| A | B |
|---|
| ad-lib | to improvise stage businss or conversation, especially when an actor has missed or forgotten lines and other actors must supply the missing information |
| auditorium | the place in the theater where the audience sits |
| bit part | an acting role with very few lines |
| body language | communication that uses gestures, posture, and facial expressions instead of words |
| building a scene | using dramatic devices, such as increased tempo, volume and emphasis, to bring a scene to climax |
| C | the symbol for Center Stage |
| characterization | putting together all facets of a character to bring life and interest to that character |
| cheating out | a stage technique in which an actor who is facing sideways pivots the forge and turns the face toward the audience |
| concentration | the ability to direct all thoughts, energies, and skills toward a given goal |
| cover | to obstruct the audience's view of something |
| cross | to move from one position to another |
| cue | the last words, action, or technical effect that immediately precedes any line or business: as page signal |
| dialogue | the lines of a play spoken by a character |
| diction | the selection and pronunciation of words and their combinations in speech |
| director | the person in charge of molding all aspects of production- acting, scenery, costumes, makeup, lighting and go on - into a unified whole |
| downstage | the part of the stage toward the audience |
| drama | a literacy composition peformed onstage |
| externalization | the process by which an actor shows the audience a character's true personality through interpretation, non verbal expression, voice quality, pitchy rate, and physical voice |
| fade off lines | lines that actors trail off rather than finishing |
| gesture | a movement of any part of the body to help express an idea |
| hand props | properties, such as tools, weapons, or luggage, carried onstage by an individual person |
| illusion of the first time | a situation in which an audience is led to believe that each performance is the first |
| improvisation | the impromptu portrayal of a character or a scene without any rehersal or preperation |
| inflection | medulation, variety in pitch |
| internalization | the process which an actor uses to get within a character to learn what the character is like |
| leading roles | the main characters in a play |
| left and right | turns used to re over to the stage form the actor's point of view, not that of the audience |
| memorizing | commiting the lines of a script to memory |
| motivation | the reason behind the charactor's behavior |
| nonverbal communication | communications without words, using facial expressions, gestures and body language |
| offbook | rehearsal without scripts |
| onbook | rehearsal without words |
| pantomime | acting without words |
| part whole memorization | studying cues or lines of script line by line until they are committed to memory |
| pause | a lull or stop in dialogue or action in order to sustain emotion |
| picking up cues | speaking immediately on the last word of the previous speaker for rapid speechs attaching a line to the present |
| projection | the control of the volume and quality of the voice so that it can be heard clearly by everyone in an audience |
| rate | the speed at which words are spoken |
| readers theater | form of the theater in which plays are read to an audience from a script and brought to life by readers' voices, facial expressions, and controlled movement |
| scene stealing | calling attention to other actors other then the star |
| script | the written text of a play |
| set | the scenery for an act or scene |
| set props | properties placed on stage for the use of actors |
| supporting roles | those characters who act as contrasts to others |
| tempo | the speed at which the action of a play moves along |
| theater | a building used for the presentation of plays |
| typecasting | identifying and casting an actor in the same kind of role over and over |
| upstage | the area of the stage away from the audience toward the rear of the stage |
| whole part memorization | the commiting to memory of individual lines a script after whole units of the play have been read several times |
