Theatre Staging

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Theatre Staging Design

• A brief overview
• of theatre spaces and
• how performers use them

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General Terms

• Stage- the area where a performance takes place
• Set- the design of the stage for a particular
  play
• Audience- the area of the theatre in which the
  audience sits
• Backstage- the area behind a stage, which is
  masked so it cannot be seen by the audience
• Green Room- A room backstage where the actors
  hang out when they are not onstage

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Types of Theatres There are several common
types of theatre spaces, each of which has its
own set of advantages and drawbacks when it comes
to staging a play...
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Proscenium Stage

• -Ideal for spectacle and big sets
• -Strong central focus (audience faces the -same
  direction)
• -Tends to result in a remote and formal feeling

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Proscenium Arch- the frame or picture box
that contains the action in may proscenium
theatres
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Apron and Wings (on a proscenium stage)

• - Apron- segment of the stage which protrudes
  beyond the Proscenium Arch, often used by actors
  to break the fourth wall and address the
  audience
• -Wings- the offstage area on either side of the
  stage, masked from view

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Proscenium examples
Smaller proscenium stage with split-level set
Large proscenium stage with an arch and apron
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Thrust Stage

• -Audience sits on 3 sides, or a semicircle
• -A more intimate theatre experience, audience is
  closer to the actors
• -Set design challenges because large set pieces
  can only be placed at the back

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Thrust examples
Greek ampitheatrepossibly the first thrust
theatre space Audience in semi-circle around
stage
Small thrust stage with audience seating on
three sides of the rectangle
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Theatre-in-the-round

• -Audience sits all around the stage
• -Provides the most intimacy (no barriers between
  performers audience)
• -Set design must be minimal, so as not to block
  the audience's view

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Theatre-in-the-round examples
Audience is right around the actors
Very minimal set design
12
Alley Stage
-Also called traverse -Audience sits on
opposite sides of the stage and action takes
place between them -Good for staging action
sequences (i.e. fights) -Minimal opportunities
for scenery
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Black Box Theatre

• -A small, intimate theatre without any permanent
  stage or seating
• -Space can be reconfigured into a new
  seating/staging arangement for each new production

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Name the theatre types...
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And just because they are awesome...

• Images from a show I recently saw, Metamophoses
  at Lookingglass Theatre. Performed in a thrust
  spaceaudience sat around three sides of a
  shallow pool of water with a walkway around it.
  The front row audience members were given towels.

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Ok, we are done with types of theatres. Now onto
some other important theatre terms...
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Important (non-actor) people

• Director- the person whose artistic vision guides
  a production of a play. The director casts the
  actors, gives them blocking and direction and
  also works with designers to decide the look and
  feel of a production.
• Designers- the theatre artists in charge of the
  technical side of the production. A normal
  production team consists of set, lighting,
  costume, and sound designers. Depending on the
  show, there might also be a music director,
  choreographer, dialect coach, or others involved.
• Stage Manager- the organizer of a production. In
  charge of managing the design team, creating
  rehearsal schedule, keeping track of actors, and
  running all the technical elements of a show
  during performances.

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Terms to know

• Stage Directions- directions about scenic
  elements or onstage actions written by a
  playwright as instructions to the director,
  actors and designers
• Blocking- the movements on stage assigned to the
  actor by the director of the play (not written in
  script)
• Sight-lines- what audience-members are able to
  see from where they are sitting (influenced by
  what is masked from sight, what is blocked by
  scenic elements, and where actors are placed on
  stage)

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Writing down your blocking

• When a director tells an actor where to move
  (or when an actor figures it out herself), she
  will write down her blocking using the following
  system.

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Blocking notation

• IMPORTANT Always write down blocking from
  perspective of the actor facing the audience (not
  from the audience's view).

X- cross (move from one place to another) Enter-
come onstage Exit- leave the stage SR- stage
right DSL- downstage left CS- center stage USC-
upstage center
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Write down the following blocking using proper
theatre notation.

• Come on to the stage from the back right corner,
  walk over the middle of the stage then walk to
  the front left corner and leave on on that side.

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Write down the following blocking using proper
theatre notation.

• Come on to the stage from the back right corner,
  walk over the middle of the stage then walk to
  the front left corner and leave on on that side.
• Enter UR,
• X to SC,
• X DSL to exit

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THE END

• It is important for all performers to know
  this terminology because it is the common jargon
  (vocabulary) of everyone involved in the theatre.
  
• Anyone educated in theatre speaks using this
  terms.
• Study them so they become part of your
  theatrical vocabulary too!