DIRECTING AND
PRODUCING
Exploration
THE LANGUAGE OF
THEATRE
 Blocking: Coordination of actors’ movements on stage.
 Conventions: The generally accepted practices of theatre
that affect time, setting, visual elements (such as scenery
and props), genre, and style.
 Denouement: The final resolution of the conflict in a
plot.
THE LANGUAGE OF
THEATRE
 Exposition: The beginning part of a plot that provides
important background information.
 Farce: Comedy with exaggerate characterizations,
abundant physical or visual humor, and often an
improbable plot.
 Ground Plan: A top-view drawing of the floor plan of a
set, usually in scale.
THE LANGUAGE OF
THEATRE
 Inciting Incident: The event that sets in motion the
action of a plot.
 Level: The height of an actor’s head onstage.
 Plane: The depth of an actor’s position onstage.
 Royalty: A fee paid for producing a written work.
 Stage (Verb): To bring life onstage.
OBJECTIVES
 SWBAT understand the history and identify the
responsibilities of the director in a theatre production.
 SWABT demonstrate an understanding of the elements
involved in selecting a play.
 SWBAT analyze a script by identifying the story
elements of a play (plot, character, setting and theme),
plot structure (exposition, inciting incident, rising action,
climax, falling action, denouement), genre (comedy,
farce, tragedy, and drama), and style.
OBJECTIVES
 SWBAT use and define appropriate theatre vocabulary
including staging, protagonist,, antagonist, and secondary
character, as well as the conventions of theatre and the
structural components and elements of a play.
 SWBAT demonstrate understanding of focus and stage
composition through the use of blocking, lighting, style,
body positions, stage areas, levels, and planes.
 SWBAT understand the role of the director in
determining the design concept and style of a
production.
OBJECTIVES
 SWBAT demonstrate the ability to create, develop, and
execute the use of a ground plan and promptbook.
 SWBAT understand the role and responsibilities of the
dramaturg.
THE LANGUAGE OF THEATRE
 Apron: The acting area of the stage that extends beyond
the proscenium.
 Arena Stage: A performance space in which the
audience sits all around the stage; sometimes called inthe-round.
 Downstage: The stage area toward the audience.
 House: The auditorium, or the area where the audience
sits.
 Production Concept: How the play should look and feel.
THE LANGUAGE OF THEATRE
 Proscenium Stage: The frame around the proscenium stage.
 Scenery: Onstage decoration to help establish the time and
place of the play.
 Stage Manager: The director’s technical liaison backstage
during rehearsals and performance.
 Thrust Stage: Combination of the proscenium and the arena
stages, with the audience sitting on two or three sides of the
acting area.
 Upstage (noun): The stage area away from the audience.
DIRECTING AND PRODUCING
What happens onstage
during a play is achieved
through careful analysis,
detailed planning, and
exacting rehearsal—always in
the service of an artistic
vision of what the whole
ought to be. This vision
comes from the director and
producer. They are the ones
responsible for exploring
each facet of a production
and seeing it brought to life.
The Roles of Director and
Producer


Director: The person who oversees the entire process of staging a
production.

Read and re-read the script

Interpret the scripts meaning and forming a vision of how the production
should look/ How action should unfold

Help actors establish relationships between their characters

Evaluate total and individual performance

CONSULT WITH: Designers and Technicians (Light, sound, scenery,
costume, make up), as well as the Producer/ Production Staff.

ALSO: Conduction auditions, choose the cast, divide the play into
rehearsal units, and schedule rehearsals.
Staging (Verb): Bringing to life onstage.
The Roles of Director and Producer
 Producer: The person who oversees the business details
of a theatrical production.
 Secures rights to present a play
 Raise the money
 Hire actors and staff
 Arrange for the rental of the theatre
 Supervise publicity and ticket sales
Emergence of the Director
 1500-1600: Actor-Manager
 1800: Theatrical Realism and Advancements in
Technology
 George II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen: Considered the first
modern director, the first person to operate as a
controlling force and guiding imagination behind a
theatrical production.
The Director’s Skills
 Director’s must have:
1. Visionary bent
2. Strong visual sense to create clear, meaningful stage
pictures
3. Develop skills at handling movement
4. Analyze a play and present an interpretation (pictures,
movements, words)
The Director’s Staff
 Assistant Director: The person who assists the director
by organizing the rehearsal process, coordinating
rehearsal schedules, working with individual actors, and
taking director’s notes.
 Stage Manager
 Prompter: The person who provides lines for the actors
when they forget them.
The Producers Skills
 A Producer Must:
1. Be responsible for the financial success or failure of a
show
2. Predict an audience’s reception to a particular play
3. Analyze a play based off of it’s artistic merit and
commercial potential.
The Producer’s Staff
 Business Manager: The person who handles fundraising,
publicity, programs, ticket sales, bill payments, and other
business details of running a theatre.
 Artistic Director: The person who hires the director,
designers, and cast. In some theatre companies, these
duties are handled by a production committee.
The Production Team
 Design Team: Those who design and coordinate a
production’s set, props, lighting, sound, costumes, and
makeup.
 Production Team: The director, producer, and their
staffs, and the designers who work together to design and
coordinate the production.
Production Concept
 Initially roughed out by the director, often in
consultation with the producer, after a close reading of
the script. The production team helps refine the concept.
 Producer: Promotes, budgets, additional expenses
 Designers: Formulate ideas based on the production
concept.
 Choice: Consensus or between Director and another team
member.
 ALL DECIONS MADE ON OPENING NIGHT.
The Performance Space
 YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF THE
PERSOMANCE SPACE.
 Theatre is defined by there things: a story to tell,
performers to tell it, and an audience to respond to it.
 Theatre can happen at ANY TIME OR PLACE these
three things come together.
Types of Stages
 Proscenium Stage
 Thrust Stage
 Arena Stage
Theatre Space Layout and Terms
THE LOBBY

Box Office: Where ticket sales are handled,
usually located in the lobby of a theatre.
THE AUDITORIUM/ HOUSE

House: The auditorium, or the area where the
audience sits.

Orchestra: The seats in the auditorium that are
nearest the stage; in Greek theatre, a semicircular
stone pavement with an altar in the center; a
group of musicians who play during performance.

Orchestra Pit: The area immediately in front of
the stage, where the orchestra sits. The orchestra pit
may extend underneath the stage floor.
Theatre Space Layout and Terms
THE AUDITORIUM/ HOUSE
 Balconies: Upper floor in an
auditorium that projects out
over the main floor and
provides additional seating
for the audience.
 Mezzanine: The balcony
closest to the main floor.
 Light Booth or Sound Booth:
A booth at the top of the
balcony that houses the
technician who controls the
lights, music, or sound
effects.
Theatre Space Layout and Terms
THE STAGE HOUSE

Stage House: The area in a theatre that includes the stage and the fly space above the stage.

Stage: The area of a theatre where the actors perform.

Fly Space: The area above a stage where lights, drops, scenery may be flown, or suspended on
wire and ropes.

Proscenium Arch: The frame around a proscenium arch.

Scenery: Onstage decoration to help establish the time and place of a play.
Theatre Space Layout and Terms
THE STAGE HOUSE

Fire Curtain: Metal or fireproof fabric
across the front of a stage that prevents
fire from spreading

Art Curtain: A curtain made of lighter
fabric used between scenes of a play,
often decorated to reflect the mood or
theme of a play.

Grand Drape: Front curtain on a stage,
usually made of luxurious fabrics in
deep colors.

Apron

Back Wall: A wall separating the stage
house from the backstage area. Doors in
the back wall allow large pieces of
scenery to be brought onstage.
Theatre Space Layout and Terms
BACKSTAGE

Backstage: All areas of a stage other than the
acting area that are out of sight of the
audience.

Wings: The left and right sides of the stage
immediately outside the scenery, unseen by
the audience.

Stage Manager’s Booth: Place for which the
stage manager calls the show.

Prop Table: Place where all items are carried
onstage.

Call Board: A bulletin board for posting
rehearsal times, performance changes, and
special notices.
Theatre Space Layout and Terms
 Dressing Rooms: Areas where actors
put on makeup and change into and
store costumes.
 Makeup Room: In some theatres, a
room separate from the dressing
rooms that is devoted to makeup.
 Green Room: The lounge area where
actors may wait while not onstage or
greet members of audience after a
performance.
 Stage Door: A private theatre
entrance for actors and other theatre
personnel.
Theatre Space Layout and Terms
 Scene Shop: The place where
scenery and props are built; the
stage crew’s center of
operations.
 Paint Shop: In some theatres, a
separate room where scenery is
painted after it is built.
 Costume Shop: A space where
costumes can be built,
maintained, and stored.
 Prop Shop: In some theatres, a
separate space where props are
constructed or stored.
UPSTAGE/ DOWNSTAGE
 Raked:
Performance
space in which the
stage floor is
slanted upward
toward the back of
the stage