A Glossary of Acting Terms

Every craft has a private vocabulary, and acting has more than most. Some of it comes from the theater, some from the camera, some from the crew, and a great deal of it gets used in audition rooms and rehearsal halls as if everyone learned it on the first day. Nobody did. What follows is a plain glossary of the terms you are most likely to hear and be assumed to understand, grouped by where you tend to meet them. Definitions first, jargon never. Where a term has a fuller home in the library, the word links through to it.

On the page

These are the terms that live in the script and the breakdown, the language of the work before you ever stand up.

Sides. The specific pages you are given for an audition or a scene, rather than the whole script. A side might be two pages of one scene. Actors talk about "the sides," not "the script," because the sides are usually all you get.

Beat. Two meanings, both common. A unit of action inside a scene, the stretch where one thing is happening before the scene turns to the next thing. Also, a short pause, as in a stage direction that reads "a beat." Context tells you which.

Subtext. What a character means underneath what they actually say. The line is "I'm fine." The subtext is anything but. Playing the subtext is most of the job.

Objective. What your character wants in the scene, stated as an active pursuit. Not "to be sad" but "to make her stay." A clear objective gives every line something to do.

Tactic. The specific way a character goes after an objective at a given moment. You might charm, then threaten, then beg, all in pursuit of the same want. Tactics change; the objective holds.

Given circumstances. The facts the writer hands you. Who these people are, where they are, when it is, what just happened. You do not invent the given circumstances; you build the performance on top of them.

Monologue. An extended speech by a single character, usually used as an audition piece or a showcase. A soliloquy is its theatrical cousin, a speech delivered as if thinking aloud, often alone on stage.

In rehearsal

The vocabulary of the room where the work gets built, whether that room is a rehearsal hall or your kitchen the night before.

Off-book. Knowing your lines well enough to rehearse without the script in hand. Being off-book is not the finish line; it is the point where the real work can finally start, because your eyes are up and your hands are free.

Cold reading. Performing from a script you have had little or no time to prepare, sometimes handed to you minutes before. A skill in its own right, and one auditions lean on more than anyone admits.

Blocking. The planned movement and positions in a scene. Where you stand, when you cross, where you sit. Blocking is set in rehearsal so that the same moves can be repeated reliably in performance or on camera.

Cue. The line, action, or signal that comes immediately before your line and tells you it is your turn. Picking up cues cleanly is the difference between a scene that moves and one that drags.

Table work. The early rehearsal phase where the company sits and reads the play aloud, asking questions and breaking down the text before anyone gets up on their feet.

Actioning. Assigning a playable verb to each line or thought, so that every line is doing something to the other person. A method for turning text into intention.

Run. A complete pass through a scene or a piece, top to bottom, without stopping. A "full run" goes through the whole thing; a "speed run" goes fast on purpose to test what sticks.

On camera

The terms that show up the moment a lens is involved, on a set or in front of a self-tape tripod.

Eyeline. The direction a performer looks, especially relative to the camera. In a self-tape, your eyeline is usually just beside the lens, where the reader sits. Casting notices when it wanders.

Marks. The exact spots on the floor, taped down, where you need to stand or stop so the camera and lights stay set on you. Hitting your marks without looking down for them is a learned skill.

Slate. The brief introduction at the top of a self-tape or audition where you say your name and the role you are reading for. The slate is the first thing casting sees, and it sets the tone for everything after.

Frame. What the camera actually captures. A "tight frame" sits close on the face; a "wide frame" shows more of the body and the space. Knowing your frame tells you how much to do and how big to do it.

Continuity. The matching of action, position, and detail from take to take so the footage can be cut together cleanly. If you raised the cup on "hello" in one take, you raise it on "hello" in the next.

Coverage. The set of different shots a scene is filmed in: the wide, the singles, the close-ups. Actors give consistent performances across coverage so the editor has matching pieces to work with.

In the building

The words traded backstage, in the hallway, and around the green room, the working culture of the job.

Green room. The space where performers wait before and between their time on stage or on camera. The name is old and its origin is disputed, which is its own kind of tradition.

Callback. A second audition, after the first. Being called back means you are in genuine contention; the room is now deciding between a small handful of actors, and you are one of them.

Reader. The person who plays the other roles in an audition so you have someone to act opposite. A reader may be flat by design; part of the skill is playing a full scene against a deliberately neutral partner.

Strike. To take down a set, or to clear a prop or piece from the stage. "Strike the table" means remove it. At the end of a run, the whole set gets struck.

Blocking rehearsal. A rehearsal whose specific job is to set the blocking, separate from the work on text and intention. Movement first, meaning layered in after.

Off-book deadline. The date by which the director expects the company to have put the scripts down. It is a real deadline, and arriving past it slows everyone.

That is the working core. The vocabulary is large and regional, and no single page holds all of it, but these are the terms that earn their keep in the rooms where actors actually work. When a word here has its own fuller entry, follow it through. The full library is built to be read this way, one term leading to the next.