| aesthetic distance | A description for the condition in which an audience is close enough to the stage to be emotionally involved in a play yet far enough away to be physically separated from it; the proper "aesthetic distance" gives the audience the most rewarding experience of a performance. (13-212)
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| agitprop | An adjective describing political drama; derived from "agitation" and "propaganda." (13-221)
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| American seating | Theatre seats that are divided into sections by aisles running perpendicular to the stage. (13-204)
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| arena theatre | A theatre with seats completely surrounding a stage that is circular, oval, square, or rectangular; sometimes referred to as theatrein-the-round. (13-210)
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| auditorium | The portion of a theatre where the audience sits or stands; derived from "the hearing place" in ancient Roman theatres. (13-203)
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| backstage | The stage house space of a theatre that the audience does not see, and any support spaces in which scenery and costumes are constructed and stored. (13-203)
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| balcony | Seating on a level above the main-floor orchestra seats. (13-204)
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| black box theatre | A theatre space that is an empty space painted black and that may be adapted to whatever play is performed in it; it is usually small and used for experimental theatre. (13-216)
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| box seat | Seats in a specially partitioned section of the auditorium, usually on the side wall and close to the stage and usually more expensive than other seats. (13-204)
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| box set | Three-sided scenery used in a proscenium arch theatre to create the illusion of a real room with the "fourth wall" removed. (13-224)
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| continental seating | An arrangement of seats undivided by aisles, with each row of seats reaching from one side of the auditorium to the other. (13-204)
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| dress circle | A name for the first balcony of seating; commonly used in England. (13-204)
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| drop | A large painted cloth hung from a batten as part of the scenery. (13-225)
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| elevators | Machines used to raise and lower scenery. (13-228)
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| end stage theatre | A theatre with the stage at one end of a large space but without a proscenium arch formally separating the stage from the auditorium; commonly built in rooms not originally intended for performance. (13-209)
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| environmental theatre | A kind of theatrical performance popularized by Richard Schechner, two traits of which are multiple actions happening simultaneously and continual readjustment of the performers' and the audience's spaces. (13-217)
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| flat | A standard piece of theatrical scenery with a wood frame, usually covered in canvas. (13-225)
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| flies | The space in the stage house above the proscenium arch where scenery is flown. (13-228)
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| found space theatre | The name for a performance space that was not intended for that use; for example, the steps of a government building, the courtyard in a mall, a railroad station. (13-220)
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| front of house | The portion of the theatre used by the audience. (13-203)
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| gallery | A name for the third or highest balcony in some theatres. (13-204)
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| guerilla theatre | Theatre of a political nature performed in unexpected public places. (13-221)
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| hybrid scenery | Scenery that merges many kinds of stagecraft. (13-229)
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| loge | An old French word for a booth of seats in the opera house, now used to describe theatre seats located at the very front of the first balcony. (13-204)
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| mezzanine | The name for the lowest balcony, sometimes suspended from the main or "first" balcony. (13-204)
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| orchestra | (1) The flat circle of earth at the center of an ancient Greek theatre where the chorus sang and danced; the word means "dancing place"; (2) the main-floor audience seating in a proscenium arch theatre; (3) the musicians who play during a musical theatre performance and who usually sit in front of and below the stage in a place called the "orchestra pit." (13-204)
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| presentational performance | A style of performance in which the actors acknowledge the presence of the audience and sometimes speak directly to them; that is, the actors "present" the characters. (13-213)
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| projections (scenery) | Images projected by lights and used as part of a play's scenery. (13-227)
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| proscenium arch theatre | A theatre building that has a framelike arch around the stage; the most common kind of theatre today, it was developed in the seventeenth century; "proscenium arch" is the name for the architectural separation between the stage and the auditorium, frequently decorated very ornately; the audience looks through the arch at the performance on the stage the way you look through a picture frame at a painting. (13-206)
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| public spaces | A term describing all the parts of a theatre building the public uses. (13-203)
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| rake | The tilt of a stage from the lowest level, near the audience, to a higher level upstage; introduced when audiences sat on a flat floor, but still in use today to give a performance an unrealistic and dynamic quality. (13-209)
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| realistic exterior scenery | Scenery that creates the illusion of a real place outdoors. (13-225)
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| revolving stage | A turntable used to move scenery around in a circle. (13-228)
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| skene | A freestanding building that was a part of an ancient Greek theatre; located behind the orchestra; actors made entrances from it and changed costumes in it; the word "scenery" is derived from "skene." (13-207)
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| slip stage | A specially built stage floor that has narrow sections that slide sideways into the wings carrying actors or furniture on or off the stage. (13-228)
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| stalls | English term for the main floor seats in a proscenium arch theatre. (13-204)
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| support spaces | Nonpublic spaces in a theatre building where productions are built and rehearsed. (13-203)
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| theatron | The seating area in ancient Greek theatres; we get our word "theatre" from this word, which means "seeing place." (13-203)
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| thrust theatre | A theatre without a proscenium arch in which the stage thrusts forward so the audience is seated on three sides; an excellent example is the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. (13-214)
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| two-dimensional painted scenery | Scenery, particularly cloth backdrops, painted to suggest three dimensions though obviously two-dimensional. (13-225)
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| unit set | A kind of scene design, made up of levels and platforms, that represents no single place and permits the audience to imagine many different locations. (13-225)
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| wagons | Rolling platforms used to move scenery onto a stage. (13-228)
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| wing and drop scenery | A kind of two-dimensional painted scenery developed in the eighteenth century and still used in musicals and dance concerts. (13-225)
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| wings | (1) Frames with scenery placed on the side of the stage, parallel with the proscenium arch; (2) the areas on the sides of the stage floor that are unseen by the audience; where the actors stand before an entrance. (13-225)
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