Essential Dramatic Terms and Theatrical Concepts

Posted on Mar 19, 2026 in Arts and Humanities

Dramatic Genres

Tragedy: A serious drama or literary work in which conflict between a protagonist and a superior force (often fate) concludes in disaster for the protagonist.
Comedy: A genre of dramatic literature that deals with the light or the amusing, or with the serious and profound in a light, familiar, or satiric manner.
Tragicomedy: A drama combining the qualities of tragedy and comedy.
Farce: A light, comic work using improbable situations, stereotyped characters, horseplay, and exaggeration.
Satire: In drama, the use of ridicule, irony, or sarcasm to hold up to contempt vices, follies, and abuses.
Melodrama: A genre characterized by stereotypical characters, implausible plots, and an emphasis on spectacle.
Absurdism: A philosophy arising after World War II in conflict with traditional beliefs, based on the contention that the universe is irrational and meaningless.

Performance Arts: A genre of arts comprising a multidisciplinary, live, theatrical presentation, usually involving the audience.
Monologue: An extended speech by one person.
Plot: The structure of the play.
Exposition: The aspect of plot in which necessary background information, character introductions, and the current situation are detailed.
Complication: A major part of a dramatic plot in which crises arise leading to a climax.
Crisis: A decisive moment in the action.
Climax: The highest or most important crisis, or the most forceful rhetorical moment.
Denouement: The final resolution of a dramatic or narrative plot; the events following the climax.
Foreshadowing: The organization and presentation of events that prepare the viewer or reader for something that will occur later.
Discovery: The part of the plot comprising the revelation of information about characters, personalities, relationships, and feelings.
Reversal: The part of the plot comprising a turn of fortune.

Character: The psychological motivation of the persons in the play.
Protagonist: The central personage.
Tragic Flaw: A flaw that brings about a hero’s downfall.
Theme: The dominant idea of a work of art, music, film, dance, or literature.
Spine: The motivating aspect of a character’s persona that an actor seeks to reveal by physical means.
Empathy: Identification with another’s situation; a physical reaction to events witnessed on the stage or screen.
Aesthetic Distance: The frame of reference artists create to differentiate their work from reality, involving a combination of mental and physical factors.
Property (Props): Any object other than scenery and costumes that appears on stage. Set props decorate the scenery, while hand props are used by actors and dancers.

Arena Theatre: A stage/audience arrangement in which the stage is surrounded on all sides by seats.
Thrust Stage: A production arrangement in which the audience sits on three sides of the stage.
Proscenium: A form of theatre architecture in which a frame (arch) separates the audience from the stage (picture frame stage).