Drama Glossary

Acting Styles

A particular manner of acting which reflects cultural and historical influences.

Belief

The commitment of students to the work.

Brainstorming

A method of generating a large number of ideas.

Blocking

The placement and movement of actors in a dramatic presentation.

Blocking maps

A director's preliminary sketches of the placement and movement of actors for a dramatic presentation.

Character analysis

A description of one's understanding of a character.

Characterization

The process of developing and portraying a character.

Choral speaking

A means by which literature -- including poetry, chants and raps, scripts, short stories, fairy tales, fables and legends -- is interpreted and communicated vocally by a group. These could be either student-written or published works.

Collective creation

A play or a collection of episodes or scenes which is developed and performed by a group.

Commitment

The ability to sustain belief for as long as the drama demands, and a recognition and understanding of the purpose of the work.

Consensus

A group decision that everyone in the group agrees to support.

Consensus building

The process through which a consensus is reached.

Contrasts

Dynamic use of movement/stillness, sound/silence and light/darkness.

Costume design

Illustrations of the stage apparel to be worn by actors.

Dance drama

Expressive movement through which ideas, stories, sounds and music can be interpreted. It can be used to express such episodes as dream sequences, flashbacks and flashforwards, and parts of celebrations.

Directing

Assuming overall responsibility for the artistic interpretation and presentation of a dramatic work.

Director's book

The planning book developed by a director to guide the development of a dramatic presentation, including interpretative notations, schedules, scene breakdowns, preliminary blocking, etc.

Drama

An art form that is concerned with the representation of people in time and space,

their actions and the consequences of their actions.

Drama in context

Dramas are structured to provide a context, a situation or a metaphoric framework in which students and teacher assume roles and enter into a fictional world prepared to accept and "live through" an imagined situation.

Dramatic processes

Includes the processes involved in creating works of dramatic art, whether they be original works by students or re-creations of scripted materials. Dramatic processes include such things as choosing a topic, researching, synthesizing, identifying the focus of the work, translating ideas into dramatic form, reflecting, refining, scripting, rehearsing and performing.

Episodes

Parts of the whole drama work. A series of events which may be sporadically or irregularly occurring.

Flashbacks and flashforwards

Moving back and forward in time in order to extend students' understanding of themes and characters.

Focus

Knowing what the drama and collective creations are about and structuring each step of the work so that the students are able to explore and make new discoveries about that particular concern.

Imaging

A technique which allows the students to slow down and focus individually on an issue. The students, sitting quietly with eyes closed, allow pictures to form in their minds. These images may be motivated by bits of narration, music, sounds, smells, etc.

Improvisation

Any unscripted work in drama.

Interviews

A drama strategy in which students are involved in any kind of fictional interview situation.

Journeys

Can provide not only a strategy but, if focused, a context for a drama. Students can explore different kinds of journeys ranging from journeys into space, to journeys to new lands, to journeys into battle, etc.

Meetings

An effective strategy by which the whole group can establish focus and begin to build belief in a fictional situation.

Mime

Can be a highly sophisticated silent art form in which the body is used as the instrument of communication. In drama, mime enables the students to explore and represent ideas and events through movement and gesture.

Monologue

A piece of oral or written literature (e.g., a story, poem or part of a play) spoken by one person who exposes inner thoughts and provides insights into his or her character.

Narration

Bits of narration can be prepared or created spontaneously by the teacher or can be chosen from prose, poetry or song lyrics. Narration is used to establish mood, bridge gaps in time, and register decisions made by the students within the drama.

Negotiation

A purposeful discussion aimed at leading the group to clarify ideas, summarize individual points of view and agree upon a course of action.

Parallel play

A situation in which all of the students work simultaneously, but separately, in their own space.

Play reviews

A written description and interpretation of a dramatic presentation based on informed judgment.

Prepared improvisation

An improvisation which is shaped and rehearsed.

Prompt book

A book of the play containing business, blocking, cues and plots needed for dramatic presentation; e.g., director's book, play book, stage manager's book.

Reader's theatre

A dramatic form of expression in which actors read and interpret text for an audience.

Refining

A step in the collective creation process during which choices are made and episodes are shaped and connected.

Reflection

Recalling, reacting to and describing one's drama experiences, both in and out of role.

Ritual

A technique in which one action is repeated by many individuals to formalize or provide specific significance to a situation.

Role

The basic ingredient of work in drama. When the students and teacher assume roles in a drama, they are acting "as if" they are someone else.

Script

The text of a dramatic work.

Script analysis

The critical interpretation of a script for the purpose of achieving an understanding of it.

Spontaneous improvisation

An improvisation which is immediate and unrehearsed.

Set design

A visual representation of the form and arrangement of scenery and properties.

Stage business

Small actions performed by an actor without moving from one place to another.

Stage manager's book

The planning book developed by a stage manager to facilitate management of a dramatic presentation, including scene breakdowns, entrance and exit cues, lighting plots and cues, sound cues, etc.

Stage movement

The purposeful movement of an actor on the stage.

Status

Relative importance of one character to another.

Storyboard

A visual representation of the "story" or organization of episodes in a collective creation.

Storytelling

A means of creating (or re-creating) and sharing stories. The stories may be familiar or unfamiliar, the stories of others, or the student's own. In drama, storytelling is a means of sharing and reflecting on each others' experiences and the experiences of the group.

Story theatre

Techniques which may be used in drama as stories are told. Either the story is told by a narrator as others act it out while speaking the dialogue or through mime, or the narration may be provided by those who are acting out the characters, animals or inanimate objects.

Symbol

Something which stands for or represents something else. Broadly defined, dramas and collective creations are symbolic or metaphoric representations of human experience.

Tableau

A still image, a frozen moment or "a photograph." It is created by posing still bodies and communicates a living representation of an event, an idea or a feeling.

Tapping-in

A means by which those individuals represented in a tableau may be prompted to express their response to that particular moment which is captured in time and space by the tableau. The teacher places a hand on the shoulder of one of the students in role in the tableau and poses questions which are designed to reveal the actor's thinking about the situation represented by the tableau.

Teacher in role

By taking on roles themselves, teachers are able to provide the students with a model for working in role through the use of appropriate language and apparent commitment to the process and the work. This is the most effective way for teachers to work in drama. It enables them to work with the students close to what is happening and to facilitate the shaping of the work from within.

Tension

The "pressure for response", which can take the form of a challenge, a surprise, a time restraint or the suspense of not knowing. Tension is what works in a drama to impel students to respond and take action and what works in a play to make the audience want to know what happens next.

Voting

A familiar strategy not necessarily associated with the arts. However, one of the basic processes used within dramas is negotiation. Through negotiation, the teacher and students strive toward, and will often achieve, consensus. At times, when consensus is not achieved, voting is the next best option.

Writing in role

Any written work done in role (for example, monologues, family histories, letters, newspaper headlines, etc.)