Actors and directors have their own unique language. So just in case you're completely new to the theater, this chapter will give you a quick guide on stages, blocking, and directing. But first, one of the great philosophical questions in modern drama:

Is it spelled "Theater" or "Theatre"?

Well, here's how a high school English teacher with forty years of drama experience told me: the building you enter to see a play or movie is a theater. The art of drama is referred to as theatre. However, both are considered grammatically correct. So it's up to you.

Now, on to directing.

There are three basic types of stages: the proscenium stage, the thrust stage, and the arena stage. They are generally distinguished by the number of vantage points from which the audience can see the stage.

On a proscenium stage, the actors only have an audience in front of them. A proscenium stage is described as having an imaginary "fourth wall." This is the wall through which the audience looks in and witnesses the action of the drama. A proscenium theater is essentially made up of two rooms: the house (where the audience sits) and the stage. These two areas are separated by a wall with a picture-frame opening in it. The front of the stage is usually runs straight across the front of the theater, and the stage may also have a curtain which can hide the entire stage from the audience. Proscenium theaters are ideal for shows that require large props and scenery. If your church has a gymnasium with a stage built into one of the end walls, you probably have a proscenium stage.

Unlike the proscenium theater, the actors in on a thrust stage have an audience on three sides of them. The thrust stage projects into the audience, allowing viewers to sit in front or to the left or right of the action. The stage designer must be cautious in using large scenery on a thrust stage, making sure not to block any of the audience's view. Many professional and university theaters have thrust stages. Many modern church auditoriums, especially Christian and Baptist churches, also have thrust stages.

An arena stage, also referred to as a "theater-in-the-round," is completely surrounded by the audience. This is the most difficult stage for using scenery.

Believe it or not, every area on and off the stage has it's own special name. To help you sort things out (and catch you up with the theater veterans in your drama group), here's a quick guide to just about everything you might find on a stage. Some of these terms will not apply to your church auditorium or stage, but they're here just in case you're ever lucky enough to have a use for them.

Backdrops- Large curtains or sheets of canvas with images and scenes painted on them. These are used to help establish a setting in dramatic works. An example would be a mountain landscape painted on a backdrop for The Sound of Music.

Backstage- The area behind the stage, sometimes concealed by a backdrop.

Batons- Metal rods on cables used to hold up backdrops.

Curtains- Ehh, everybody knows this one...I hope. They hide the stage before the show, during intermission, between scenes, and after the show.

Duct Tape- Look around on any stage, any where. I guarantee it's holding up something.

Fly Loft- A large open space above the stage. This is used to store the backdrops not being used on stage. The backdrops are lifted into the fly loft so they are not seen.

Gels- Transparent colored film used to gift color to stage lights. (The same theater prof who explained the all-importance of duct tape to me said this was probably the second most useful invention in the history of theater.)

Props- (or if you want to sound professional, "Properties") Large or small items used on stage in a dramatic work. These may be large, fixed items such as tables and chairs or small, hand-held items like books or candles.

Scenery- Large stationary props, such as trees and shrubs.

Set- The lay out of props and scenery on stage.

Wings- The area immediately to the right and left of the stage.

Stage directions are a little tricky, so here's an easy way to remember them: it is assumed the actors are "dumber" than the director. Therefore, when someone says stage left or stage right, it is ALWAYS the actor's view.

Up stage is away from the audience. Down stage is the toward the audience. So if you were to play "Near and Far" with the audience, "near" would be down stage, and "far" would be up stage.

Center stage is self-explanatory.

Just in case you need a visual picture:

Blocking is the primary function of the director. It is the process of instructing the actors on where, when, and how to move on stage. This includes entrances, exits, standing, sitting, hugging, fighting, etc., and is every bit as important for the actors as knowing their lines. Especially in comedy, the timing of action can be crucial to a scene's success.

Blocking is not something that can easily be taught in a book. It is best learned by watching other plays (movies and television included), watching other directors rehearse, and first hand experience.

Your drama group may be of some help to you in blocking. However, make sure you make all the final decisions about blocking a scene. You are the director; they are the actors. The main purpose to this is maintaining order during rehearsals. The last thing you need is to have a scene with five actors and six directors. Multiple directors, as a rule, never work; everyone will want to block and direct in their own way. Therefore, drama is much more successful when the rehearsal process operates as a dictatorship rather than a democracy.

As I said before, blocking is best learned by experience. However, there are a few cardinal rules of the theater I can share with you to get you started.

First, never, ever, ever turn your back to the audience. There are exceptions to this rule of course, but for the most part, keep your front turned out to the audience. This is not natural for us as humans. No one holds a deep, emotional conversation with their beloved while keeping their bodies angled to the side; they do it face to face. However, when two young lovers talk on stage, they must keep their bodies angled toward the audience.

Turning your back is a much more difficult problem on a thrust stage or an arena stage. In fact it's an impossible situation on the arena stage. In these instances, make sure the important actions are visible to everyone and that at least one character is visible to every person in the audience at all times.

One way to alleviate some of the difficulty in a thrust or arena theater is to watch the drama from all sides in rehearsal. As the director, you need to see the scene from every angle and determine if every person will feel the same impact from the scene.

Second, make things active. Keep people moving. Don't let them just sit and talk. Drama is about conflict. It's people trying to achieve a goal. It's people confronting and overcoming obstacles to their goal. The conflict in the dialogue needs to be reflected in the actions and interactions the audience sees.

The extreme example of the importance of action is pantomime, where conflict and emotions must be communicated through movement and facial expressions. The "opposite" form of drama is reader's theater, where conflict and emotions must be communicated through the voice.

As you experiment and work with your drama group, you'll discover other do's and don'ts for drama in general. You'll also discover do's and don'ts for your own group and your own stage. This chapter should give you a foundation for experimenting and discovering your own rules for directing and blocking.

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