Platform Set
A fully constructed set which is on a platform equipped with wheels or rollers so it can be moved off and on the stage for quick scene changes.

Platform Stage
A temporary raised platform with a rear framework that supports a curtain or painted drop from which the performers can make their entrances and exits. Typically an outdoor stage first used in Medieval times, they are now employed at Renaissance fairs, carnival sideshows. trade shows or anywhere a simple, portable stage is needed.

Pageant
See Wagon Stage.

Pageant Wagon
See Wagon Stage.

Pantomine
Silent drama using movement, gesture, facial expressions and sometimes dance to tell a story. Developed in ancient times to vast popularity in the commedia dell'arte, pantomime was often used when the audience was of mixed tongues or when the performers' words could not be heard over the surrounding noise, such as at a circus. In some pantomime plays, a narrator may read the story as mute actors played their parts.

Pantos
Lavish stage productions enjoyed by English audiences since the 17th Century and the forerunner to British music halls and American vaudeville. The term 'pantos' comes from the Greek word 'panto' meaning 'all' or 'every'... and everything was what a pantos show could have: Singers, dancers, slapstick, variety acts and performers in animal costumes. The most famous of the pantos traditions was comic cross-dressing.

Passion Play
A Christian play depicting the last days of Jesus Christ, usually including The Last Supper, His Crucifixion and His Resurrection. Passion Plays are often performed during Easter.

Patter
Rapid-fire glib speech used by performing magicians, sideshow barkers, comedians or salesmen of questionable goods. This stylized rehearsed talking is used to entertain while attracting attention.

Patter Song
A song with a simple tune and comic lyrics whose humor is increased by the rapid enunciation of the words. Often found in comic opera, operetta and musical comedy.

Peanut Gallery
(1) The rear balcony in a theater where the cheap seats were located. Called the peanut gallery because the rabble there would throw peanuts at the stage.
(2) Any area of the auditorium, if not the entire auditorium, in which the audience is mostly children. This definition came from the old children's television show Howdy Doody.

Periaktoi (plural Periaktos)
Three-sided flats that rotate on a central axis or pivot to depict three different scenes. Periaktos were often used in a series, usually in threes, by the ancient Greeks for on-stage scene changes. Also spelled Periactoid.

Pin Rail
A rail on a fly gallery or at stage level, holding rows of belaying pins or cleats for securing fly lines attached to scenery, lights, etc. Also called the Fly Rail.

Pipe Batten
See Batten.

Pit
The narrow space in front of and below the raised stage apron, on the ground floor of the theater. Often referred to as the Orchestra Pit because off-stage musicians were located there.

Playbill
A list of a revue or vaudeville show's performers and acts. Often playbills were used as mini-posters or ads.

Prima Donna
(1) The principal female singer in an opera or concert. These ladies have beautiful voices with enough power behind them to be heard over a full orchestra.
(2) Any spoiled, vain, temperamental, conceited performer (male or female) who drives other performers, directors, etc. crazy with immature demands or suggestions. These types of prima donnas, if not controlled, can wreck a show.

Profile
(1)Two-dimensional freestanding units with irregular edges such as trees, columns, mountains, city skylines, etc. Profiles are a form of flat. Also known as a Cutout.
(2)A type of spotlight with at least one plano-convex lens which projects the outline of any chosen shape placed in its gate, sometimes with a variable degree of hardness/softness. Profiles include four beam-shaping metal shutters, a gate to take an iris or gobo and an adjustment to make the beam smooth and even or bright in its center.

Prompter
A person off-stage who whispers lines to actors when they go dry.

Prop (short for Property)
(1) Any item of furniture (Set Prop) or decoration (Dressing or Trim Prop) used in a stage setting.
(2) Any object handled or used by an actor in a performance, such as a wine glass, a gun or Yorick's skull. Also known as a Personal Prop or Hand Prop.

Proscenium
(1) The main curtain and the arch which holds it up. Also known as a proscenium arch.
(2) The entire vertical wall of the stage area visible to the audience with the main curtain is down.
(3) What the ancient Greeks and Romans called a complex stage.

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Glossary Index - Main Menu - Overture

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A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M

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N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

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