English 3rd Quarter

• acoustics is the science of sound as applied to theaters, relating to how sound travels and reverberates.
• Audition-As a noun, the opportunity for an actor to display his/ her talents when seeking a role in an upcoming pro duction of a play, as a verb, to give a brief performance at such an occasion
• Backstage is the entire area behind the stage of a theater, including dressing rooms.
• blocking - stage movements by actors, including entrances, exits and any steps taken in any direction across the stage
• Body language -Bodily movements, large or small, which indicate what a person is thinking or feeling.
• breaking-up is out-of-place laughter by an actor on stage
• callback- request that an actor return for an additional audition.
• cattle call - An audition open to anyone, regardless of experience.
• character role - A supporting role with pronounced or eccentric characteristics.
• chemistry - A mysterious element that creates excitement when two actors appear together.
• Cold reading- Delivering a speech or acting a scene at an audition without having read it beforehand.
• Cue - A line of dialogue, action, or sound, onstage or off, that tells an actor it is time to enter exit, move across stage, or-most commonly begin speaking.
• Curtain up - The start of a performance, whether or not an actual curtain exists in front of the stage.
• Diaphragm - The lower part of the lungs, filling the abdominal space, that supports the voice when actors and singers breathe correctly on stage.
• Diction - Clear, sharp pronunciation of words, especially of consonants.
• Director - The person charged with staging a play or musical, who coordinates all onstage aspects of the production, including the performances of the actors.
• Double take - An exaggerated facial response to another actor's words or actions, usually used for comic effect
• Finding your light- An actor's ability to sense when he/she is properly placed with respect to stage lighting.
• Downstage- The area of the stage closest to the audience.
• Flop- A theatrical production that fails to draw an audience regardless of whether the critics liked it or not.
• Ham - An actor who gives a very broad or exaggerated performance.
• Mannerisms - Gestures, facial expressions, and vocal tricks that a particular actor uses again and again in different roles.
• Method acting - An internalized form of acting that uses experiences from an actor's personal life to help produce onstage emotion.
• Mimicry - An actor's ability to sound and/or look like someone else, usually a famous person.
• Monologue - A speech used by an actor to demonstrate his/her ability at an audition.
• Notes - Instructions, usually regarding changes in an actor's blocking or performance, given after a rehearsal by the director, music director, choreographer, or stage manager.
• Off-book - When an actor knows his/her lines and no longer needs to carry the script.
• Offstage - The area immediately behind or to the sides of the stage area; also used more generally to talk about an actor's everyday life.
• Pace - The speed at which a scene is played.
• Pan - A very bad review from a critic.
• Pausing for effect - A deliberate pause within or between lines, used by an actor to call special attention to a moment.
• Presence - An actor's ability to command attention onstage even when surrounded by other actors.
• Projection - An actor's ability to use his/her voice so that it can be clearly heard in the back rows of a theater; also used in reference to the emotions an actor wishes to convey.
• Props - Any movable object, from a letter to a sword used by an actor during a performance.
• Range - The vocal extent of a singer's voice, from its lowest note to its highest.
• Rave - An extremely good review from a critic.
• Rehearsals - The period during which the actors' performances are developed and hopefully perfected by repetition.
• Set - As a noun, the physical design of the stage area within which the actors perform as a verb, to make permanent the way in which a scene is being played.
• Sheet music - The pages containing the music and lyrics to a single song, as opposed to a score containing all the music for a show.
• Stage left - The side of the stage that is to the actor's left as he/she faces the audience.