| apron | The portion of the stage that protrudes closer to the audience than the proscenium arch. (15-269)
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| chorus | (1) The characters in ancient Greek drama who spoke, sang, and danced portions of the drama not spoken by the main characters; (2) the singers and dancers in a musical. (15-252)
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| corrales | Open-air theatres in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Spain that were similar to the public theatres used in Shakespeare's England. (15-262)
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| deus ex machina | A Latin phrase meaning "god from the machine," used to describe the resolution of the plot of a play by external means. (15-254)
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| forced perspective | A drawing technique developed in the Italian Renaissance that makes two-dimensional drawings appear to represent a three-dimensional reality. (15-265)
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| groundlings | The name for the audience in Elizabethan theatres who stood to watch performances; this audience paid the smallest entrance fee and is thought to have favored broad comedy. (15-261)
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| mansion stage | A platform stage used in medieval Europe that consisted of a wide rectangular stage with a number of separate houses attached to the back of it, each depicting a unique location; see "simultaneous stage." (15-258)
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| mechane | A large crane used to "fly" actors into the air in ancient Greek theatres. (15-254)
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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." (15-253)
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| pageant wagon | A wagon used by traveling actors in medieval Europe. (15-257)
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| parados | (1) The passage between the audience seating area and the skene in ancient Greek theatre that was used by the chorus for entrances and exits; (2) the descriptive name for the choral ode sung by the chorus when it entered at the beginning of an ancient Greek play. (15-253)
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| proskene | A platform attached to the front of the skene in ancient Greek theatres on which actors stood. (15-253)
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| simultaneous stage | A platform stage used in medieval Europe that consisted of a wide rectangular stage with a number of separate houses attached to the back of it, each depicting a unique location; see "mansion stage." (15-258)
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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." (15-253)
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| theatron | The seating area in ancient Greek theatres; we get our word "theatre" from this word, which means "seeing place." (15-253)
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| thymele | In ancient Greek theatres, the altar to Dionysus, the god of wine, fertility, ecstasy, and theatre, that was erected in the center of the orchestra. (15-253)
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| tiring house | The room behind the stage where actors dress or "attire" themselves. (15-257)
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