Amateur Theater Division Dictionary

An Unsolemn Theater Dictionary

Sponsored by the Amateur Theater Division

Amateur theater division motto

Note: Most of the words listed are in wide use. Terms specific to Town & Gown Players are tagged (L).

Amateur: Complimentary name for anyone who does theater out of love for it; sometimes misused to mean piddler, derelict, screwup, dimbulb, shlemiel, hobbledehoy, no-account, washout, gawk, trifler, slouch. See also R.J.
Andy Garrison dismount (L): A technique for getting off a stepladder: Count the steps going up, subtract two, take that many steps going down, then turn and, in the phrase, "step away from the ladder." Named after a very senior policeman. See safety.
"Angels and ministers of grace defend us!": A curse-lifter. What you say when someone quotes from the Scottish Play inside a theater. Alternatively (maybe chiefly in England), "Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you." The offender must leave the house, turn around widdershins three times, swear, and plead to be readmitted. See superstitions.
Art: Any amateur theater production that elicits letters of protest from audience members.
Batten: A board used to stiffen or unitize scenery. One kind is called a shmookie; the Derek Adams batten is a variant.
Blacks: Heavy draperies called legs and teasers (or borders), used to hide what the designer doesn't want the audience to see (lighting equipment, backstage areas). By convention, any solid-colored background is invisible, and actors—beige ones at any rate—look good against solid black. Some productions use "grays" or "browns," but every theater company has a suit of blacks in inventory. See soft goods.
"Break a leg": Superstitious theater people, which is all of them, believe wishing good luck will bring bad luck, so they say this instead; see also legs and superstitions.
Brian Nummer skyhook (L): Device for securing a brace to overhead bar joists in the Athens Community Theater; invented by a microbiologist.
Curtains: Suspended cloths, often in pairs, that travel back and forth to hide and reveal the scene; see soft goods.
Cyc: Pronounced "sike," the name is short for "cyclorama." A surface that backs and partly encloses the stage, on which you can cast light to create a general effect. A few old theaters have plaster cycs, but fabric ones are now more common. A sky cyc (blue with subtle variations in color, including suggested clouds) seems to have a narrow application but in fact is broadly useful. See also drop.
Dark: If you say a theater is "closed" you invoke plagues, Puritans or peculations. A dark night (when there is no performance) is normal and healthy. See also superstitions.
Deck: Permanent floor of the stage.
Derek Adams batten (L): A 2x4 batten attached to the backs of two flats but held there with screws driven from the front. Like a shmookie but easier to use. Named after the media personality.
Dictionaries: Some other online theater dictionaries: a great list of nonstandard technical theater terms; an Australian glossary with lots of American terms; a fine technical theater glossary; more to come.
Door: Hole in a wall for walking through. Not every door has a hinged flap (called a shutter) to close it.
Downstage: See Upstage.
Draperies: Soft goods that aren't curtains or drops.
Drop: A unit of scenery made from fabric and having no frame. It is usually painted or dyed so as to become part of the set, but it can also provide a plain background for a lighting effect. A drop can remain stationary or can vanish when not needed; the roll drop or olio drop is a special kind of retractable drop. Cycs are not usually classed with drops, but soft cycs are constructed in the same way. See also soft goods.
Fabulous: Good enough to be going on with.
Flat: A framed unit of scenery used to build walls without substance; subject of a how-to page prepared for the Division. See also fwubbida.
Fwubbida: A characteristic of a wall built from flats but not properly braced or unitized. See also wikki-wikki.
Gaff: To install a deceptive feature, or the feature itself. A stage magician wears a gaffed coat. "Blow the gaff" means to reveal the deception.
Gaff (gaffer's) tape: Duct tape's clever sibling: matte (usually black) cloth-backed adhesive tape. A costumer's proverb says, "Anything you can't fix with a safety pin, a Sharpie and a piece of gaff tape can't be fixed at all."
Ghost light: Lamp kept burning onstage when the playhouse is dark. Its use is a safety practice but also keeps theater ghosts from becoming lonely and resentful; see safety and superstitions.
"Heads!": Warning that heavy, clumsy scenery is about to proceed into the spot where you are standing.
Jay Holl rails (L): Permanent but almost inaccessible features of the Athens Community Theater, used to brace tall scenery; perfected by a future professional director. See rail.
Legs: Blacks deep enough to cover the full visible height of the stage, used to mask backstage areas. They do not travel as curtains do. See also soft goods.
Level: Part of the acting area raised above the deck. See also wikki-wikki.
Pam Mitchell loft (L): Feature of the Athens Community Theater: a storage bin floored with an old flat. Likely to collapse as heedless members of the Talent continue loading more stuff in it. Created by a golf industry figure.
Platform: A unit of scenery used in building a level; usually rectangular, but see Steve Griffin unit. Subject of a how-to page prepared for the Division. See also wikki-wikki.
Professional: Anyone who gets paid for doing theater. Not an amateur. Despite what some well-meaners think, this word has no connotation of high quality or dedication. See also R.J.
Rail: A fixed horizontal structural member. See also Jay Holl rails.
R.J.: One way to tell theater professionals from us amateurs: Our Real Job is somewhere else.
Roll drop: A painted drop, also called "olio drop." The olio was an interlude between the major parts of a show, usually timed to cover a scene change. The drop unrolled and the olio took place in front of it. Once you have seen a roll drop work you will never confuse it with anything else: The picture builds from top to bottom like a NASA photograph of Saturn. The unit requires special rigging but takes up almost no space onstage.
Royalties: Payments to a playwright for the right to perform a show. They have lapsed in the case of the Scottish play.
"R word": Heavy cord. Some people consider it rude to say the word in the theater, possibly because it spelled the end of many actors in a previous age. See superstitions.
Safety: Vital concern in a place where preoccupied talent must move through a dark, obstructed area without setting anything on fire; see Stage Manager, Andy Garrison dismount, Speedy Arnold dry well.
Scottish Play: A tragedy by Shakespeare that lore holds to be cursed. Anyone naming it or quoting lines from it in a theater must perform a ritual to cancel the bad luck; see superstitions.
Shmookie: A strong, versatile form of batten; rhymes with "cookie."
Shutter: See door.
Si inaptum est parum malleo fortiter tutudisti: The fabulous new motto of the Community Theater Division: "If it doesn't fit, you didn't hit it hard enough."
Soft goods: Fabric used in scenery, especially legs, teasers, curtains, drops and cycs.
Speedy Arnold dry well (L): A storm drain, formerly unguarded, just about wide enough for Speedy to fall into it and crack his ribs. Discovered by the standup comedian and actor.
Stage Left: Across the stage to the audience's right.
Stage Manager: Supreme leader of techies, role model and confidant to Talent, rescuer of the clueless director. The person responsible for timing, traffic and safety backstage.
Steve Griffin unit (L): A platform or level with a curved side bent into place without the use of steam or solvents; perfected by a future Microsoft engineer.
Stitcher: A person who builds costumes. In amateur theater, a good stitcher is more precious than rubies.
Superstitions: The religion of the theater; see "Break a leg," dark, ghost light, "R word," Scottish play, whistling. Elsewhere on this site you can read my notes on a rather good book about theater superstitions and ghosts.
Table, The (L): A small piece of all-purpose furniture that has been in more shows, and more colors, than any human member of Town & Gown Players. Recipient of a special presidential award in 1991, it also has its own page on this site.
Talent: Actors, singers and dancers. Why the Stage Manager can't relax and enjoy the show.
Teasers: Shallow blacks used to conceal overhead features on stage such as lighting equipment; also called "borders."
Techies: Carpenters, stitchers, electricians, painters and others who make theater Talent-accessible.
Theater vs. Theatre: If it matters to you, you have my permission to spell it -re. The main thing is not to let anyone tell you there's some mystical distinction between "theatre" (the art) and "theater" (the playhouse), because in the U.S. "theatre" is nothing but a pretentious spelling. You can charge an extra couple of bucks for a ticket to the theatre, that's it.
Upstage: The part of the stage farthest away from the audience. (As verb, literally) to stand Upstage of an oblivious Downstage-facing colleague and distract the audience. (As adjective) removed from an awareness of the action.
Vance-Vinson Memorial Thruway (L): A door between the dressing rooms at the Athens Community Theater, cut by John Vance and Toby Vinson, permitting offstage movement from Stage Left to Stage Right. Demolished ca. 2000 A.D.
Whistling: A practice forbidden in theaters. Many "flymen," so the story goes, were ex-sailors who signaled to one another this way, so that whistling on the deck could result in getting scenery dropped on your head; see superstitions.
Wikki-wikki: The disconcerting quality of a platform or level with plenty of legs but not enough braces. At Town & Gown, the person who builds a level traditionally makes the first ascent to test it for wikki-wikki. See also fwubbida.

Approved
Ben Teague
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Fabulous Dictionary

Mar. 12, Year 5
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