Glossary of Terms

Please note: This glossary is under construction and will grow over the coming weeks. Please check back regularly.

General Terms

Black box Theatre - Black box theatre is, essentially, what it sounds like — theatre in a room that has black walls, floors, and ceilings.

Marty plays - Marty Duhatschek is Rebel Alliance Theatre's resident playwright. Our relationship with him allows us some unusual flexibility when performing his shows, but these are cleared beforehand and limited. His plays frequently contain one or two of the dynamic dairy duo Allan and Lloyd, two cows/men in cow suits/?

In The Round - This refers to where the audience is situated in terms of the stage. In Shakespeare’s time, the stage was centered in the middle of the audience with all four sides surrounded. This presents unique challenges with sight lines, actor movement, and lighting situations, and can also make a show feel more intimate and like the audience is involved rather than separated.

Proscenium - This is the standard type of theatre that you think about when you hear the term, “theatre”. Generally proscenium is done with the actors on a raised stage and the audience watching from one direction. This is the theatre with elaborate sets, mechanisms to turn things on stage, etc.

Total Football - A term we have poached from association football (soccer) (via its appearance in Ted Lasso), a tactic wherin any outfield player can take over the role of any other player in the team. A player who moves out of position is replaced by another team member, therefore there is no predetermined role of attacker/midfielder/defender, anyone can successively play any position (excluding the goalie). Introduced recently to refer to RAT's theater structure wherein we expect and train committed members in multiple disciplines. The actor playing the Prince may also be designing lights, Horatio may also be running box, costuming may be made by the three musketeers. This encourages versatility and respect among all members in creating a performance. Also, because we are all volunteers, it promotes respect for time.

Line- Oriented Terms

BAFT - "Big-ass fucking transition." These moments occur in a line where your character goes from talking about the grocery list to "what are we going to do about Dad dead in the otherr room?" They are a challenge as there is no apparent reason for them to occur just by reading the lines and must be figured out through rehearsal, usyally with the help of something or someone on stage.

Tactic and Acting Terms

Focus - You can "give" and "take" focus. Focus is where the energy is directed, it is where the audiences' attention will be drawn to. "The eyes have direction" ties into this - by watching someone you give them focus; we naturally follow the line of someone's gaze to see where they are looking. Body language can direct focus - being turned towards the scene, etc. You can take focus by being oblivious to the scene. "But my character is busy doing something else/isn't supposed to notice what is happening." If you are on stage you can take focus by ignoring the scene. It is possible to give focus to the scene without becoming a part of it/remaining a background character. You can not watch the scene but still direct your energy and focus towards the scene. Learning to do this is challenging. People in the scene can also take focus from the scene. If you've ever seen a show where an important prop or piece of furniture broke, and then the scene became about that piece of furniture even though the lines remained the same? The people in the scene were taking focus away from the scene and putting it on the new element.

Levels - Rebel Alliance Theatre performs exclusively in-the-round and as such sightlines are a constant challenge for an actor. Seeking levels is a tactic in our toolkit to ensure the audience can see as much of what is on stage as possible and to avoid boring tableau staging of everyone standing in a line, like we're going to start singing a capella (though we do love singing). An actor can change their level by sitting, standing, kneeling, leaning, etc.

"Magic Shit!" - Usually interjected in a scene where we are indicating that some sort of special effect (lights, sound, etc) is taking place and the characters are now reacting to it. Sort of denotes "tech cue takes place here" via "fairy casts spell on prince."

Power -- This is your presence, essentially, and how much of it takes hold of the situation at hand on stage. Every actor has power in a scene. You hold it somewhere in your body and this changes the type of power and how it reads.

  • Giving away your power -- Giving away your power means that something is happening where you are no longer powerful in the situation you are in and another actor's power is overtaking yours. This can be problematic if, for example, your character is an intimidating character that is meant to scare the other.

  • Holding your power -- the opposite of giving away your power. You are the one that is controlling the situation, instead of another character in the scene. You can do this with distance from a character, using your height, changing your level (for example, standing on a chair or getting another person to kneel)

  • "Your power is in ___" -- This is telling what we're seeing from off stage in what you're doing with your stance. For example, a boisterous character puffing out their chest, keeping their shoulders high, walking in such a way that their chest is the most noticeable thing and, essentially, where that character places their power. Another example is a lewd/promiscuous character putting a lot of emphasis on their hips/walking with a swagger. Their power is placed in their hips