Stage Directions Chart

Grade level

Grades 2–5

Time

About 10 minutes

Topic

The stage and stage directions

Answer key

Not needed: answers vary

Kids practice

Naming the nine stage areas, Telling stage left from stage right, Following stage directions, Reading a stage plan

What kids do

Printed on the sheet:

1. Stage directions name the parts of the stage from the actor’s side. Stage right is the actor’s right hand side when they face the audience, and stage left is the actor’s left. For the audience it is the other way around.
2. Upstage is the back of the stage, away from the audience. Downstage is the front, closest to the audience. Long ago many stages sloped up toward the back so the audience could see better, so actors really did walk up to go upstage.
3. The nine stage areas

Words on this sheet

ReadUpstage rightusrUpstage centeruscUpstage leftuslStage rightSRCenter stageCSStage leftSLDownstage rightdsrDownstage centerdscDownstage leftdsl

Teacher tip

Stand at the front of the room facing the class and point to your own right hand as you say “stage right.” Then turn around so kids see why it is on the audience’s left.

How to use it

• Tape a grid of nine areas on the floor and let kids walk to each one as you call it.
• Keep the Stage Directions Chart out while kids do the other sheets.
• Read the box at the top of the sheet together, then try the first item out loud as a class.

Watch for

Thinking upstage means higher up. It means the back of the stage.

Talk about it

• Why is the back of the stage called upstage?
• How did the audience know how your character felt?

Take it further

Have kids write blocking for a scene from a reader’s theater script.

US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.