Theater Architecture History Vocabulary

This is a wheeled platform in Greek Theater.

Used in Greek theatre, these were tall, 3-sided forms that rotated to reveal a background.

A yard surrounding the acting area of Elizabethan theaters for lower-class audience members.

Renaissance scenery designed to visually suggest a generalized location.

Cloth covered or unframed drops to prevent the audience from seeing backstage.

Medieval stage machinery including trap doors & variety of rigging used to move people on stage

In Greek theater, this is the steeply raked seating area for the audience.

Long, high walls, perpendicular, on either side of the skene - entrances and exits for actors, and to play side scenes

In medieval theatre, these platforms were pulled from town to town to perform their plays.

Stage configuration in which people view action through a rectangular opening (picture frame).

In Roman theater, this is the word for auditorium, where the audience sits.

A large expanse of cloth, usually muslin or canvas, on which something is painted.

A stage projecting into, and surrounded on three sides by, the audience.

Theatrical movement in the US in the 1920s and 30s, an effort to establish quality productions outside of New York City.

A visual distortion technique that increases the apparent depth of an object.

In Greek theatre, this is the circular playing area that is surrounded by the theatron.

An awning that covered the entire seating area in some Roman theaters.

A stage that is higher at the back than at the front.

Greek theater-This was a columned arch located at the rear of the stage in front of the skene.

Wide, short, framed or unframed cloth drops to prevent the audience seeing above the stage.

Medieval Theatre - Small buildings or stations that depicted locations from biblical stories.

The flat extension of the stage floor that projects from the proscenium arch to the audience.

Greek Theater - Basket or platform lowered/raised to help characters as gods go to/from earth.

A stage completely surrounded by the audience.

Common playing area of Medieval productions, in front of the mansions, where most of the action took place.