promptbooks
Directors' marked scripts
Promptbooks are annotated scripts used in theatrical productions, containing detailed notes on staging, lighting, sound cues, actor movements, and other technical directions needed to run a performance.
The stage manager typically maintains the promptbook, which serves as the authoritative record of how a production should be executed.
Historical promptbooks from notable productions are valuable documents for theater scholars studying performance history.
The stage manager followed the promptbook closely during the dress rehearsal.
Impeding forward progress
- cuesSignals prompting action
- entrancesOpenings for access, or beguiles
- exitsDeparture points
- sightlinesUnobstructed viewing paths
tableau · transitions · positioning · crosses · timing · pace · choreography · focus
Explanatory additions to documents
- symbolsMarks conveying meaning
- marginaliaNotes in page edges
- shorthandAbbreviated writing system
- highlightingEmphasizing key parts
timestamps · warnings · edits · revisions · inserts · cross-references · indexing
Lateral edges or teams
- cutsSevers or reduces
- rewritesSubsequent manuscript versions
- dialogueSpoken exchange between parties
- textWritten or printed words
manuscript · libretto · score · adaptation · breakdown · revisions · collating
Full practice of something
- sound-designCrafting a film's sonic landscape
- turntableRotating music player
- dressersBedroom storage furniture
- backstageTheater's hidden area
Of late 1500s England
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- folioSingle-fold page format
- quartoFour-leaf printing format
- playhouseMiniature structure for children
Restoration · Victorian · repertory · actor-manager · provenance
blocking
Impeding forward progress
sightlines · tableau · transitions · positioning · crosses · timing · pace · choreography · focus · levels
annotations
Explanatory additions to documents
- symbolsMarks conveying meaning
- marginaliaNotes in page edges
- shorthandAbbreviated writing system
highlighting · timestamps · warnings · edits · revisions · inserts · cross-references · indexing
sides
Lateral edges or teams
text · manuscript · libretto · score · adaptation · breakdown · revisions · collating
run-through
Full practice of something
- sound-designCrafting a film's sonic landscape
- turntableRotating music player
- dressersBedroom storage furniture
Elizabethan
Of late 1500s England
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- folioSingle-fold page format
- quartoFour-leaf printing format
playhouse · Restoration · Victorian · repertory · actor-manager · provenance
- drama museumscostumes, props, scripts, playbills, masks
- Shakespeareanafolios, quartos, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello
- theater archivesplay scripts, scripts, playbills, programs, production notes
- Shakespeare artifactsquill, manuscripts, Globe Theatre, portraits, bust
- theaterplays, stage, play, onstage, acting
- theater memorabiliaplaybills, programs, ticket stubs, cast photos, autographs