ew entrant upon the real stage will
absorb in time, but with the help of my condensed explanation herein
no one who reads need appear lost or totally bewildered in the new
environment back of the curtain line.

Let me tell you some of the important things that every pupil of mine
who contemplates a professional career should know about the theatre,
the building itself and the stage upon which you expect to present
your offerings to the public.

[Illustration: _Proscenium Arch, the Frame of the Stage Pictures_]

In the first place, the theatre building is divided into two parts,
the auditorium and the stage. The dividing line is known as the
curtain line. In stage parlance the auditorium side of the dividing
line is the "front of the house," or "out front," and the stage side
is always "back stage."

The proscenium arch of the stage makes the frame for the pictures on
the stage. "The opening" means to the professional the width across
stage at the proscenium arch, and varies according to the size of the
auditorium and the line of sight of the auditors. It may be thirty
feet, forty, or even more, as is the case in the New York Hippodrome
and other large city theatres. The height is sometimes the same as the
width, or slightly less, the complete frame of the arch being usually
of an oblong shape, possibly thirty-five feet wide and twenty-five
feet high.

[Illustration: _Diagram of a Modern Theatre_]

The fire laws require a fireproof curtain, which is on the outer or
audience side of the two or more curtains that hang on the stage side
of the proscenium arch. Next to this asbestos affair is the "act
curtain," that raises and lowers, and is usually painted on
fire-proofed or heavy duck canvas. There may be used instead or in
addition to the act curtain, what is known as a tableau curtain, that
works in a traveler above, which can be drawn straight off stage, both
ways, parting in the middle, or be pulled to a drape at each side.
This is always made of material and sometimes painted in aniline dye;
if painted in water color or oil it would crack.

There is never any curtain in front of "the arch" or proscenium. The
footlights and the apron are in front of the fireproof curtain. The
apron may be deep or shallow, and at its front edge is the footlight
trough and a masking piece, fireproof always, to shield the eyes of
the audience and reflect the footlights onto the stage. The footlights
follow the front curvature of