THEATER TERMS #9                              NAME__________________________

1.Found space – Not a conventional theatre, or even a multipurpose room used for performances, but any area a group of actors finds available and uses to stage a play

2.Fresnel – A spotlight with a stepped lens of concentric rings.  It cast a pool of light with soft edges that blends with other lights

3.Fringe theatre – Productions that are often experimental and frequently based on nontraditional themes

4.Asphaleian system – A stage that is divided into sections, each of which can be raised or lowered individually by a hydraulic lift.

5.Front of the house – Those parts of the theatre used by the audience, as distinct from those used by the actors

6.Pin spot – a very narrow spotlight beam, focused on an actor’s head

7.Prior life – The presumed life of a character before his or her appearance in a play

8.Raison d’etre – French for “the reason for being”.  In a play it is the reason behind a character’s words or actions

9.Reader’s theatre – A performance at which a play is read aloud for an audience rather than memorized and presented off book

10.Mark – The mark, literally on the floor or established during rehearsal, from which actors deliver their lines