Stagecraft

ORCHESTRA

"1) Entire main floor seating area of the auditorium. 2) Circular area in Greek theatre in which the chorus performed. 3) A group of musicians including strings organized to perform ensemble music"

FOH (SPELL IT OUT)

"Front of house; anything which happens on the audience side of the curtain is said to happen "front of house". The term "the house" is used to mean either the auditorium, or the audience ("We had a good house tonight"), or even the theatre itself. "

BEAM

(Also beam port) Lighting positions located in the ceiling particularly in proscenium houses used primarily for front light.

REVOLVE

A circular section of a stage that can be rotated to provide a scene change.

MUSLIN

A cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights.

TURNBUCKLE

A device for adjusting the tension or length of ropes, cables, tie rods, and other tensioning systems. It normally consists of two threaded eye bolts, one screwed into each end of a small metal frame, one with a left-hand thread and the other with a right-hand thread. The tension can be adjusted by rotating the frame, which causes both eye bolts to be screwed in or out simultaneously, without twisting the eye bolts or attached cables

ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION

A drafted three sided view of an object - top, side, and front views

CUT DROP

A drop with a portion cut to reveal part of the upstage area

FIRE CURTAIN

A fireproof wall-like structure that is built to drop quickly in the event of a fire so that it encloses the entire proscenium opening, separating the stage house from the auditorium.

BRACE CLEAT

A flat piece of metal that is attached to scenery flats and used to fasten a stage brace to the scenery.

WINCH

A hand-cranked or motor-driven drum rigged with a cable that is used to move scenery.

TEASER

A horizontal masking border that is lowered to reduce the height of the opening. It is attached to a batten and suspended just upstage of the proscenium, directly behind the grand drape or act curtain. The teaser can be lowered into position to set the stage height as required by the current scene.

STAGE (PIG) WEIGHT

A metal counterwieght brick

ARBOR

A metal frame that holds the metal counterweights to balance load on a counterweight fly system. A counterweight arbor is a sturdy mechanical assembly that serves as a carriage for counterweights. In its simplest form, an arbor consists of two horizontal steel plates, a top plate and bottom plate, tied together by two vertical steel connecting rods. Counterweights are stacked as required on the arbor's bottom plate to balance the line set load, with the weights held in place by the connecting rods.

LASH CLEAT

A metal hook or plate with a hook screwed into the frame of a theatrical flat for attaching a lash line

JACKKNIFE STAGE

A method of staging which employs raised platforms which are pivoted on castors at one corner so they can be swung quickly on and off stage.

WAGON

A mobile platform that is used to support and transport movable, three-dimensional scenery on stage.

BACK DROP

A painted cloth hung at the back of a theater stage as part of the scenery

VELOUR

A plush woven fabric resembling velvet.

IDLER (BLOCK)

A pulley designed to support one or more cables but not to make direction changes. A block is a pulley used to support and direct lift and operating lines. A block consists of a grooved wheel, known as a sheave (pronounced "shiv"), steel side plates, spacers, shaft, flange bearings, mounting angles and clips, etc

REVEAL

A return which is at right angles to a flat, and suggests the thickness of a window, wall, doorway etc.

SINGLE PURCHASE

A rope or cable passing from a lifting device (arbor, winch, or person) over a block, or series of blocks, to a load is single purchased. Force must be exerted equal to the load to be held or raised

GROUND ROW

A row of striplights located upstage and used to illuminate the background from the bottom. A scenery ground row is a horizontal masking device used to hide the lighting ground row.

CONTINENTAL SEATING

A seating plan in which there is no center aisle, but with wide spacing between each row of seats to allow for ease of passage.

FERRULE

A short metal sleeve for strengthening a tool handle at the end holding the tool. In this case, a paint brush where the bristles attach to the handle

RAKE

A slope in the performance space (stage), rising away from the audience.

THRUST STAGE

A stage in which the acting area juts out into the audience; it usually has audience on three sides.

SADDLE IRON

A strip of metal used to brace the open bottom of a stage flat (as for a door, arch, or fireplace)

WEBBING

A strong, woven material of hemp, cotton, or jute, in bands of various widths. It is used to reinforce the top edge of soft scenery.

ARENA STAGE

A theatre space in which the audience encircles the acting area; sometimes referred to as theatre-in-the-round.

CLEW

A thick steel plate with holes for cable and drives lines

DUTCHMAN

A thin strip of fabric used to hide the joint on the face of two adjacent flats.

SECTION

A view of the stage, auditorium, and scenery from one side, as if cut across vertically at the center line.

CASTER

A wheeled device typically mounted to a larger object that enables relatively easy rolling movement of the object. Casters are essentially special housings that includes a wheel, facilitating the installation of wheels on objects

STAGE BRACE

Adjustable sticks with hook at top and foot at the bottom. Hook is attached to a brace cleat on flat and foot is attached to the floor with a stage screw. Brace is then adjusted so flat is vertical.

OLIO CURTAIN

Also called an olio curtain, roll drop, or simply an olio, consists of a single large canvas called a drop, which is attached at the bottom to a long rigid tube. The canvas is often decorated with a mural. Olio curtains were popular in vaudeville theatre as they require a minimum of overhead space, were simple to construct, and in most cases could be operated by a single person.

MAIN DRAPE

Also known as a front curtain, house curtain, act curtain, grand drape, or main rag, it is the stage curtain(s) at the very fron of a theatrical stage.

SATURATION

Also referred to as intensity and chroma. It refers to the dominance of hue in the color.

TORMENTORS

Also referred to as torms. They are "side maskings" are vertical masking pieces used in conjunction with a teaser. In a traditional setting the pair of tormentors should be mounted upstage of the grand drape and on the same plane as the teaser

GROMMETS

An eyelet placed in a hole in a sheet or panel to protect or insulate a rope or cable passed through it or to prevent the sheet or panel from being torn

SCRIM

An open-weave fabric used in the theatre for its transparent properties.

TRAVELER

Any curtain that is drawn in a horizontal direction; also called a draw curtain.

TRAP

Any hole in the stage floor.

MASKING

Any piece of scenery that is used to complete the stage picture and prevent the audience from seeing the backstage area; also when one sound or event demands our attention to such a degree as to negate other sounds or events.

BOBBINET

Bobbinet is a special tulle fabric constructed from warp and weft yarns, but unlike regular woven fabrics and nets, the horizontal weft yarn is looped diagonally around the vertical warp yarn to form a regular and distinctive hexagonal mesh which is completely stable, has minimal stretch and is durable, sheer and very very strong in comparison to it's weight.

LAY-IN BRUSH

Brush, usually 3 to 4 inches wide, used for painting large areas; often used for base coating, spattering, and other techniques.

SOFT SCENERY

Curtains, scrims, cycloramas, drops, and soft masking. Generally made from fabric without a rigid frame.

DEAD HUNG

Directly fixed to the structure or attached at a fixed elevation using chain, rods, or cable.

FITCH

Flat brush with a long handle; varies in size from 1/2 inch to 3 inches.

RETURN

Flats joined to the DS edge of flats of a set or unit that 'return' into the wings. They help mask and also keep the DS edge of a set from looking raw.

FLOAT

Float a flat: To allow a flat to fall to the floor by allowing it to tip forward with its face down. The air resistance to this surface forms a cushion which allows the flat to "float" down

HARD SCENERY

Generally refers to flats (as opposed to soft scenery like drops).

THREE DIMENSIONAL

Having or appearing to have length, breadth, and depth (height, width, thickness).

TRIM

Height of something above the stage floor; to hang pipes or scenery above the stage floor.

CYCLORAMA

Historically, a curved hard background. Today, the abberviation "cyc" is used for any sky drop.

COUNTERWEIGHT SYSTEM

In a typical counterweight fly system, an arbor (carriage) is employed to balance the weight of the batten and attached loads to be flown above the stage. The arbor, which carries a variable number of metal counterweights, moves up and down vertical tracks alongside an offstage wall.

STENCILING

In practice, the (object) stencil is usually a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, wood or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material.

SCUMBLE

Intermix of two or more colors on scenerey in a random pattern, allowing some areas to blend.

TOGGLE RAIL

Internal framing members of a flat, usually horizontal but sometimes vertical.

ADDITIVE COLOR MIXING

Light - Colored lights are mixed using additive color properties. Light colors are combining two or more additive colors together which creates a lighter color that is closer to white. Examples of additive color sources include computers and televisions. The commonly used additive primary colors are red, green and blue, and if you overlap all three in effectively equal mixture, you get white light.

TINT

Lighter value of a hue.

KEYSTONE

Lighting - Distortion of an image owing to projection at an oblique angle to the screen. Scenery - A retangular, or wedge shaped piece of ply that supports the toggle on a broadway flat.

LOCKING RAIL

Locking rails support rope locks and the index cards used to identify sets.

SPATTERING

Method of applying painted textureby sharply tapping a loaded brush against the heel of the hand, leaving droplets of pigment on the work.

LINING BRUSH

Narrow, long-handled brush (often 1/4 inch) used for details, most often in painting molding. (Also called a liner.)

PIT

Orchestra Pit

BORDER

Overhead masking, usually in reference to opaque black fabric, hanging from a batten and running laterally across the stage.

SUBTRACTIVE (COLOR) MIXING

Pigment/paint - We see pigment colors by the process of reflection (light reflected off an object). The colors which are not reflected are absorbed (subtracted). The subtractive primary colors are cyan, magenta and yellow (CMY). All primary colors mixed in approximately equal measure will appear black

REHEARSAL PROPS

Props that stand in for the actual prop as the actor works out the stage action and movement in the rehearsal process.

BATTEN

Rigging - Pipe batten; horizontal pipe hung from a line set of a fly system. Scenery - simply, boards, screwed to the backs of flats joining two or more flats together.

WING AND DROP (SET)

Scenery that are composed of flat pieces of painted to look three-dimensional on either side of the stage. This system is still common in opera and ballet.These are called the wings. The painted fabric upstage is called the drop.

STAGE SCREW

Screw driven directly into the stage floor. Sometimes a threaded plug for a wooden stage floor. Stage Screws are used to fasten flats or scenery pieces to the stage floor. Traditional screw: cast iron screw with a coarse tapered thread. Pointed end is jammed into the floor and screwed in by hand. If the set is moved, the screw can be reinserted into the existing hole when the set is placed again.

LEG

Side masking, usually in reference to opaque black fabric,k hanging from a batten and running vertically to the floor.

APRON

The area of the stage just in front of the proscenium arch; synonymous with forestage.

HEAD BLOCK

The first sheave or pulley that is directly above the counterweight carriage, arbor, or winch with the principle function of changing the direction of travel of the lifting lines from vertical to horizontal.

FLY LOFT

The large open area located above stage; curtains and flown scenery are stored here when "flown out"

LASH LINE

The line (rope) used to lash flats together.

VEHICLE

The liquid constituent of paint; consists of volatile solvent or thinner and a film-forming component.

HUE

The name of a color; scientifically, the color's wavelength or position in the spectrum.

PROSCENIUM

The portal that divides the audience from the stage in traditional Western threatres.

VALUE

The presence of which or black in a color; the lightness or darkness of a color.

CHROMA

The purity of a color or the amount of adulteration (neutrality); oiften referred to as intensity or saturation.

SIZE WATER

The size coat is used to prepare unbleached muslin (or canvas) for the base coat. Originally sizing was a mixture of one part glue to sixteen parts water. Today flats are usually sized with paint mixed from the left overs from previous productions.

PIN RAIL

The steel rail on which lines in a hemp system are secured often by the use of belaying pins.

GRID

The structural framework or beams over the stage used to support the rigging system. Short for gridiron.

BINDER

The substance(s) that hold the particles of pigment together in a paint substance. All paint includes a binder of some sort, as the binder is what keeps the pigment in place after the paint dries.

WET BLEND

To blend two or more colors on the scenery while they are wet.

PNEUMATIC

Tools driven by air pressure (to save time and energy).

ANIMAL GLUE

Traditional animal glues for woodworking are made from processed animal skin and bones. These natural protein glues are chemically similar to gelatin and are relatively safe to use. Unlike the bottled liquid variety, traditional animal glue comes dry in granular form.

STAGE JACK

Triangular frames attached to back of flats, usually with hinges. May the be anchored to floor by a hinge, by screwing through into a wooden cleat fastened to the floor, or with a weight (as a stage weight or closed sandbag) placed on jack to counterbalance weight of the flat.

COMPLEMENTARY COLORS

Two hues directly opposite each other on the color triangle or color wheel.

CORNER BLOCK

Used on a broadway flat, it is a triangular piece of ply used to join the corner of the flat.

STIPPLING

Using the tips of the brush to apply paint in an up-and-down motion.

STILE

Vertical framing members of a flat.