CSET: Theatre (223/224) key terms

The facts of a play's world - time, place, era, social setting, and prior events - that an actor uses to justify a character's behavior and choices. They come from the script itself and from careful inference beyond the dialogue.

A character's active want in a scene, phrased as a verb-directed action toward another person. Actors play objectives rather than emotions, and objectives shift as obstacles appear or tactics succeed or fail.

The specific strategy a character uses to pursue an objective in the moment, such as pleading, threatening, or charming. Actors vary tactics to keep a scene alive and responsive to the other character's reactions.

Whatever prevents a character from achieving an objective - another person's resistance, physical conditions, internal conflict, or social pressure. Strong obstacles create dramatic tension and give actors something concrete to play against.

A rehearsal device asking an actor to imagine what they would do if the play's circumstances were real. It bridges the actor's own impulses and the fictional situation, supporting truthful behavior without literal belief.

An actor's technique of drawing on a remembered personal experience to access feelings similar to the character's. Useful for depth but risky if it substitutes for playing the scene's action and interactions.

A small unit of dramatic action in which a character pursues one objective until something changes. Directors and actors break scenes into beats to shape pacing, clarify intentions, and mark shifts in relationship or power.

The planned movement and stage positions of actors, set by the director during rehearsal. Good blocking clarifies relationships, focuses attention, and keeps sightlines open for the audience.

The visual composition formed by actors' bodies, levels, and spacing at a given moment. Directors use it to communicate status, relationships, and focus, and it changes continuously as blocking develops.

To angle the body or face partly toward the audience while appearing to address a scene partner upstage or to the side. It preserves the illusion of natural interaction while keeping the actor's expression visible.

Turning or repositioning so the audience can see an actor's face and body, often when a scene partner is upstage. It is a practical adjustment that serves visibility without visibly breaking the scene's logic.

Variation in height among actors created by standing, sitting, kneeling, or using platforms. Levels add visual interest, express status differences, and help the audience read relationships in a scene.

Performing a script aloud with little or no preparation, often at auditions. It tests an actor's ability to make quick choices, take adjustments, and connect with text and scene partners under pressure.

A second or later audition to which selected actors are invited. Callbacks usually involve reading with other candidates, taking direction, or performing combinations, letting the creative team assess fit and flexibility.

Short excerpts from a script used at auditions in place of the full play. Sides give the creative team a focused sample of an actor's work and often include brief context for the scene.

The study and practical support of a play's structure, context, and meaning within a production. A dramaturg researches text, history, and interpretation, and helps directors, actors, and audiences understand the work more fully.

The arrangement of incidents in a play into a meaningful pattern, typically involving exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Structure shapes where tension builds, peaks, and releases for the audience.

A play built around a single central conflict that tightens toward a decisive turning point, then resolves quickly. It emphasizes causality and unity of action, contrasting with looser, scene-by-scene plots.

A play organized as a series of loosely connected scenes or episodes spanning time and place, rather than one tightening conflict. It allows breadth of social panorama and thematic juxtaposition over strict causal unity.

A unit of a play defined by the entrance or exit of a character, changing the group on stage. French scenes help directors and actors track shifting relationships, objectives, and beats within a longer act.

A tragic protagonist's error, flaw, or misjudgment that contributes to their downfall. It is not simply a moral defect; the term describes the mistake or blind spot through which catastrophe becomes plausible.

The emotional release or purging that tragedy is said to produce in spectators through pity and fear. The concept, from Aristotle, describes the affective effect of witnessing a serious action move toward disaster.

A reversal of fortune or intention in a plot, where the action turns to produce the opposite of what was expected. Aristotle names it among the strongest sources of tragic effect, especially when paired with recognition.

A character's moment of recognition or discovery, often of identity or truth, that changes the direction of the plot. When joined with reversal, it can produce intense tragic impact.

A professional improvisational theatre tradition of sixteenth- to eighteenth-century Italy built on stock masked characters, lazzi, and scenario outlines rather than full scripts. It influenced later comedy, physical performance, and character comedy.

Recurring comic bits or stage business in commedia dell'arte, often physical and repeatable, inserted into improvised scenarios. Performers built routines around them and could extend or vary them depending on audience response.

A conventional figure with fixed traits and predictable function, such as the braggart soldier or clever servant. Stock types speed audience recognition and are common in commedia, farce, and popular comedy forms.

A nineteenth-century dramatic formula emphasizing tight plotting, withheld secrets, and a climactic revelation or scène à faire. Its machinery of coincidence and disclosure shaped later commercial theatre and realistic playwriting conventions.

A performance approach associated with Brecht that uses narration, signs, song, and visible stagecraft to keep spectators thinking critically rather than absorbed in illusion. It favors distance and social analysis over emotional identification.

A technique that interrupts illusion and emotional identification so audiences observe action critically. Devices include direct address, placards, exposed lighting, and abrupt shifts that remind viewers they are watching a constructed performance.

A performance style in which actors acknowledge the audience and openly display theatricality, as in direct address, song, or stylized gesture. It contrasts with styles that pretend the audience is an invisible observer.

A style in which performers behave as if unaware of the audience, sustaining an invisible fourth wall. It supports realism and psychological drama, where spectators observe rather than participate.

The imaginary boundary between the stage and the audience in realistic staging. When intact, it maintains the illusion that the action is unobserved; when broken, characters may address spectators directly.

An architectural frame separating stage from auditorium, with the audience viewing from one side. It supports picture-frame staging, wing-and-drop scenery, and strong frontal composition.

A stage projecting into the auditorium so the audience surrounds it on three sides. It creates intimacy and varied sightlines, requiring staging that plays to multiple angles rather than a single frontal picture.

The lines of view from audience seats to the stage. Designers and directors check sightlines to ensure key action and scenery are visible from all seats and to avoid blocked or wasted views.

A scale drawing showing the stage from above, marking walls, platforms, furniture, and entrances. It coordinates blocking and scenery placement and is a core document passed between director and technical departments.

A scale drawing that shows a scenic unit or wall from the front, with heights and vertical detail. Elevations complement ground plans by telling builders how tall and how detailed a piece must be.

An illustrator's colored perspective drawing of a proposed design, used to communicate mood, color, and style before construction. It is interpretive rather than technical, though it guides the finished production's look.

A colored transparent filter placed in front of a lighting fixture to tint its beam. Gel choice affects atmosphere, visibility, and color mixing on costumes and scenery.

A cutout pattern inserted in a lighting fixture to project a shape or texture onto the stage. Gobos create effects such as windows, foliage, or abstract patterns without physical scenery.

The process of aiming and shaping each lighting instrument to cover a specific stage area or effect. Focus sessions follow a light plot and determine whether the lighting design actually functions in performance.

A scale drawing showing the position, type, and channel of every lighting instrument for a production. It is the central planning document for hanging, focusing, and running the light cues.

A signal for a technical or performance change, such as a light shift, sound effect, or actor entrance. Cues are numbered and called by stage management so timing stays consistent from performance to performance.

A technical rehearsal that skips dialogue between cues to test transitions, light and sound changes, and scene shifts. It lets technicians and stage management rehearse complex sequences efficiently before full run-throughs.

The final rehearsal period when technical elements - lights, sound, costumes, and scenery - are integrated with the acting. It typically includes cue-to-cue, technical rehearsals, and dress rehearsals before opening.

The person who coordinates rehearsals and performances, maintains the prompt book, calls cues, and communicates between actors, crew, and management. The stage manager is the production's central organizational anchor once the show opens.

The stage manager's master copy of the script, annotated with blocking, cues, contact information, and running notes. It documents the production as performed and allows the show to be reproduced consistently.

A daily document listing who is called, when, where, and for what, along with contacts and special instructions. It keeps cast and crew synchronized during rehearsals and performances.

Child-initiated pretend play in which participants assign roles, invent situations, and negotiate rules together. It develops language, empathy, and cooperation and is a foundation for later structured theatre work with young learners.

An improvisational, participant-centered drama form in which a group explores a fictional world without a script or audience. A leader frames roles and situations so learning emerges through collective decision-making and reflection.

Professional theatre created for children and youth, with artistic standards comparable to adult work. It considers developmental appropriateness, tour practicality, and active engagement while respecting young spectators as an audience.

A participatory form, associated with Boal, in which spectators stop a short scene of oppression and try alternative actions on stage. It turns audience members into 'spect-actors' rehearsing social change.

Theatre practice conducted in non-traditional settings - schools, prisons, community centers, hospitals - with goals beyond commercial entertainment. It emphasizes participation, education, and social dialogue over ticket sales.