Drama Vocabulary

In the Greek sense, a play that does not end in death. In modern usage, a play that is humorous

• Comedy

• Science

• Tragedy

• Fairy Tale

A minor character who does not have many or any lines

• Aside

• Actor

• Extra

• Director

In the Greek sense, a play that ends with the death with at least one of the main characters

• Fiction

• Irony

• Comedy

• Tragedy

A character or group in a drama who speaks the prologue and epilogue and comments on the action (different from a narrator)

• Chorus

• Narrator

• Extra

• Actor

General name for moments in literature involving surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions

• Irony

• Humor

• Hyperbole

• Syntax

A section of an act, usually indicates a specific location or time; ends when all characters leave the stage

• Aside

• Exit

• Scene

• Act

A contradiction between what the character thinks and what the audience or reader knows to be true

• Soliloquy

• Monologue

• Irony

• Dramatic Irony

A major section of a play, similar to a chapter in a book (or a season of a TV show), usually made up of several scenes.

• Act

• Scene

• Aside

• Chorus

The written text of a play. Usually includes a list of characters, brief descriptions of settings, and lines the characters speak.

• Monologue

• Script

• Dialogue

• Prologue

A stage direction that tells the character(s) to leave the stage in a certain directions

• Chorus

• Exit

• Enter

• Bow