Upstage Left! Downstage Right! Upstage Right! No, it’s not a weird game of Twister—it’s stage positions. Whether you’re encountering them for the first time or just need a refresher, we’re here to help you know your left from your right and your up from your down.
There’s a common misconception that stage positions are tricky or confusing—but luckily for you, they’re not. If you’re an actor onstage, stage positions are given from your perspective (stage left is on your left, stage right is on your right, and so on). If you’re a director, and therefore giving directions from the house of the theater, the only thing you need to track is that left and right are flipped.
When trying to understand the nine stage positions, it’s first helpful to imagine the stage as a grid: three sections wide by three sections deep, with each of the nine main stage positions occupying one square.
By DJSparky - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
The columns of the grid would be:
Stage Right: The half of the stage to the actor’s right.
Center Stage: The middle of the stage.
Stage Left: The half of the stage to the actor’s left.
While the rows would be (from top to bottom):
Upstage: The third of the stage that’s farthest from the audience, close to the backdrop or back wall of the stage.
Downstage: The third of the stage that’s toward the front of the stage, closest to the audience or front edge of the stage.
Center Stage: The middle third of the stage, generally equidistant from the audience and the back of the stage.
Once you have all of that down, it’s easy to see where things are going. (Having trouble visualizing? Check out a helpful chart alongside so much more about stage directions here!) Each stage direction comes with a common abbreviation, which should be useful for jotting down quickly in your script.
What are the nine main stage positions?
1. Upstage Right (UR): From the actor’s perspective, Upstage Right is located on the upper right-hand quadrant of the stage.
2. Upstage Center (UC): From the actor’s perspective, Upstage Center is located right in the center of the stage near the back wall.
3. Upstage Left (UL): From the actor’s perspective, Upstage Left is located on the upper left-hand quadrant of the stage.
4. Stage Right (SR): From the actor’s perspective, Stage Right is located on the actor’s right-hand side.
5. Center Stage (C): Breaking from the naming convention (why isn’t it Stage Center? who knows), Center Stage is where most of the main action takes place—right smack in the middle of the stage.
6. Stage Left (SL): From the actor’s perspective, Stage Left is located on the actor’s left-hand side.
7. Downstage Right (DR): From the actor’s perspective, Downstage Right is located on the lower right-hand quadrant of the stage.
8. Downstage Center (DC): From the actor’s perspective, Downstage Center is located toward the edge of the stage, neither to the left nor the right.
9. Downstage Left (DL): From the actor’s perspective, Downstage Left is located on the lower left-hand quadrant of the stage.
