Sand Bag
A bag of sand, used as a weight, attached to an unused spot line to stop it running back up through the pulleys and to enable the line to fly in without fouling adjacent equipment.

Safety Curtain
See Asbestos Curtain.

Scene
(1) Uninterrupted action within a play, usually showing what happens between characters at a specific location and time. A scene is a division of an act that often depicts a change in setting, time, etc.
(2) The physical place in which the action is taking place.
(3) See Scenery.

Scenery
(1) The flats, drops, backgrounds, structures, etc. used on a stage to represent a locale.
(2) When an actor 'chews on the scenery', that means that actor is overacting by way of exaggerated pauses, unnatural poses, etc. in a way to be the complete focus of the audience's attentions. Unlike mugging or upstaging, this is usually performed by a starring actor in a title role, trying to steal away any 'limelight' to which a supporting actor may be entitled.

Scrim
A loosely woven cotton or linen fabric used on stage for special effects. If light is shone behind a scrim, it becomes semi-transparent. If light is kept in front of scrim, it appears opaque.

Shadowist
A speciality act consisting of a performer making shadow images on a wall, either with the help of props or his bare hands.

Show Business (a.k.a. The Entertainment Industry)
Any business or industrial concern with the goal of entertaining people for a profit. This includes live theater, the cinema, vaudeville, comedy clubs, circuses, piano players in a lounge, X-rated movies, strippers, etc. Technically, anyone who rents you a video tape, sells you popcorn at the movies or sweeps up after the elephants under the big top is in show business. People who do not earn at least part of their livelihood from such endeavors yet still perform (i.e.: community theater groups, church choirs, etc.) are NOT in show business.

Shtick
Any comedian's or comic actor's unique style and/or material, primarily in a vaudeville or revue act. This 'piece of business' is usually an attention-getting device involving a trait or talent special to that performer, such as Jack Benny's cheapness. Originally a term from the Yiddish theater that meant a prank or particular style of humor.

Sidelighting
Vertical striplighting placed in the coulisses, commonly used for dance numbers.

Signature Piece
A unique piece of business in a vaudeville act, tailored for that ACT alone, that was always successful with the audience. Also known as a signature bit or Insurance.

Simultaneous Stages
Where, instead of an audience being situated before one stage to see an entire production, they go from stage to stage to see each separate act. Originally done by churches during Medieval times when putting on miracle or mystery plays, each location told a different Biblical story, complete with its own individual scenery and cast. This technique is now used by museums, with tour guides or prerecorded narratives telling the story of each dioramic exhibit. Also known as Simultaneous Staging.

Sketch
A short play or lightly dramatic performance which is a part of a vaudeville or variety show.

Skit
A short theatrical sketch or act, usually comic or slapstick in nature. Although a skit is shorter, more joke oriented and less concerned about sets or props than a sketch, the two terms are often used interchangeably.

Slapstick
(1) A combination of laths that make a loud clapping noise but causes no harm when it strikes a performer. Used by and on clowns, harlequins and stooges in pantomimes and comic routines.
(2) Broad crude comedy characterized by violent action such as pie throwing, mugging, farce, wild jokes and horseplay.

Sock
(1) A lightweight shoe or boot worn by ancient Greek and Roman comic actors. It had a thin sole, unlike a cothurnus, so the actors would be of the same stature as the audience.
(2) The art of the stage comedian, such as comedy, comic acting and/or comic drama.

Solo Act
Any vaudeville or revue act that consisted of only one person performing on stage with few or no props. That included stand-up comedians, singers, magicians and other small specialty acts. Olios were often solo acts.

Special Effects
The general term for the imitating of phenomena by artificial means. This can include the sound of thunder, falling water to imitate rain or a motorized hand to fake a severed limb.

Specialty Act
An act, also known as a Novelty Act, that is performed in a manner that is not usual or customary for a regular act. Its routine involved dexterity and/or ingenuity such as plate spinning, acrobatics or a patter song. A specialty act that was incredibly bizarre, such as walking with three-foot long boots or vomiting up the correct liquids and objects on cue, was called an Eccentric Act or Freak Act.

Spill
Unwanted light appearing onstage.

Spotlight
Any light which produces a strong beam used to prominently illuminate a particular person, group, object, section of set, etc., on a stage. A limelight is a form of spotlight.

Spot Line
A temporary line dropped from the gridiron to suspend something at a particular position.

Stagehand
A person who does the backstage manual work connected with a theater, such as moving scenery, operating lights, etc. Also known as a Grip.

Stage Left
The area located to an actor's left when he faces the audience.

Stage Manager
The person in charge of everything mechanical occurring on the stage, second in command only to the director.

Stage Right
The area located to an actor's right when he faces the audience.

Stagger-Through
The first trial run of the whole show. Rarely runs smoothly, hence the name.

Stand-Up or Standup
A routine involving a comedian or comic team telling humorous stories or jokes directly to the audience. Normally stand-up takes place on a bare stage with few or no props.

Stanislavski Method
A style of acting that broke with the old acting codes. Previously, acting usually consisted of mechanical responses to the given parts of a scene. Acting was more of an outward, external performance. Stanislavski believed that the emphasis on acting should be in tune with the stimulus created by the staged situation. An actor's reaction to what was going on around his character would then be more natural, creating greater emotional truths and inner motivations that would come through during his performance. This creative ability to develop a role from within while sharing with others on stage assists an actor in better identifying with his character while allowing for a better ensemble. This forces actors to rely and intermesh with each other rather than displaying a series of distinct but separate performances vying for the audience's attention. Also known as The Method.

Steel Curtain
See Asbestos Curtain.

Stock Character
An easily recognizable classic character type. Typical American stock characters found in melodrama were the greedy banker ready to foreclose on the mortgage, a country hayseed in overalls, the tough city kid, the noble Indian, the stout-hearted frontiersman, etc.

Stock Company
An acting company that performs a repertoire of plays, usually at their own theater. An actor in such a troupe may play the hero in one play, the villain in another, a butler in a third, etc. Rarely does a stock company have any outstanding stars unless a star created it. Some stock companies will have guest stars playing leads in a play while the rest of the troupe fill in the other roles.

Stooge
(1) An actor who assists a comedian by feeding him lines, being the butt of his jokes, the victim of his pranks, etc.
(2) A person stationed in the audience to assist a comedian by heckling him as part of the routine.

Straight Man
An actor who play his part in a comedy routine straight, acting as the foil for the comedian. A straight man's role usually consist of being a person not striving for comic effect, an honest man free of crookedness or deceit. When a woman plays such a part, she is still referred to as a straight man.

Strike
To take apart or remove scenery from a stage. 'To strike' a set can mean to take one down one scene so another one can be put up or to permanently take down the scenery after a play closes.

Striplights
Row lighting used as footlights, border lights or cyclorama lights.

Striptease
A burlesque act in which a female dancer, accompanied by music and occasionally patter, provocatively and lewdly removes her garments one piece at a time until she is almost or completely naked. Also known as a Girlie Show.

Stripteaser
A woman who performs a striptease. Also called a striptease artist, a stripper, an exotic dancer or an ecdysiast.

Studio Theater
(1) An informal intimate theatrical arena with minimal sets, props and equipment. Often the stage is on the same level or just slightly higher than the audience with the scenery mostly being curtains, typically black. The audiences' seating is often moveable so it can be rearranged for different productions. Studio theaters generally display unconventional productions that can be daring or sexual.
(2) The stage part of a classroom where theater is taught or studied.

Switchboard
The main unit which controls all electricity to stage lights, turning them on or off and controlling their brightness. Also called the dimmer board, the control board, the rheostats, the (auto)transformers and the O.P. (for opposite prompter).

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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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