An ASC Glossary: Words and Phrases to Know

After my first week at the ASC, there are some new words and phrases that I've learned. Or, if they're not entirely new, words that have come to mean something slightly new or different.

Ren Run
Short for "Renaissance Run." A ren run is the first run of a show that the actors put together on their own. They have no one director's input but put the show together themselves, hearkening back to the tradition of actors' renaissance.

Actors' Renaissance
In England in the 1500s, actors that were hired became a part of a troupe or repertory company and always had roles to play within the company. The actors not only acted, but came together and managed themselves as a company--they had little to no other staff. They would have many shows in their repertoire and had to be ready to perform virtually any piece at any time. The ASC operates using this model to some degree, though they do have artistic directors, stage managers, and other staff.

Paraphrasing
After the ren run, rehearsals start. The actors and director work through scene by scene. They start with table work for the scene, and the first thing they do is paraphrasing. Each actor has, on his or her own time, gone through all their lines and paraphrased them. Usually, they've used a thesaurus and traded out important nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Proper nouns, some pronouns, and prepositions are usually allowed to remain, as well as some other words in certain cases. This is such an important piece of the rehearsal process that the guidelines for paraphrasing are included in the actors' contracts. After reading through the scene with each actor's paraphrases, they go back and read through the scene focusing on scansion.

Scansion
Scansion refers to the process of analyzing the meter of verse. If you've gone through high school English, you probably know that much of Shakespeare's plays are written in blank verse, and, more specifically, in iambic pentameter. This means there are usually ten syllables with alternating stress on every other syllable (five iambs--an iamb consisting of one unstressed and one stressed syllable). For example:

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

It can be divided up into ten syllables -

But / soft, / what / light / through / yon- / der / win- / dow / breaks?

And every other syllable is stressed -

But / SOFT, / what / LIGHT / through / YON- / der / WIN- / dow / BREAKS?

So, divided into iambs, it would look like this -

But SOFT, / what LIGHT / through YON- / der WIN- / dow BREAKS?

This line is regular, and has a strong ending. A line like Hamlet's--

To BE, / or NOT / to BE: / that IS / the QUEST- / ion:

is still referred to as regular, even though it has eleven syllables, but we say it has a weak ending. There are also several different kinds of irregularities, and I won't go into detail, but they're called caesuras, trochees, spondees, anapests, dactyls, and there's another called a pyrrhus.

Not ALL of the play is written in verse. The noble characters most often speak in verse, while fools, clowns, and other peasant characters often speak in prose. Whether a character speaks in prose or in verse is a big clue about what Shakespeare intended when writing the character. Also, the way the meter reads (the scansion) gives clues about ways to portray the characters. Sometimes, if the line has irregularities or is short, it's a hint about something about the character. From the Encyclopedia Britannica: "The purpose of scansion is to enhance the reader's sensitivity to the ways in which rhythmic elements in a poem convey meaning. Deviations in a poem's metrical pattern are often significant to its meaning." I have a lot still to learn about scansion, and verse in general, but that's what I can say for now.

Homoeroticism
This has become a very important word for the season of shows I happen to be working on at ASC. The actors and director have commented several times that a couple of the shows have a significant amount of "man love" going on. Two Gents is one of those shows, as Valentine, in the end, immediately forgives his best friend without a second thought. (His best friend who, not a moment before, was about to rape his girlfriend.) So, the word of choice is "homoeroticism." They don't gloss over it, but they also don't purposely highlight it in the way they stage the shows. They just play it like it is.


Vaudeville
I'm discovering that it's essential to be familiar with Vaudeville in order to be an actor here. The clowns' parts especially are laced with Vaudevillian comedy techniques.

Prithee
I already mentioned this in a previous post, but instead of calling "Line!" when actors can't remember their lines, they call "Prithee?" which of course sounds a little bit more Shakespearean.

Pay What You Will
The first previews and opening nights here at the ASC are what they call "Pay What You Will"--donation-only performances.

Gallants' Stools
In Shakespeare's day, patrons of the theatre could pay extra to actually sit ON the stage while the performance was going on. The advantages were, of course, that you were up close and personal with the action of the play, and, secondarily, since you were rich, you had fabulous clothes to show off and if you sat up on the stage, everybody could see you and your fabulous fashion. Similarly, here, there are stools on the stage that patrons can sit on during performances--gallants' stools--though at the ASC they don't cost any more than any other seat, you just have to request them. I haven't gotten a chance to sit on stage yet, but it would be cool to before I leave.

Sirrah
This word is not pronounced "serr-ah." It's "seer-ah."

Milan
I've always heard this one pronounced Mil-AHN, with the emphasis on the last syllable. Here, it's MILL-un, with the emphasis on the first syllable.

iPads
EVERYONE HERE HAS THEM. Seriously, every single person.


I may have subsequent posts adding on to my glossary as I learn new words and phrases, but that's it for now.