TheatreFace
Putting a Face on Theatre
theater slang
OISTAT (International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre, Architects and Technicians)
is preparing an encyclopedia on theater jargon in multi-languages(over 30).
For that I am in the process of collecting local theater slang.
Examples will be
“heads” means beware, pipes are being lowered
“noise boy” means sound guy
“turkey” indicates a performance that is failure.
Would you like to add more to the list??
is preparing an encyclopedia on theater jargon in multi-languages(over 30).
For that I am in the process of collecting local theater slang.
Examples will be
“heads” means beware, pipes are being lowered
“noise boy” means sound guy
“turkey” indicates a performance that is failure.
Would you like to add more to the list??
Views: 390
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Robert McGhie on -
"Stage Yonder" means the other side of the stage from where you are standing. If you are stage left, it could be stage right. If you are up stage, it could be down stage. However, if you are standing center stage, it could be wherever there is room somewhere off stage.
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Permalink Reply by Robert McGhie on
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"Sparky" is usually the electrician.
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Permalink Reply by Robert McGhie on
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"Deck" is the term used to describe the stage surface.
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Permalink Reply by Jennie Yeung on -
thanks for your reply. Any knowledge of the following,
CatCall, jafie, step on a line, mug u the line
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Permalink Reply by CL Jahn on -
"hum-head" for sound guy.
"FITWE" for electrician (frickin' in the way electrician)
"FITWC" for carpenter (see above)
"Fine Adjustment Tool" for hammer
"Gentle Persuader" for hammer
"Electrician's Hammer" for crescent wrench (AKA "crescent hammer")
"rag" for curtain.
"actor-trap" - anything an actor can trip over.
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Permalink Reply by Erik Ball on -
- Being on "Cans" refers to being on headset...usually in reference to the stage manager.
- To "Corpse" is when an actor gets the giggles onstage...or if an actor (intentionally or otherwise) makes a fellow scene mate break character and laugh onstage...the guilty actors is said to "corpse" the other. (I've always liked this term!)
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Permalink Reply by Robert McGhie on
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Vidiot- Video Tech.
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Permalink Reply by Tony Penna on -
"In" is down, "out" is up.
"On" is in and "off" is out.
Stage left is your right and your left is stage right.
"Practical" is a noun as well as an adjective, and
"strike" involves work.
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Permalink Reply by Whitney Ryan Garrity on -
As an actor and a playwright, I've always had difficulty with the whole stage directions from the actors' POV thing. I mean, I write for the audience, not the actors. I usually write down all my stage directions as if I'm viewing the play from the audience and then switch them for the actors. Crazy!
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Boyle on -
If the actors had to take direction from the audience pov that would be its own can of worms. Once everyone knows that directions are assumed to be from the Stage POV then direction becomes much easier, "Bob, come down left before you fire the gun." The assumption is that it's Stage Left so there's no confusion and the actors don't have to translate for themselves. Besides, theater jargon takes all of this into account. This is why the directions are USL, DSL, USR, DSR, etc. When they are in the house they are "house" oriented, as in House Left, House Right, etc. It's all from where you're "working" not from where you're "viewing". The POV is localized to the person doing the work. From the audience POV they don't care how a direction is written (since they never see that) only the picture that is presented to them. Finally, it had to be one way or the other so the actors, directors, stage hands, etc. wouldn't be continuously asking, "Is that my right or your right?" As in the acquisition of any "craft" the nomenclature is germane to the specific usage. Once you've got it down it's second nature and you don't have to think about it anymore.
As a writer I always think about scenes from the stage perspective so this is not an issue. Besides, how much stage direction are you putting into your scripts? Aside from entrances and exits isn't the rest of it created by the actors and the director during rehearsals?
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Even better, try keeping your directions straight when you have a theatre stage manager (stage POV) one day, a corporate events production manager the next (house or audience POV), and a TV director the next (camera POV).
On my first TV shoot, I found that only one of five camera ops on the show knew what "upstage" meant, and he only got it because the stage was raked.
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Permalink Reply by Tricia Martin on -
Well said! Hahaha!
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