Theater Terminology (and Slang)
From Mchs Theater
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;Gel: High heat resistant colored plastic celophane that is used to color conventional beams of light. | ;Gel: High heat resistant colored plastic celophane that is used to color conventional beams of light. | ||
Revision as of 03:03, 3 August 2007
Contents |
Theatrical Terminology
This is a list of stagecraft terms and abbreviations with short definitions. Items having a separate article of their own are marked as a link in the item's title listed in this article.
A
- ALD
- Assistant Lighting Designer
- ASM
- Assistant Stage Manager
B
- Batten
- A horizontal pipe, often suspended from the fly system
- Boom
- A vertical pipe for mounting lighting instruments, scenery, or other items.
C
- Call
- time the Stage Manager asks actors or technicians to be somewhere.
- Carp
- short for Carpenter
- Catwalk
- A platform above the stage level to allow access to lighting positions, rigging, or other suspended equipment or scenery
- Color Frame
- metal assembly used to hold and support gels and color media in the color holder of a lighting instrument.
- Color Media
- any type of device used to color a beam of light. Usually referring to color gels but also dirocloric glass, etc.
- Cue
- An action taken at a specific time by a technician or actor. Also the event that triggers the action. ex. "He completely missed his cue."
- Cue light
- A small light visible to an actor or technician to allow them to know when to take their cue. Usually controlled by the stage manager.
- Cyclorama
- A large, generally white or pale blue, wall or drop upstage in a theater, used with lighting to represent the sky.
- Cyclorama Light
- lighting instrument typically made up of multiple cells on separate electrical circuits. Each light is typically geled a different color, Red, Green, and Blue, so theoretically any color can paint the white cyclorama. Commonly shortened to Cyc lights, and confused with border lights and strip lights.
D
- Downstage
- towards the audience.
- Drop
- A piece of scenery, generally flat fabric, suspended from above.
E
- Electric
- Batten installed with electrical and sometimes data circuits that provide power and information for lighting instruments.
- Ellipsoidal reflector spotlight
- Lighting instrument with an ellipsoidal shaped reflector behind the source and crisp optics used to produce sharp projections, long thin beams, and spotlighting. Commonly referred to as ERS, Ellipsoidal, spotlight, or by popular brands such as Source Four/ S4 and Leko.
F
- Fresnel
- A type of lighting instrument equipped with a Fresnel lens. Often used for general areas of color wash or to produce soft edged pools of light on stage as a top or back light.
G
- Gel
- High heat resistant colored plastic celophane that is used to color conventional beams of light.
- Gobo
- A steel or glass pattern that is placed in the beam of a light to project the image on the pattern. See pattern.
- Grid
- the structure from which items are suspended in a theater.
- Go
- command for a cue to happen, also the time that a show actually starts, as opposed to the call, when one is exspected to be be at the theatre.
H
- Heads!
- Call made when something has fallen from above, or when something is flying in outside of a performance. All personnel onstage should be immediately alert to above and get out of the way as soon as possible.
- House
- Area of a venue where the audience sits.
- House Left / House Right
- directions from the perspective of someone in the house facing the stage. Opposite of Stage Left and Stage Right.
- House Lights
- Architectural lighting that may be controlled by the main lighting system, or another one, and used to light the auditorium before and after the show and during intermission.
I
- IATSE
- International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes
J
K
L
- LX
- Abbreviation for Electrics
M
- Mic
- shortening for microphone
N
O
P
- Procenium
- The opening at the front of the stage.
- Pyro
- pyrotechnics or pyrotechnicians
Q
R
- R#
- indicates the brand, Rosco and color number for identifying colored gel sheets used to color lighting beams. This code is usually written on gels in grease pencil and used in lighting plots.
- Rail
- the control area for fly systems, also the point at which rigging is secured.
- Running crew
- the people from the tech crew who are active while a production is actually running.
S
- Squint
- Slang for an electrician, often disparaging.
- Stage Left / Stage Right
- Direction from the perspecive of someone standing on stage facing the audience. Opposite of House Left and House Right
- Stage Pin
- power connector using three pins arraged in a (+)-Ground-(-) fashion. Capable of handeling larger amounts of power than typical, household Edison connectors.
- Stand-In
- person used to assist in fine tuning of lighting levels, insuring that the "look" is perfect.
T
Technical crew or tech crew
- The people who run the off-stage aspects of a production - sets, sound, lightning and so on
U
- Upstage
- Away from the audience.
V
- Venue
- The facility in which a production is presented.
