Page 353 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade7_Flipbook

ACTIvITy 4.15
continued
stage directions
ACAdemIC voCAbUlAry
Diagram has many different
meanings. It can be a verb and
a noun; in this case it is used
to describe a kind of pictorial
representation.
Word CoNNeCTIoNs
Etymology
The stage directions upstage and downstage come from theater history. In most modern theaters, the stage is level but the seats are “raked,” or set on an incline, so that the audience can see the stage. Early theaters took the opposite approach. The audience was on level ground but the stage itself was raked, sloping upwards from front
to back. When actors moved upstage, they literally walked up a slope on the stage. An actor at a higher point on the stage could draw the audience’s attention away from the actors downstage. This led to the figurative meaning of upstage, “to divert attention, outshine someone else.”
my Notes
Working from the Text
3. Consider the film scenes that you viewed in the previous activity. How would these scenes have been different on a stage? How does a stage limit the choices actors have in terms of how they move and position their bodies?
4. Review the image of the stage diagram. Note that stage directions are always from the actor’s perspective. You learned in Activity 4.3 that stage directions
are the instructions to actors in a drama script. In a small group, practice using and following stage directions by taking turns playing director and calling out directions to the actors, such as “Viola, move downstage left” or “Orsino, enter stage right.”
(up right)
Stage right
(down right)
UPSTAGE CENTER STAGE DOWNSTAGE
(up left)
Stage left
(down left)
326 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 7
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