Theater terminology tells an unseen story.

When an audience observes a performance, there’s a good chance they’re not contemplating the Greek origins of several terms used to prepare for a production. That same audience might not even know about their existence.

We caught up with the cast of Children’s Theatre of Charlotte’s 70th anniversary opener “Mary Poppins” to discuss things like blocking and sitzeprobe. Try these on for size before your next trip to the theater.

“Most of the terminology was started way back in the Greek period when we decided what center stage was, what upstage was, what downstage was,” said Michael Bobbitt, Adventure Theatre MTC’s artistic director. “Back in the day, theater used to always be on a rigged stage. So upstage was literally upstage, but actors, when they train for this, they sort of have experience with the terminology.”

Stage right or stage left:

“It’s not the audience’s perspective,” Bobbitt said. “It’s the actor’s perspective. So if I tell an actor to go to stage right, when an actor is facing an audience, they go to their right, which is actually the audience’s left. It can be kind of fun when we make those sort of mistakes.”

Blocking:

“Blocking is pretty much just your placement on stage,” said Janeta Jackson, who plays Mary Poppins. “Where do you go? Where do you stand?”

Said Haley Vogel, who plays Jane (as does Lydia Farr): “You’re forming a picture.”

Tech rehearsals:

“Tech rehearsals—that’s incorporating all of the technical elements of the show; the lights, the sound, the projection, all of the cues,” Jackson said.

Said CTC artistic director Adam Burke: “It’s short for technical, but when you say ‘tech rehearsals,’ it means the time when we introduce all the technical elements into the process.”  

Sitzeprobe:

“We also have something called a sitzeprobe, which is a music rehearsal with the orchestra,” Jackson said. “That’s one a lot of people don’t know.

Quick change rehearsals:

“It’s the time that our wardrobe crew gets involved,” Burke said. “All of those changes when an actor has to go offstage and come back on in let’s say 30 seconds. Let’s say they have a costume change and wig change. They need a costume crew to work with them, and to get that to where it’s, say a 15-second change as opposed to a two-minute change.”

Note: “Mary Poppins” runs until Oct. 29 at  the McColl Family Theatre.

On the Net:
www.ctcharlotte.org

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