Meaning & use
Downstage
Last updated
Toward or at the front of a theater stage, nearest the audience.
See it in a sentence
The director asked the actor to move downstage so the audience could see her face.
He delivered the monologue downstage, close to the footlights.
A note on using this word
The term comes from the historical raking of stages, which sloped downward toward the audience, making the front literally the "down" part.
Words with a similar meaning
front stage
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
upstage
Another way to use it
2. adjective
Located at or relating to the front part of a stage.
She stood in the downstage spotlight for her final line.
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