girls’ High School
TheaterSchoolTheater Arts I; Father Steve Paolino
50 TheaterPaolinoTheater Terms
Below are 50 terms used in theater. You must memorize these terms and be prepared to be tested on them.
1)Act – a lengthy segment of a show, comprising several scenes

John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls’ High School
Theater Arts I; Father Steve Paolino
50 Theater Terms
Below are 50 terms used in theater. You must memorize these terms and be prepared to be tested on them.
1)Act – a lengthy segment of a show, comprising several scenes
2)Actor – a person who performs a role in a show
3)Apron – the portion of a stage that protrudes closer to the audience than the proscenium arch
4)Aside – lines spoken by a character directly to the audience that the other characters pretend they don’t hear
5)Backdrop – large, two-dimensional painted scenery hung from the fly
6)Backstage – the stage house space of a theater that the audience does not see, and any support spaces in which scenery and costumes are constructed and stored
7)Balcony – seating on a level above the main-floor orchestra seats
8)Blackout – the lights are turned completely off, leaving the stage in darkness; this is done in order to change scenery or for actors to make entrances and exits which are unseen to the audience
9)Blocking – the patterns of movement of the actors on the stage, developed in rehearsal under the director’s supervision
10)Blue Sky – a form of collecting ideas which the Disney company uses when creating a new show; it is called “blue sky” since all ideas are welcomed and nothing is rejected; often the ideas are kept and archived no matter if they are used or not
11)Book – the printed script for a show that includes lines, lyrics, and music for the actors to use
12)Call-back – an audition for which actors have been “called back” by the producer and director for a second reading; often actors are “called-back” for a specific part
13)Cast – a group of actors who come together for a performance
14)Choreographer – the person who creates the dances or movement in a production
15)Chorus – (1) in ancient Greek drama, the characters who spoke, sang, and danced portions of the dramas not spoken by the main characters; (2) the singers and dancers in a musical; their characters are often not named in the program or script
16)Composer – a musician who creates the score for a production
17)Control (Tech) Booth – the area, usually an enclosed booth, where the stage manager and the sound and light technicians work during a performance
18)Costume – an outfit worn by a performer
19)Crew – the backstage workers in any of a theater’s departments
20)Crossover – a passage actors use to get from one side of the stage to the other
21)Cue – any change in lighting, sound, or movement on the stage
22)Curtain Call – the actors take a bow while the audience applauds for a job well done
23)Director – the person who guides the creative process of putting the show together; gives instructions to the actors and crew
24)Downstage – the area of the stage floor in front, closest to the audience
25)Dress Rehearsal – a rehearsal near the end of the rehearsal period when the actors first wear their costumes; a dress rehearsal normally is scheduled after the technical rehearsals have been completed
26)Fly – the “ceiling” of the area above the stage; many larger stages feature storage space or space for scenery to be raised/lowered from the fly
27)Foreshadowing – information included in the dialogue that the audience needs to know so it can understand later developments of the plot
28)Green Room – the actors’ backstage waiting room; traditionally painted “green” in the style of a classic theater in London
29)Lyricist – the writer of the words in a script’s songs
30)Opening Night – the first public performance of a show
31)Orchestra – musicians who perform the music for a live show
32)Producer – the businessperson who heads the business aspects of a commercial production; oversees the entire work of the show to ensure a quality production
33)Promptbook – the stage manager’s copy of the script that has all the cues that must be given to actors and crew members
34)Proscenium – around the edge of the stage area; up and down and on top of the stage
35)Scene – a brief segment of the plot of a show
36)Scene Change – pieces of the scenery are brought on or carried off to change the setting for the scene
37)Scenery – the physical structures on stage which give a sense of the setting for the scene
38)Score – the composed musical elements that make up a show
39)Stage Crew – the people responsible for handling the technical aspects of the show and moving scenery on and off stage
40)Stage Left – the left side of the stage, as if you were standing on stage
41)Stage Manager – the person in charge of all rehearsals and performances
42)Stage Right – the right side of the stage, as if you were standing on stage
43)Storyboard – a term that describes a sequence of rough drawings that show how scenes will look in performance
44)Technical Rehearsal – a rehearsal at which the scenery, lighting, and sound are first added to the actors’ performances; generally held at the end of the rehearsal period, just before the first public performance
45)The (Orchestra) Pit – an area where the orchestra is positioned (for a musical performance); typically in front of the stage, and possibly under the stage, but not always
46)The “Fourth Wall” – since stages have (generally) 3 walls and the 4th is the stage front which is open to the audience, the “4th wall” is considered the separation between the actors and the audience; often times, the “4th wall” will be broken and the audience will be (sometimes literally) brought into the performance
47)The House – the area of the theater where the audience sits
48)Trap – a cutout in the stage floor down which actors can be taken to disappear from the sight of the audience
49)Upstage – the area of the stage in back, farthest from the audience
50)Wing – the sides of the stage, out of view from the audience