What is Upstage?
Upstage refers to the direction away from the audience in a proscenium setting, opposite of Downstage which is toward the audience. The definition comes from the days of raked stage floors but the term stuck around to standardize referring to stage directions. Upstage refers to a fixed direction for everyone involved in the production, which is helpful since different people are always facing opposite directions.
Upstage is also used in an acting sense to refer to someone pulling focus away from something or someone else. See the Upstage (Acting) definition for more.
What are the other Stage Directions?
As already stated, upstage is away from the audience, and downstage is toward the audience. there is also Stage Right and Stage Left, which refer to the right and left of a person standing on stage looking out at the audience. For more information on stage directions and their use, see my guide to stage directions.
Examples of Upstage
This map of a stage and how to refer to each spot on is is helpful for visualizing these locations.
Upstage used in a sentence: “Mark, you can deliver that first line a few steps further upstage next time so you have more room to come towards us during the rest of the scene.”
Where does the term Upstage come from?
Beginning in the 18th century, theatre designers began looking for a solution to the problem of sight lines and seeing everyone no matter where on stage they stood. They solved the problem by raising the back edge of the stage which allowed actors in the back to be seen over those in the front. This is referred to as a raked stage floor.
Because of the angled stage, actors walking away from the audience literally walked up the stage. Eventually raked stage floors fell out of favor for safety and technical reasons, but the term stuck around as a standard way to refer to stage directions.
Other ways to refer to Upstage
In blocking notation, Upstage is abbreviated as “US“. Another common way to refer to this is by saying something is “Above” something else. Other than these other methods, using the full term Upstage is the clearest way to avoid confusion and save time.
Although these ways aren’t as clear, people often shorten the full term to simply “UP” when it’s obvious the stage direction is meant. That can be easily confused with meaning ‘step towards me’ causing someone to step downstage. The term “back” can also be used if someone is facing downstage and you ask them to ‘step back’, this again invites confusion with ‘backward’ where someone might turn then step stage left or right. Because non-standard references to directions can be unclear, I don’t recommend using these other terms unless in specific situations.
