The performer’s attempt to exploit the capacity of the spectator to relate to the characters and situations on stage as different from themselves.

These are accepted codes of communication and interaction between performers and spectators for the duration of a performance that enhance storytelling.

This is any theatrical tradition that preserves conventions of staging, music, dance, masks, and acting/characterizations passed down orally, generation-to-generation, rooted in the belief systems of tightly-knit communities.

The main or most prominent character whose decisions drive the action of the play from beginning to end.

This art form is live, ephemeral, collaborative, a synthesis of many other art forms; a mirror of life that is not necessarily an exact replica of the “real” world.

These are six forces underlying the diversity of today’s theatre.

This is a style of theatre where the stage world is presented as a believable, alternate reality; where things happen much as they would in life and people behave in seemingly natural ways.

This type of dramatic structure has a small number of characters, one plot line, one setting, and a very compressed action timeline.

A character who directly thwarts the desires of the lead character.

This is a euro-centric theatrical tradition based on a written text, meant to be reinterpreted by different artists at different times and in different places.

The performer’s attempt to exploit the capacity of the spectator to identify emotionally with a character through a recognition of similarity.

This is a configuration of a theatre space where audience members sit on three sides of the stage that is a raised platform.

This type of dramatic structure has a main plot and several subplots; many characters; ranges over several different locations and time frames, such as weeks, months or years.