Across
- 1. The play’s central idea. What the plays adds up to, its underlying meaning. It may be described as the play’s overall statement: its topic, central idea, or message.
- 5. A struggle between opposing forces.
- 7. Reading Performing a monologue or scene in an audition without ever having read it prior to the audition.
- 12. At various points they can: serve as a company literary manager, ensure the play’s story is effectively communicated in production, serve as intermediary between a director and playwright, support new play development, research background and origins of the play; at all times, a dramaturg is focused on telling the story of the play successfully.
- 13. Indirectly, _____ is present in every play--it is the rhythm of sounds or vocal tones such as shouts, the ringing of the telephone, conversation in the next room-- all of which create a symphony of sound within a play.
- 14. 1) What happens in a play; the events that make up the plot. 2) The physical movement of an actor.
- 15. The point at which the conflict explodes. The moment of maximum tension, at which a continuation of the conflict is impossible and necessitates some sort of change.
- 19. The person who stages the production; their duties includes script analysis and conceptualizing, supervising and guiding actors’ performances, and collaborating with designers to effectively tell the play's story to an audience. They are in charge of guiding a play from the page to the stage.
- 20. A major division in the action of a play. One, two and three act plays are most common today. Each act consists of several scenes or entrances, usually signifying a further level of development of the plot.
- 22. The set, as well as the furniture and other props, that suggest to the audience the environment in which a play’s action takes place. A scenic designer (or set designer) is in charge of working with the director to imagine and create the physical scenery for a performance.
- 25. A character's goal or desire in a scene or play. Objectives should always drive characters' actions and dialogue to help move the story forward.
- 26. 1) A character's style is established by the way he or she speaks and acts. 2) The playwright’s style is establish by the words and phrases he or she chooses to make up the characters’ actions, lines and setting in which they speak and act.
- 27. Dialogue or stage directions that explains and introduces the major characters, settings, back story, events and problems that the play will address. Effective stories weave exposition into the action so that the audience or reader can fully follow the story without being bored or confused by details.
- 29. Objects used by an actor in a performance. These include any physical items an actor interacts with or uses during the course of the play.
- 30. A character’s clothing tells a great deal about him or her. What the character is wearing does not necessarily tell us the truth about the character, but it does tell us what he or she wants us to know. Clothes make a statement.
- 31. Division of an act of a play. Each act is broken up into scenes. Scenes are numbered, beginning with "Scene 1" at the start of each new act of the play.
- 33. Specific stage movements by actors, which includes entrances, exits, and any steps in any direction of the stage; developed through rehearsals under the leadership of a director. Can be suggested by playwrights through stage directions.
- 34. A problem or complication that gets in the way of a character achieving his or her objective.
- 35. A play written in prose or verse that tells a story through dialogue and actions performed by actors impersonating the characters of the story.
- 36. What happens, the sequence of events that take place in a story.
Down
- 2. A speech or portion of a play in which only one character speaks; oftentimes monologues are used in auditions. Monologues can be performed alone by one character, addressed to a silent or absent character, as a chance to hear a character’s uninterrupted thoughts.
- 3. Reason(s) that drive a character to think, act or speak in a certain way. For a play to be effective, the audience must believe a character’s actions are justified and plausible given what they know about him or her.
- 4. Refers to the way language is used by the playwright and the actor. It is the playwright’s choice of words, as well as the play’s tone, imagery, cadence, verse, metaphor, etc.
- 6. A performer creating a scene or elements of a scene (including movement, dialogue, characters, situations) with little or no preparation or rehearsal.
- 7. An added element to a story that makes the main conflict more difficult for the main character.
- 8. Lib When an actor improvises or makes up dialogue during a scene. Sometimes "ad lib" is put in stage directions by playwrights to indicate that actors should improvise dialogue at a specific point.
- 9. A figure who undertakes action in the plot.
- 10. The particular time and place in which the play takes place. It defines the specific social, historical and economic, and political world of the play and the characters who inhabit that world.
- 11. Spoken interchange or conversation between two or more characters, or, loosely defined, the speech of a single character.
- 16. A (usually brief) trial performance by an actor, dancer, singer, or musician to demonstrate one’s suitability for a role. Similar to a job interview, auditions are often how performers compete for positions in a company or parts in a performance. Monologues are often used by actors to audition for plays.
- 17. The conclusion or ending of the play. The conflict does not necessarily need to be resolved by the end of the play, but something should be different than it was at the beginning of the play.
- 18. The structure of a story, built around a beginning (rising action), middle (climax), and end (falling action and resolution). All plays should have a strong arc where something at the end is different than it was in the beginning.
- 21. A signal, such as a line, action, or sound, that alerts an actor to speak, move, enter, or exit. Stage managers also use cues as indications to initiate a light, sound or other technical element.
- 23. The playwright’s attitude toward the characters and situations in the script.
- 24. Pages that contain only the lines or part of a scene that an actor is to use for an audition. Sides are often selected pieces of a play chosen by a director.
- 28. When an actor has memorized his or her lines enough to not carry his or her script in hand during rehearsals. Directors often choose an "off-book" date for their actors by which the actor must have lines memorized.
- 31. A level of meaning implicit or underlying the surface of a script. What a character means that is not necessarily said aloud through dialogue but is implied through facial expression, tone, or gesture.
- 32. Hints, delivered through the characters’ lines and/or actions, of events to come that help create an air of suspense in the play.