Theatre Stages
Back in the olden days, the stages used to be slanted because the seating for the audience was flat and the people in the back couldn't see the performers in the back of the stage. Now the stages are flat and the seating is slated but we still use the terms upstage and downstage today. Upstage is towards the back of the stage (because that part used to be slanted up) and downstage is towards the front of the stage (because that part used to be slanted down). You may notice that the left and right are in the wrong directions. This is because the actor's left and right are different than the directors/our left and right. That means when the director is telling the actor were to go, he has to think of their left and right.
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