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Acting Terminology

If you are planning on being an actor, you have got to be able to speak like one – or at least understand what it is that other people are saying to you. Here is a list of theater acting terminology that you should know. It is certainly not an extensive list… it is more of a “starter kit” of acting terminology:

· Ad lib – to improvise conversation or stage business
· Backstage – the part of the stage that the audience cannot see
· Bit – acting role with very few lines
· C – the symbol that people use to identify the center of the stage
· Counter-cross – when two or more actors shift position to balance the “stage picture”
· Cue – a stage signal
· CURTAIN – in a script, this indicates that the curtain should be closed.
· Cut – to stop action or to omit
· Downstage – the part of the stage toward the audience
· Exit – to leave the stage
· Foil – an role in acting that offers a personality comparison against the protagonist
· Offstage – off of the visible stage
· Onstage – on the visible stage
· Overlap – to speak when someone else is speaking
· Places – the positions that the actors take at the opening of an act or scene
· Principals – the main characters of the play
· Props – all of the furnishing on stage
· Ring up – raise the curtain
· Set – the scenerey for an act, scene, or play.
· Showmanship – stage charisma
· Stealing a scene – a person who has stole a scene has detracted attention away from the person whom the interest legitimately belongs
· Tag line – generally humorous or clever speech, given as the last speech in an act or play
· Upstage – the area of the stage away from the audience
· Walk-on – an acting part with no lines.

There are, of course, many more bits of acting terminology that you should know and will come to know as you continue acting.