Common theater terms unfamiliar to mainstream audiences?

Hey-yo!

I have read discussions about general audiences lacking knowledge of what a "preview period" is. Is it safe to assume this is a term that has fallen out of use in the mainstream dialogue?

What about "out-of-town tryout"? A musical's "book"? "The West End"? "The Great White Way"? What about a musical "transferring"?

Are these terms familiar to fans of Call of Duty and Avatar? What other terms would you say we cannot assume people from outside this message board would know off hand?

I would argue that tech terms like "scrim" and "gel" are more insider speak. What I'm looking for is terms that were once perhaps readily discussed by audiences but may have fallen into lack of common use.... terms that newspapers and journals would once have used feeling that it was an understood term. I could see arguments for "workshop" going either way.

Thanks for you insight!

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Updated On: 12/20/10 at 01:53 PM

A lot of people don't know that the inside of the theater is referred to as the "House".

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Pretty much any theatrical term is unfamiliar to a mainstream audience.

The "house" is a good one. "Front of house," "back of house," "the front of the back of the house." I guess people know what an orchestra is at least.

"Heads!" surprises me because I would think "heads up!" or "watch your heads" is a common enough term to make the leap in understanding.

Somewhat OT: I was surprised to discover that many of my colleagues do not know that the term "A-1" is not just a bbq sauce.. it means "A number 1," "head of the pack," "first class," and other synonymous phrases. This came up in art, media, and the law class where I argued trademarking "A-1" is like trademarking "Bravo!" or something similar.... many thought A-1 was a Heinz invention.

EDIT: Good ones Ljay and Taz. "11 O'Clocker" would definitely draw blank stares, but I can see journalistic theater criticism making a reference to that.

Also, "standby" perhaps? "Show-stopper?"

What about the ones I mentioned and have pasted below?

What about "out-of-town tryout"? A musical's "book"? "The West End"? "The Great White Way"? What about a musical "transferring"?

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Updated On: 12/20/10 at 02:32 PM

Hehe, that made me think of "trunk song." "You've got a top drawer trunk song there."

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Sitzprobe! I know theatre people who don't even know that term.

You mean a prova all'italiana? I had to look it up.. =)

I'm guessing since no one is addressing the four I asked about, I should just assume they would need a definition for a general audience. If I were to say, "The Human Comedy transferred from The Public," general audiences would not assume that meant THC opened on Broadway.

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Read, as in "you read pretty young"
And a shocking number of people don't know the difference between a director and a producer.

"Strike"-as in striking a light, a prop, a set piece
"Call"-as in 6:00 pm call time
"Track"-as in the progression of each character or ensemble member's movements throughout the show
"scrim"
"cyc"
"thrust"
"apron"
"pit"
"fly"

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Like book, libretto now seems pretty foreign.

I've always hated sitzprobe - it somehow strikes me as pretentious. What's wrong with "rehearsal with orchestra?" (Despite the five extra syllables.)

The fact that musicals without books have one "best book" Tony's has certainly done some damage in clarifying exactly what the term means.

Thanks guys for your additions. Many of these are very insider/technical industry terms, however.

I don't know if many Americans know what "The West End" is, though, Mark_E. Frankly, I wonder sometimes if mainstream audiences would know what Broadway is if it wasn't represented on television and films so readily.

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twinbelters- That's actually been an issue (Tony nominated/winning books that don't have books). Technically, the bookwriter is responsible for outlining the entire musical, so it's more than just the spoken dialogue. However, many people (I wonder if voters do, too) just consider the spoken dialogue as book.

When I talk about musicals to friends who aren't quite as interested in them, I have to always watch how I phrase things. Nobody can figure out that the book is the script. A lot of people have trouble grasping the concept of previews. Other things I'm sure they've never heard of include:

ASM (assistant stage manager)
strike (striking the set)
Difference between call, curtain, and curtain call (so many people think they know what these mean but end up just being so confusing)
Overture (almost everybody in band at my school thought that overtures are just in opera/classical and others thought overtures had singing)
Rake (the raked stage--I know tons of people who would be shocked to hear that the stage is slanted)
Readings/workshops
Off-Broadway/Regional/Community (I know many people who think that off-Broadway means anything that's not on Broadway)
Licensing a show--It's surprising how many people think you can just perform a show after buying a script, without paying for the rights.