Theatre Terms
As a service to the theatre community, AACT provides over 1000 definitions of theatrical terms. Fully searchable, our glossary is helpful for technical staff, directors, actors, producers, or anyone wanting to better understand the inner workings of theatre.
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| Term | Definition | Link |
|---|---|---|
| FLY LOFT | Extension of the stage walls up to allow scenery to be flown up until it is out of sight of the audience. Known as the "flies". The ideal fly tower should be more than twice the height of the proscenium arch, and is said to have "full flying height". | |
| FLY SPACE | ||
| FLYING | ||
| FOCUS | 1) To adjust a lighting instrument in terms of beam spread or direction. 2) In acting, to turn and face another actor, an object, etc. and give it one's entire attention. 3) In directing or technical work the area or person designed to draw the audience's attention. In a large musical number, for example, the focus is often the lead performer. (Thus, to steal focus, is to do something that diverts audience attention from the intended object of focus.) In a set design, a stairway, doorway, couch, or other object is positioned as the focus of the scene. | |
| FOCUS SPOT | Term for both Fresnel and PC type lamps with adjustable beam size. | |
| FOCUSING | The process of adjusting the direction and beam size of lamps. Does not necessarily result in a "sharply focused" image. | |
| FOH | Front Of House, usually referring to staff such as house manager, box office, etc. | |
| FOLLOW SPOT | A spotlight mounted so that it can turn to follow an actor moving across the stage. | |
| FOLLOW-ON CUE | A cue that is timed to follow an original cue so quickly that it does not need a separate cue number. Often abbreviated to f/o. | |
| FOOT A FLAT | To hold a foot, with the sole on the floor, against the bottom of a flat, while another person, moving under the flat, pushes it up or lets it down. | |
| FOOTLIGHT or FOOTLIGHTS | Now obsolete. A lighting unit with a reflector, installed in a strip on or in the floor, parallel to the curtain line, and usually in front of it, shielded from the auditorium side. Modern lighting equipment renders footlights virtually obsolete except for period/special effects. | |
| FORESHADOW | To hint, in dialogue or by other means, that some later dramatic action will occur. | |
| FORESTAGE or FORE-STAGE | That part of the stage which projects from the proscenium into the auditorium. Sometimes called an apron. | |
| FOUL | Said of ropes, cables, scenic pieces, etc, hanging from above, when they become tangled. | |
| FOURTH WALL | From the observation that the traditional box set has three walls (left, right, back) and an invisible fourth wall--the proscenium through which the audience views the action. Thus "Breaking the Fourth Wall," when a fictional character shows awareness of the play in which they "exist" and the audience watching that play. | |
| FREEZE | In acting, to keep motionless, especially while the audience laughs, or to create a stage picture at the start or end of a scene. | |
| FRENCH BRACE | Brace | |
| FRENCH SCENE | A "scene" division within a play marked (as in French drama) by the entrance or exit of an actor. In American and English drama, directors often break up a long scene for the purposes of blocking, rehearsal or character work. Using the entrance/exit concept, they dub these "French scenes." | |
| FREQUENCY | (Measured in Hertz - Hz - cycles per second) The number of times a sound source vibrates each second. A high frequency (HF) sound has a higher pitch and is uni-directional. A low frequency (LF) sound has a lower pitch and is omnidirectional. | |
| FRESNEL | Pronounced "Fruh-nell") A type of lamp which produces an even, soft-edged beam of light through a Fresnel lens. The lens is a series of stepped concentric circles on the front and pebbled on the back and is named after its French inventor, Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788-1827). |
