stage direction
Playwright's blocking note
A stage direction is an instruction in the script of a play indicating how actors should move, speak, or behave, or describing elements of staging like lighting or sound.
Stage directions typically appear in italics or brackets, separate from dialogue: He exits stage left.
By extension, any instruction for how someone should perform or behave: She ignored his stage directions about what to say at the meeting.
Trigger for action
- entrancePoint of access
- exitWay to leave
- asideBrief theatrical digression
- soliloquyDramatic speech to oneself
blackout · curtain · cross · downstage · upstage · beat · pause · tableau
Impeding forward progress
- crossPass from side to side
- entrancePoint of access
- exitWay to leave
- gestureCommunicative body movement
positioning · traversal · sightlines · spacing · grouping · focus · motivation · pacing
Signal to change illumination
- sound cueNoise signaling action
- blackoutComplete power loss
- fadeLose intensity gradually
- spotMark or location
follow spot · trap · revolve · wagon · set change · fog · pyrotechnics · projection
Set off by punctuation
- italicsSloped typeface for emphasis
- bracketedEnclosed by paired marks
- descriptivePortraying with specific details
- subtextImplicit meaning beneath words
interpretation · Brechtian · minimalist · verbose · prescriptive · suggestive · implicit · explicit
cue
Trigger for action
soliloquy · blackout · curtain · cross · downstage · upstage · beat · pause · tableau · freeze
blocking
Impeding forward progress
gesture · positioning · traversal · sightlines · spacing · grouping · focus · motivation · pacing · tempo
lighting cue
Signal to change illumination
spot · follow spot · trap · revolve · wagon · set change · fog · pyrotechnics · projection · gobo
parenthetical
Set off by punctuation
- italicsSloped typeface for emphasis
- bracketedEnclosed by paired marks
- descriptivePortraying with specific details
subtext · interpretation · Brechtian · minimalist · verbose · prescriptive · suggestive · implicit · explicit
- actingacting, act, performing, playacting, actor
- screenwritingscreenplay, screenplays, screenwriter, screenwriting, script
- theater trainingacting schools, drama schools, acting workshops, theater programs, voice training
- theatre termsblocking, rehearsal, dress rehearsal, tech rehearsal, audition
- TV/Script Termspilot, episode, scene, act, dialogue
- Victorian TheatreHenrik Ibsen, proscenium, Oscar Wilde, footlights, backstage
stage directiondialogue
Spoken exchange between parties
character dialogue · speech · lines · monologue · soliloquy
stage, direct, direction, director, stadium, staged, staging, stagecraft, stagehand