| THEATER - THE BUILDING |
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| Apron | The area of the stage in front of the procenium |
| Balcony | The area of the audience viewing from the second floor of the theatre |
| Deck | The stage floor |
| Downstage | The part of the stage nearest to the audience |
| Flies | The area above the stage where scenic or lighting instruments are hoisted to be out of the audience's view |
| Front of House (FOH) | The area from the entrance of the theatre to the procenium arch |
| Leg | A long and narrow drape hung to mask backstage |
| Orchesta | The area of audience seating nearest the stage |
| Pit | The area where the orchestras sits, typically sunken below the front of the stage |
| Procenium Arch | The arch that frames the stage from the audience's perspective |
| Rake | The angle of incline from downstage to upstage |
| Upstage | The area of the stage furtherst away from the audience |
| Wings | The area directly off of the stage |
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| THEATER - THE PERSONNEL |
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| A1 | The lead crewmember of the audio department who mixes the show during performance and maintains it's aural consistency |
| A2 | The assistant to the lead crewmember of the audio department who maintains all mics and equipment backstage |
| Artistic Director | In not-for-profit theatre companies, the person that has final decision making on the entire season and that maintains the company's mission statement |
| Carpenter | The crewmembers that handle all scenery |
| Company Manager | The person that cares for the day-to-day needs of the entire company on behalf of the general manager and producer, particularly in terms of contracts, travel, and ammentieis |
| Conductor | The leader of the orchestra |
| Choreographer | The creator of the dances in a show |
| Dance Arranger | Works closely with the choreographer to write dance music based on composers themes. |
| Dance Captain | The cast member that is responsible for helping teach, maintain, and noting the show's choreography. |
| Designer | The person who designs a specific element of the show, i.e. set, props, costumes, lights, sound, projection, etc. |
| Director | The person leading the entire production towards a their vision |
| Dresser | The crewmembers that assist the actors change costumes during the show |
| Electrician | The crewmembers that handle all light equipment |
| General Manager (GM) | The person or persons that handle the show's budget by negotiating contracts, interfacing with investors, and supervising marketing and ticket sales |
| Mixer | The crewmember that is listening to the performance and adjusting the volume outputs of each audio source |
| Orchestra | The musicians who plays at the performance |
| Producer | The person with final say on creative and financial production decisions |
| Production Manager (PM) | The person that creates the first production budget and oversees the build and load-in of all production elements |
| Production Stage Manager (PSM) | The lead stage manager who delegates all stage management tasks |
| Run Crew | The generic name for all crewmembers working during a particular show |
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| TOOLS AND TACTICS |
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| Allen Wrench / Hex Key | A hexagonal cross-section used to drive bolts and screws that have a hexagonal socket. Commonly used to lock/unlock push bar doors |
| Block and Tackle | A pulley system consisting of single continuous rope to transmit a tension force around one or more pulleys to lift or move a heavy load. |
| Cable | A rope made of wires |
| Carabineer | A metal loop with a spring-loaded gate used to quickly and reversibly connect components, most notably in safety-critical systems. Commonly used for fall protection |
| Double Purchase | 1:2 weight relationship |
| Fiber Optic Cable | A rope of wires, conataining one of more optical fibers |
| Genie Lift | A machine used to lift people and small items straight upwards |
| Lash | An arrangement of rope wire or webbing with linking device used to secure and fasten two or more items together in a somewhat rigid manner |
| Lever | A rigid bar resting on a pivot, used to help move a heavy or firmly fixed load with one end when pressure is applied to the other. |
| Loose Pin Hinge | A hinge with two plates that are separated by a removable pin. |
| Piano Hinge | A hinge that has a thin pin joint and extends along the full length of the part to be moved. |
| PSI | The pound per pound-force per square inch: lbf/in^2 |
| PVC | A synthetic plastic polymer comes in two basic forms: rigid (used in construction for pipe, windows, doors) and flexible (plumbing, electrical cable insulation, imitation leather, rubber replacement) |
| Pneumatics | Compressed air power. An electrical powered compressor compresses gas (air, nitrogen, oxygen, etc.), and converts that stored energy into force |
| Scissor Lift | A machine that raises, lowers, and position materials and personnel by the closing or opening of crossed supports pivoted - like the two halves of a pair of scissors |
| Standard Counterweight | 1:1 weight relationship |
| Relay | An electrically operated switch |
| Wire | A thin, flexible metal rod |
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| TECHNOLOGY |
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| Analog | A wave is recorded or used in its original form |
| Bandwidth | The maximum amount of data a network can transfer. |
| Binary | A numeral system which represents numeric values using only two symbols (Usually 0 and 1) |
| Digital | An analog wave is sampled and turned into numbers stored in a device |
| Encoder | A device, circuit, transducer, software program, algorithm or person that converts information from one format or code to another, for the purposes of standardization, speed, secrecy, security or compressions. |
| Keyboard Video Mouse (KVM) | A device that allows the user to operate multiple computers at once |
| LASER | Stands for: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A device that generates an intense beam of coherent monochromatic light |
| Fire Wire | Apple Computer's version of a standard, IEEE 1394, High Performance Serial Bus, for connecting devices to your personal computer. FireWire provides a single plug-and-socket connection on which up to 63 devices can be attached with data transfer speeds up to 400 Mbps (megabits per second). |
| Network | When one or more compute is connected, a network is created. |
| Network Communications | Connected devices speaking to one another |
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| SCENIC |
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| A Vista | When changing the scenery in view of the audience |
| Apple Box | Versatile wooden crates used as unseen, but needed scenic pieces |
| Border | A short drape hung to mask visible flies |
| Commando Cloth / Duvetyn | A versatile and durable drapery fabric. Commonly used as black masking fabric, as it is most economical choice. |
| Cyclorama (Cyc) | A large piece of white fabric hung on a curved pipe against the back wall of a theatre that can be projected on |
| Dry Ice | A cold, dense white mist produced by solid carbon dioxide in air, used for theatrical effects. Should not have direct contact with skin. |
| Fire Curtain | A fire-proof curtain that may be lowered in front of the house curtain in the case of fire |
| Escape Stairs | AKA Carry-Off. A set of stairs out of the view of the audience that provides actors access to the set |
| Practical | A scenic elements that works on stage |
| Scrim | A theatrical gauze curtain that when lit from the front is opaque and when lit from the back is transparent |
| Soft Goods | A term for all curtains and drops |
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| COSTUME |
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| Fitting | An appointment for an actor to try on their costumes |
| Quick Change | A costume change that occurs during a performance that must be completed in the short amount of time between an actor's exit and re-entrance |
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| AUTOMATION |
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| Auto-Fly (AF)* | Automation that raises and lowers scenery into the audience's view
(*note, same abbreviation as Autofollow) |
| Auto-Deck (AD) | Automation that moves scenic pieces that are in a track on the deck. |
| Animatronics | The use of anatomy, robotics, mechatronics, and puppetry to create life-like robots |
| Dog | A low-friction piece of equipment that can accept a knife being slid into it from the top |
| E-Stop | Emergency Stop Button |
| Effect | A piece of scenery that can move on a track |
| Elevator | A platform that raises and lowers things |
| Hydraulics | Pressurized Liquid Power |
| Jogging | A function that allows you to determine and fine-tune the motor stop position. |
| Knife | A removable piece of metal that attaches to the scenery and into the dog through a narrow slit cut into the deck |
| Limit | As far as the machine is able to move in either direction. |
| Pneumatics | Compressed air power. An electrical powered compressor compresses gas (air, nitrogen, oxygen, etc), and converts that stored energy into force |
| Show Control | The use of automation technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner. |
| Sunroof / Sloat | A 'sliding, lifting, opening, automated trap' on the floor of a stage that opens to allow things to move between the deck and the basement |
| Target | The position at the end of a move |
| Track | Rails in the stage floor or stage deck along which scenery can be moved |
| Winch | A hauling and lifting device powered by a crank or motor |
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| LIGHTING |
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| Autofollow (AF)* | When one cue is programmed to automatically follow the cue preceding it
(*note, same abbreviation as Auto-Fly) |
| Batten / Pipe | A metal tube used to hang lighting instruments on |
| Bounce Drop | A canvas or muslin drop, unpainted, used to "bounce" light onto back of a scrim |
| Boom | A vertical pipe on the edge of the deck used to hang lighting instruments |
| Bump | An instant cue change |
| Cheat | To move a light slightly to avoid unwanted light spill |
| Dead Hung | When an instrument is permanently mounted above the stage |
| Dimmer | A devices used to lower the brightness of a light |
| DMX512-A | A digital multiplex cable that links controllers to dimmers and special effects devices |
| Gel | A thin sheet of plastic used to color light |
| Ghost Light | The light left on in the theatre after everyone leaves |
| Gobos | A physical stencil or template slotted placed in front of a lighting source, used to control the shape of emitted light |
| Followspot (FS) | A crewmember run spotlight that follows and focuses on a specific character |
| Light Ladder | A metal ladder used to hang lighting instruments |
| Pan | When moving a lighting instrument on the horizontal plane (opposite "tilt") |
| Parallel Circuit | An electricity connection with multiple paths - if one part of the chain goes out, the others stay on. |
| Pin Spot | A spotlight focused on a small area, i.e. an actor's head |
| Series Circuit | An electiricy connection through one long chain - if one part of the chain goes out, all parts go out. |
| Tilt | When moving a lighting instrument on the vertical plane. (opposite "pan") |
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| SOUND |
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| Click track | A click track is a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes for synchronization to a moving image |
| Fair Use | The doctrine that explains that a copyright may be infringed upon for the purpose of news, education, criticism, and research |
| Feedback | An unpleasant sound that occurs when a microphone picks up the output of a speaker and re-amplifies it |
| Phone Connector | 1/4" cable that connects to most audio devices |
| RCA Cable | A two-wire audio connector |
| XLR Cable | A commonly used cable for connecting microphones to sound systems |
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| VIDEO |
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| Key Frame | The frames that define the starting and ending points of each movement in a story |
| MPTE Timecode | A system that assigns numeric codes at regular intervals to faciliate percise timing synchronization |
| Render | The process of combining all video elements into a single digital frame |
| Zoom | A camera shot that changes smoothly from a long shot to a close-up, or vice versa |
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| MUSIC |
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| Bar / Measure | A segment of time defined by a given number of beats, each of which are assigned a particular note value. Dividing music into bars provides regular reference points to pinpoint locations within a piece of music. |
| Bass Clef | The lower half of a bar of music, containing all notes below middle C |
| Time Signature | A fraction that informs how many beats are in each measure of music. |
| Treble Clef | Music - the high part. The pretty sign at the start of the top staff that tell the reader their reading the higher line or the 'treble clef.' |
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| DANCE & OPERA |
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| Marley | A type of portable dance floor consisting of thin rubberized sheets |
| Physical Therapy | A service provided to treat injuries with physical treatments like massage, heat, and exercise. |
| Rosin | A solid resin used by dancers (on feet, shoes, and hands) to prevent slippage. |
| Supernumerary | An "extra" in a ballet or opera, typically used to fill out crowd scenes |
