PLAY WRITING GLOSSARY OF TERMS.pdf

choral music without instrumental accompaniment.
Abacus: the uppermost member of a capital of an architectural column.
Absolute Music: music free from nonmusical ideas.
Abstract/Abstraction: nonrepresentational, focusing on essence rather than appearance.
Absurdism: a style dealing with life's meaninglessness and difficulty of human communication.
Academy: the cultural and artistic establishment responsible for teaching and maintaining standards.
Accent: stress on a note in music or a device to highlight an area in visual arts.
Action Theatre: performances committed to moral and social issues to effect change.
Aerial Perspective: indicating distance in painting through light and color.
Aesthetics: the philosophy of beauty, art, and their relation to human experience.
Affective: relating to feelings or emotions.
Agent Of Change: a person or spirit producing significant change.
Aleatory: chance or accidental, used in 20th-century music incorporating elements of chance.
Allegory: a story illustrating an idea or moral principle with symbolic meanings.
Alliteration: repetition of initial sounds in words for poetic effect.
Allusion: a reference to a character or theme from another literary work.
Altarpiece: a painted or sculpted panel above or behind an altar for religious devotion.
Ambiguity: a statement with multiple meanings.
Ambulatory: a covered passage around the apse or choir of a church.
Amphitheatre: an oval or circular building enclosing a central performance area.
Amphora: a two-handled vessel for storing provisions.
Analogy: comparing two things to explain an unfamiliar idea by showing similarities.
Antagonist: a person or force opposing the protagonist in a literary work.
Anthropomorphic: attributing human characteristics to nonhuman beings or things.
Antiphonal: a responsive style of singing or playing in alternating groups.
Apse: a large niche or space projecting from an architectural form.
Arcade: a series of arches side by side.
Arch: a curved structural member supported by two legs.
Archetype: an original model or type after which similar things are patterned.
Architrave: the lowest part of the entablature resting on column capitals.
Aria: an elaborate solo song in operas, oratorios, or cantatas.
Art Deco: a decorative style emerging between World War I and II, characterized by sleek forms and straight lines.
Art Nouveau: a style of decoration and architecture with curvilinear floral forms.
Art Song: a solo musical composition for voice with piano accompaniment.
Articulation: the connection of artwork parts or production of distinct sounds in music or speech.
Artifact: an object produced or shaped by human workmanship.
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds in a literary work, especially in poetry.
Atonality: avoidance of tonal centers or keys in musical compositions.
Atrium: an open courtyard within or related to a building.
Avant-Garde: innovators whose experiments in art challenge established values.
Balance: equilibrium of opposing forces in composition.
Ballade: a verse form with a concluding line repeated in each stanza or a medieval French song.
Baroque: a 17th- and 18th-century style of art, architecture, and music that is highly ornamental.
Barrel Vault/Tunnel Vault: a series of arches enclosing space.
Basilica: a Roman building, often referring to a specific architectural style.