THEATER TERMS # 8                             NAME__________________________

1.Byplay – An action that takes place on the side while the main action of the play goes on

2.Canon – The entire body of work by a given playwright

3.Chiaroscuro -  The interplay of light and shadow used in stage lighting and scene painting.  It may be used to depict trees, jail bars or buildings

4.Imagery – Words and phrases that appeal to any of the five senses or that paint pictures in the mind of the audience

5.Load in – To place the set on the stage where the play is to be performed

6.Mainstage production – In a theater complex having more than one performing space, the production mounted on the largest stage

7.Mumming play – A play depicting the death and resurrection of a folk hero – often St. George

8.Play-within-a-play – A brief play presented during the action of another play

9.Plow Monday – The Monday after Epiphany, or Twelfth Night (Jan. 6).  Plays performed on Plow Monday rivaled the mummers’ plays of Christmas in popularity

10.Poor theater – A term coined by director Jerzy Grotowski for the experimental work he did in the 1950s and 60s with the Polish Laboratory Theatre.  The basic concept is that the theater must be stripped of all that is not essential – no illusionary lighting effects, no make-up or costumes, no realistic settings, and no music other than which the actors themselves create