walking the boards
Treading the stage
Walking the boards means acting on stage, from the wooden floorboards of a theater.
The phrase evokes the physical reality of theatrical performance—pacing the stage night after night.
It often implies professional experience or a life in the theater: She spent thirty years walking the boards before retiring.
- prosceniumTheater's architectural frame
- fourth wallInvisible stage-audience barrier
- vaudevilleTheatrical variety entertainment
- summer stockSeasonal regional theatrical productions
- dinner theaterEntertainment venue serving food
repertory · rehearsal · dress rehearsal · Broadway · actor · spotlight · touring company · playbill · thespian · monologue · bit part · curtain call · standing ovation · props · costume · understudy · wings · stage manager
professional status
walking the boardsresting
In a state of stillness
out of work · retirement · unemployed · waiting tables · civilian life
walk, walked, walks, walker, walkers, walkable, board, boards, boarded