PRODUCER’S PERSPECTIVE: "I threw out a word a few weeks ago that prompted a reader to pop me an email and ask, 'What the fiorello does XXXXX mean?'
So, in an attempt to prevent future emails like that from readers (and future bad musical-cussing puns from me), I thought I'd introduce a new feature on The Producer's Perspective, called Broadway Vocabulary."
8 comments:
This reminds me of Joe Pino's don't use jargon class. Speak in simple language for people who don't know theatre terms, and use those terms when you're around other theatre people who will actually understand you. However alot of these words they defined were pretty common day terms that are so in almost every business, so it surprises me that so many people don't know them. It's not like net and gross are some crazy weird acronym's that no one knows ( the preferred CMU way of confusing people.
I'm not exactly sure why this was labeled "broadway vocab", don't most of these pertain to any business or income? Apparently, some people are confused about them though. I know that many people are too scared to ask questions which they assume will be stupid, especially in terms of vocabulary. Terms used only in certain fields are easily confusing, and no one should be embarrassed to ask, but in reality, most of us are. The truth is, they are often the most crucial word in the sentence, and if one does not understand that single word, the entire instruction or note can be misunderstood. In the end, it is better to ask now, rather than to mess up a task.
It is interesting that there is Broadway Voca. But I think it does not necessary. As Mary and Syvia said, it will make confusing especially to foreigners. There are a lot of foreigners tourists and tuin New York and they want to watch broadway show. I think these term do not need existence for audience.
This seems like a very strange list. Out of all the strange terms we use in theatre, these are not even beginning to be that difficult. These are all fairly well known business terms, especially net and gross, and the other ones are not that hard to figure out. If you want to see some crazy terms, look no farther than the eSET list of scenic terms and all related names: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/db4r/public/eSET%20ScenicFab%20for%20review.pdf
now that will really boggle your mind.
While I guess that any type of jargon can be used in various situations, some of the "jargon" listed in this article really was not jargon at all. Some of the words listed (net and gross specifically) are just words that do not have a common usage since they refer to very specific things regardless of what industry you work in, and it's always the same meaning. As everyone above me has commented, I'm sure that Broadway, being somewhat beyond theater, has even more jargon then traditional theater can shake a stick at, but this list would be just miscellaneous words that aren't really even theater specific mostly.
I love jargon. It is part of the reason I like theater. When I am working on the deck, it is like I am speaking another language. One day, when I have sold my soul to the devil and am working in theater management and production (instead of fearing bricks falling onto my head down on the deck), I am actually glad I will get to use new jargon that will still distance me from the rest of the world.
While most of the items on this short list are terms that do not necessarily apply to theatre exclusively, it is really nice to see these terms defined in relation to how they are used in theatre. Just like we kidnap many construction materials and practices and use them in ways that would make construction workers cringe, we also use everyday vocabulary and assign very specific and “jargonish” meaning to it. Every profession has its own language and thus requires some integration time in order to understand what is being said. However, because theatre is a combination of construction, architecture, physics, chemistry, art, electronics, sound, and may other areas, the amount of language is extraordinary.
This is a funny article because I agree with Sylvianne, it seems that this guy's vocab lesson is on word that would go for any business. He should have just asked if he was confused. How can he do his job right if he has no idea what his coworkers are talking about. I thought that this article would be more interesting but I was wrong.
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