NTC’s
Dictionary of Theatre and Drama Terms,
Jonnie Patricia Mobley, National
Textbook Company, 1992
1.Actor's Equity: The professional stage actors' association
in the U.S. It regulates actors' salaries, working conditions, and terms of
employment.
2. Anachronism: A person or thing that is out of place
chronologically.
(cell phone in Shakespeare)
3. Blocking: Determining the basic movements of the actors
during a play.
Some of this
provided by the playwright in stage directions and some is developed by the
actors through a careful reading of lines, but the majority is supplied by the
director and includes entrances, exits, and crosses.
4.Boards: The stage. To "tread the boards" is to appear on stage
5.Bowdlerize: To get rid of indecent of indelicate portions of a
work.
The term comes
from Thomas Bowdler, who published Shakespeare's works and cut from then
anything he considered unfit to be read by his family.
6.Cheat: To turn the body out, partially toward the
audience, while appearing to talk directly to another character onstage.
(When actors
face each other directly - their facial expressions cannot be seen by the
audience, and their voice projection may be muffled.)
7.Professional matinee: A performance, in the afternoon or evening, offered on a day not usually chosen for a show, so that actors from other shows may attend
8.Sidewalk actor: A person who likes to talk outside the theater
about how he thinks he would play a role
9.Tin Pan Alley:
A
name for an area in NYC (currently the vicinity of Broadway and 50th street)
where the publishers and composers of popular music center their activities.