Show dictionary · Production Management
Wings
The wings are the offstage areas to the left and right of the playing space, hidden from the audience by masking (legs and borders). Performers stand by there, scenery and props stage there, and half the show’s operational life happens there.
In practice
Theatre wings are formalized with masking soft goods and numbered entrances ("enter in two" means the second wing opening). Concert and corporate stages improvise the same geography with scrim, drape, and equipment: monitor world, quick-change booths, and prop tables all live in the wings.
"Waiting in the wings" crossed into general English from exactly this space. Traffic discipline in the wings is a stage management art: crossing performers, moving scenery, and cable-hauling stagehands share a dark corridor on a schedule.
How you’ll hear it
"Award winners stage in the stage-left wing at the top of the segment; ASM walks them."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.