Which way is downstage

Save Word. Definition of downstage Entry 1 of 2. Definition of downstage Entry 2 of 2. Genesee St. First Known Use of downstage Adverb or adjective , in the meaning defined at sense 1 Noun circa , in the meaning defined above. Learn More About downstage.

Time Traveler for downstage The first known use of downstage was in See more words from the same year. Statistics for downstage Look-up Popularity. Sometimes it can be too complicated to use certain stage positions. For example, when using theatre in the round or traverse staging, there is not a back wall. This means it is impossible to have an upstage and downstage and stage right and stage left. But why Upstage and Downstage? The terminology comes from the days in which the audience seats were on a flat floor and the stage was tilted razed toward the audience, so that everyone on the audience floor could see the performance.

Stage left is the left side of the stage for an actor who is standing facing the audience. The most common types of stage arrangements are listed below. Proscenium stages. Proscenium stages have an architectural frame, known as the proscenium arch, although not always arched in shape. Thrust stages. Theatres in-the-round. Arena theatres. Black-box or studio theatres. Platform stages.

Open air theatres. In the Full Front, the actor faces the audience or camera and is considered to be the strongest of the body positions. The full front position and the one-quarter front position facing slightly to left or right are labeled as open positions. When you upstage someone , the audience's focus shifts from that person to you.

Another way to use the verb upstage is to describe the acting technique of moving back on the stage, away from the audience, so that another actor must turn her back toward them.

Definitions of upstage. Balconies or galleries: one or more raised seating platforms towards the rear of the auditorium. Some scripts also contain notations on lighting, music, and sound effects. Stage directions are written from the perspective of the actor facing the audience. An actor who turns to his or her right is moving stage right, while an actor who turns to his or her left is moving stage left.

The front of the stage, called downstage, is the end closest to the audience. The rear of the stage, called upstage, is behind the actor's back, furthest from the audience. These terms come from the structure of stages in the Middle Ages and early modern period, which were built on an upward slope away from the audience to improve viewer visibility. From the rear of the stage to the audience, there are three zones: upstage, center stage, and downstage.

These are each divided into three or five sections, depending on the size. If just three sections, there will be a center, left, and right in each.

When in the center stage zone, right or left may be referred to simply as stage right and stage left , with only the very middle of the stage being referred to as center stage. If the stage has been divided into 15 sections instead of nine, there will be a "left-center" and "right-center" in each section, for five possible locations in each of the three zones.

When you see stage directions in published plays , they are often in abbreviated form.