Glossary of Set Design Terms

Auditorium The part of a theatre, concert hall, or other space in which the audience sits. Audience configuration refers to the placing of the audience in relation to the performing space.

Backdrop A flat surface, the width of the stage, on which a scenic design is painted or projected. It is hung upstage of the acting area; sometimes also called a backcloth. See also cyclorama.

Black box A one-room theatre, without a proscenium arch; interior is painted black, including walls, floor and ceiling, and any drapes are also black. Typically used for small-scale studio productions. 

Box set       A set with three walls leaving the fourth wall to be imagined. The box set can represent a real room with doors and windows that work.

Cloth   A piece of painted or plain scenic canvas. A backcloth (or backdrop) hangs at the rear of a scene. A floorcloth or stagecloth is a painted canvas sheet placed on the stage floor to mark out the acting area, or to achieve a particular effect.

Cyclorama   A fabric drop hung from a curved or segmented bar, or a curved wall at the back of the stage, upon which light can be cast to create effects (cyc for short).

Design elements A general term to refer to props, costume, set, lighting and sound.

End on Traditional audience seating layout where the audience is facing the stage from the same direction. This seating layout is that of a proscenium arch theatre. See also theatre-in-the-round, thrust, traverse.

Flat A wooden frame, usually covered with painted cloth, used to create walls or separations on stage.

Forth wall The illusion of an invisible wall of a set through which the audience sees the action of the play. Breaking the fourth wall refers to the moment when an actor directly addresses the audience through the fourth wall, breaking the illusion.

Proscenium A frame or arch separating the stage from the auditorium. The proscenium opening was of particular importance to the Realistic playwrights of the nineteenth century, such as Ibsen and Shaw, for whom it was a picture frame or an imaginary fourth wall through which the audience experienced the illusion of spying on the characters.

Scenery The theatrical equipment used in a dramatic production to communicate environment or represent a real place. Examples of scenery include curtains, flats, backdrops or platforms.

Set The physical surroundings visible to the audience, in which the action of the play takes place.

Set designer The person who designs the physical surroundings in which the action of the play takes place.

Setting When and where the action of a play takes place.

Theatre-in-the-round An acting area or stage that may be viewed from all sides simultaneously. See also end on, thrust, traverse.

Thrust A stage that extends into the audience area, with seats on three sides of a ‘T’-shaped acting space. See also end on, theatre-in-the-round, traverse.

Traverse Form of staging where the audience is on either side of the acting area. See also end on, theatre-in-the-round, thrust.

Wings Offstage areas to the right and left of the acting area on a proscenium or end on stage.