Reading: Literature - Drama - Middle School

Set the stage for vocabulary success by learning this list of words related to drama. You'll review the parts of a play, different dramatic genres, and much more. Break a leg!
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. act
    a single division of a play, opera, or ballet
  2. action
    the series of events that form a plot
  3. adaptation
    a written work that has been recast in a new form
  4. ad-lib
    perform without preparation
  5. antagonist
    someone who offers opposition
  6. aside
    a line spoken by an actor not intended for others on stage
  7. audience
    a gathering of spectators or listeners at a performance
  8. backstage
    a stage area out of sight of the audience
  9. character
    a property that defines the individual nature of something
  10. chorus
    a body of dancers or singers who perform together
  11. comedy
    light and humorous drama with a happy ending
  12. complication
    a development that makes a situation more challenging
  13. conflict
    opposition in a work of fiction between characters or forces
  14. costume
    the attire worn in a play or at a fancy dress ball
  15. deus ex machina
    an agent who appears unexpectedly to solve a difficulty
  16. dialogue
    the lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction
  17. director
    one who supervises the actors and action in a play
  18. dramatic irony
    when the audience understands something the characters don't
  19. dramatis personae
    the actors in a play
  20. ensemble
    a cast other than the principals
  21. farce
    a comedy characterized by broad satire
  22. foil
    a person or thing that serves to contrast with another
  23. genre
    a class of art having a characteristic form or technique
  24. intermission
    a time during which something is temporarily stopped or delayed
  25. line
    a row of text written across a page or computer screen
  26. melodrama
    a story with characters behaving in an extreme emotional way
  27. monologue
    a dramatic speech by a single actor
  28. musical
    a play or film containing singing and dancing numbers
  29. narrator
    someone who tells a story
  30. offstage
    situated or taking place in the area of a stage not visible to the audience
  31. pantomime
    a performance using gestures and movements without words
  32. playwright
    someone who writes plays
  33. plot
    the story that is told, as in a novel, play, movie, etc.
  34. prologue
    an introductory section of a novel or other literary work
  35. prop
    an object used on the set of a play or movie
  36. proscenium
    the part of a stage between the curtain and the orchestra
  37. protagonist
    the principal character in a work of fiction
  38. scene
    a subdivision of an act of a play
  39. setting
    the context and environment in which something is situated
  40. shadow play
    a drama executed by throwing shadows on a wall
  41. soliloquy
    a dramatic speech giving the illusion of unspoken reflection
  42. stage direction
    instruction or description written in the script of a play
  43. staging
    the production of a drama on the stage
  44. theater
    a building where performances can be presented
  45. tragedy
    drama exciting terror or pity
  46. tragic flaw
    the error of a hero in a drama that leads to his downfall
Created on Wed Jan 18 15:38:18 EST 2017 (updated Wed Mar 29 15:31:35 EDT 2017)

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