General theater terms
Signs and phenomenon
Liveness
proscenium (end stage)
apron
thrust stage
amphitheater
arena staging
environmental staging
backstage
upstage
downstage
stage right and left
audience right and left
rigging
fly space
wings
flat
fourth wall
backdrop
properties (props)
orchestra pit
trap door
lift (elevator)
counterweight
orchestra, mezzanine, balcony, box seats
auditorium (house)
front of house and back of house (backstage)
marquee
Architectural terms
facade
section, elevation, plan
Classical and Hellenistic Greece
Amphitheater
Dionysus
Dithyramb
Thespis
Choregos
Festival Dionysus
Chorus (purposes – entertainment, representing the community)
Masks
Orchestra
Skene
Proskenion
Theatron
Paradoi
Epidaurus
Deus ex machina
Tragedy (tragic flaw of protagonist, arch of fortune to misfortune, “goat song”)
Antigone by Sophocles (basic plot, characters, themes)
Democracy (polity) and Traditional Religion (the gods): tensions, transition, power, gender
Noh Theater
Shinto
Buddhism
Sarugaku No
Ka’nami and Zeami
Shogun
Hashigakari
Kagami-ita
Kurazuka (Black Mound)
Shite
Kyogen
Ma
Karaori
Masks and kimono
Medieval European Theatre
Basilica
Romanesque architecture
Gothic architecture
Vault (ribbed)
Nave
Apse
altar
Flying buttress
Aisle
Liturgical drama
Stations
Mansions
Aniconism
Corpus Christi festival
English cycle plays and Spanish autos de sacramentales
Outdoor Public Playhouse, Elizabethan
Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther): Iconoclasm and the end of biblical plays in England
The Globe and the Swan theaters
Company organization (shareholders, boys’ parts, commercial theatre, repertory)
Tiring house
Pit/Yard
Gallery
My Lord’s Room
Discovery space
Balcony
Heavens
Henry V, by William Shakespeare (basic plot and main characters, nationalistic themes)
Metatheatricality: metaphorical connection between the world and stage
Development of Opera: 17th – 18th centuries
Neoclassical art/architecture
Serlio’s “tragic stage”
Single point perspective (Prince’s perspective) and the proscenium frame
Intermezzi and opera
Giacomo Torelli: Chariot and Pole system (wagon, capstan, counterweights, pulley, trap doors, elevators, cloud machines)
La Scala
Baroque art/architecture
The Ecstasy of St Teresa
Bayreuth Festspielhaus (Richard Wagner)
19th century theater the U.S. and the Birth of Broadway
Variety
Burlesque
Vaudeville
Minstrelsy
Park Theatre
Tony Pastor’s Union Square Theatre
Steele Mackay’s Madison Square Theatre
The Shubert Brothers
The Syndicate
Long Acre Square (Times Square)
The Little Theatre Movement in Europe and the U.S.
Naturalism
Andre Antoine and Théâtre Libre
Social Realism and Henrik Ibsen: Doll’s House
Moscow Arts Theatre and Constantin Stanislavsky
Federal Theatre Project
Nonprofit theatre
The Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival
Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway
Harlem Renaissance
Lafayette Theater (Voodoo Macbeth and the FTP)
Lafayette Players and Anita Bush
Harlem NYC Public Library/135 St – Schomburg Center
Krigwa Players
Harlem Suitcase Theater
Regina Anderson
WEB Du Bois
Langston Hughes
Zora Neale Hurston
20th century Avant-Garde Theater
Symbolism
Adolph Appia
Festspielhaus at Hellerau
Expressionism
Constructivism
Bertolt Brecht
Epic Theatre
Marxism and ideology
Alienation effect
Bauhaus and Gropius
Keisler
Performative Architecture
Voyeur
Bernard Tschumi and “event” architecture
DS&R: The High Line and Lincoln Center
Four definitions of “performative architecture”:
- Architecture as performance (geometry and color and texture): the image transforms as the viewer/audience moves around the object.
- Structural performance: Kinetic effect of architecture, mechanization, moveable parts
- Surface digitization and projection.
- Environmental performance: Performance in respect to light, heat, energy, or sound.
Lighting and Sound
Natural light, candles, oil lamp, gas lamp/table, electricity
How did lighting technology shape or affect the style of performance?
What challenges do theater architects and sound designers face when managing acoustics in a performance space?
Acoustics: reflection, absorption, diffusion
See: innovations of Wagner’s Festspielhaus, Bayreuth
Shadow Puppetry – Indonesia and Arabic World
Shadow puppetry
Gamelan
Dalang
