Tricky Theatre Words

I am currently directing the play Joyful Noise by Tim Slover, a fabulous historical fiction piece with exquisite music that tells the story of the creation of Handel’s well-known oratorio, Messiah. These days, we use a small room for rehearsal, and actors try on costumes in the costume “closet,” a large room full of outfits organized by type and period.

Being in that costume closet reminded me of another time when a label on a storage box caught my eye: HANGARS. I remember muttering, “Talented pilots. Small planes.” The proofreader in me wanted to grab a red pen and write HANGERS, but the director in me returned to the task at hand.

This tricky word memory cued other terms that might confuse someone who is not involved in theatre but who might be reading or writing about it. With that in mind, I created a few sets of TRICKY THEATRE WORDS—starting with those costume closet labels.

TRICKY THEATRE WORDS: hangar and hanger

A hangar is a covered shed or a building used for repairing or storing airplanes.

HELPFUL HINT: Airplane and hangar each have As in their two syllables.

USE: The pilot parked the plane in the hangar for repairs.

A hanger is something used to hang up items of clothing.

HELPFUL HINT: Connect with the word clothes: each has an E as the penultimate letter.

USE: Put tags on the hangers for each character’s costumes.

TRICKY THEATRE WORDS: Hang, hanged, and hung (the appropriate use)

Two stage crew students proudly reported they had “hanged the lights.” My inner English teacher’s response was, “Did you kill them?” Instead, I used it as a teachable moment, starting with the root word, “hang.”

Hang means to attach a lighting instrument to a grid or a bar so it shines on the stage. One can also hang curtains, scrims, etc.

USE: Hang and focus that instrument on Jennen’s desk.

Hanged is the past tense of the word hang, but it is only used when talking about the action of wrapping a rope around a person’s neck and suspending them in the air until they die.

HELPFUL HINT: Person and hanged have six letters each.

USE: Throughout history, one could be hanged in the town square for committing a crime.

Hung (in its appropriate use) is the past tense of hang, and it is applied to lighting fixtures, pictures, curtains, one’s head, etc.

HELPFUL HINT: Hung ends in a lowercase G, which hangs below the writing line.

USE: The lights were hung to pinpoint the moment when Susannah hung her head in shame.

TRICKY THEATRE WORDS: principal and principle

We all have experience with school principals who act on principles, but the theatrical versions differ slightly.

Principal is the main role or performer.

HELPFUL HINT: Principal and main have the letter A in common.

Use: George Frederick Handel is the principal role in Joyful Noise.

Principle refers to a character’s rule of conduct or underlying quality.

HELPFUL HINT: Principle and rule end in E.

Use: Citing his principles, the king refused to use his position to close the theatres.

TRICKY THEATRE WORDS: block and block

To block means to create or choreograph the actors’ movements and use of props on stage.

USE: The stage manager took notes on how the director blocked the final scene.

To block also means to obstruct someone’s view; this can include the audience’s view.

USE: The bishop blocked the king’s view of the papers by holding them behind his back.

TRICKY THEATRE WORDS: kill and killing it

Murders and death in general are bad, but killing it is a good thing in the theatre.

In tech talk, to kill means to turn something off or remove something from the stage quickly.

USE: Sometimes, we immediately kill the lights to signal the end of the scene.

The idiom to kill it means to do a fantastic job that wins the audience’s love.

USE: Her performance of Kitty had people laughing until they cried—she killed it!

TRICKY THEATRE WORDS: lines, lines, and lines

An actor’s safety and role and the audience’s experience depend on lines.

Lines are ropes or wires used to hang scenery.

USE: Be careful of the lines when you are crossing backstage.

Sight lines are the drawn or invisible lines that delineate where the audience can and cannot see the actors and crew backstage.

USE: Everyone please be aware of the sight lines so the audience won’t see you moving around backstage.

Spoken or written lines are portions of dialogue from the script the actors say.

USE: For greater impact, think of another way you might deliver your last line.

TRICKY THEATRE WORDS: set and set

Directing theatre is like playing a set of tennis; you build a win one game at a time, and there’s a lot of love involved. There are two main theatrical definitions of “set.”

The noun set encompasses all the scenery and props for a show or a scene.

USE: LeBlond will move the furniture on the set.

The verb to set means to note there will be no more changes after establishing the delivery of lines and general movements of the actors during rehearsal.

USE: Let’s set the Mary and Smith scene because it’s perfect now.

CALL IT SET

We could go on forever with tricky theatre words and talk about how certain actors chew the set or how I don’t have a clue about clews, but let’s call this piece set.

What theatre vocabulary interests or mystifies you? Reach out and let me know.