- Apron ; Part of the stage in front of the prosceniun arch.
- Arena stage: Acting area with audience on three or four sides.
- Border : Strip of canvas that prevents the audience from seeing above the stage.
- Box set : Realistic stage setting, built usually of flats at the back and sides, which simulates a room with a wall removed.
- Chorus : In Greek drama, a group of actors representing an element in the play, such as citizens or women, who comment on and assist in the development of the plot. Also in Elizabethan drama, an actor who explains or comments on the action of a play.
- Deux ex machina : In classical drama, an actor playing God who was lowered from above the stage to resolve the action of a play. Also a character in a modern play who plays a similar role.
- Drop scene : Painted cloth in front of which a short scene is played while the main stage set is changed.
- Flat : Piece of scenery, usually of painted canvas stretched on a wooden frame.
- Flies : Space above the stage, hidden from the audience by the proscenium wall, and used to house scenery, lighting etc.
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- Grand Guignol : Collective term for short, sensational plays on horrible themes, named after the French theatre in which such plays were first performed.
- Green room : Actors' rest-room backstage.
- Groundling : Member of the audience who stood in the uncovered part of an Elizabethan theatre.
- Platform stage : Stage which juts out into a central area, with the audience on three sides. Used in Elizabethan theatre, the platform stage has been revived in modern times.
- Property : Any object used on-stage (often just called 'prop').
- Proscenium : Fixed framework in front of the stage within which the curtain rises and falls - the conventional type of 'picture-frame' stage. Also, in Greek theatre, a circular performing area.
- Protagonist : Principal actor in a classical play.
- Soliloquy : Extended speech by an actor, either while alone on stage or not overheard by other characters. It is usually employed to reveal the speaker's inner thoughts.
- Theatre-in-the-round : Drama produced on an arena stage.
- Thrust stage : Another term for platform stage.
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