Intermission
Encyclopedia
An intermission or interval (British English) is a recess between parts of a performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...

 or production, such as for a theatrical play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

, or film screening
Film screening
A film screening is the displaying of a motion picture or film, generally referring to a special showing as part of a film's production and release cycle...

.

Originally intended with breaks for the actors or speakers in mind, intermissions have become an opportunity for the audience to socialize, purchase and consume refreshments, or use the restrooms. They are also often an opportunity for the audience to buy merchandise related to the show such as CDs, programs, art/photography prints and other paraphernalia. As a result, intermissions can have an important financial function for some venues. Some halls allow patrons to return to their seats with purchased refreshments.

Intermissions usually last between fifteen to thirty minutes, and there are different methods to signal to the audience to return to their seats. The traditional method at an opera or symphonic concert is to flash the house lights several times, or to have a person with a handheld glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...

 walk about the crowd, playing a four note chime. In more modern theatres, a brief chime through the public address system
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...

 is used.

An intermission is also often billed as an entr'acte
Entr'acte
' is French for "between the acts" . It can mean a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonymous to an intermission, but it more often indicates a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production...

 (French: "between acts").

The intermission during several team sports games such American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 is called halftime. During regular games, the cheerleaders of the different teams usually perform for their side of the stadium. During the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

, elaborate halftime show
Halftime show
A halftime show is a performance given during halftime, the period between the first and second halves, or the second and third quarters, of a sporting event. Halftime shows are not given for sports with an irregular or indeterminate number of divisions , or for sports that do not have an extended...

s are also performed. Intermissions in ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

are breaks between the three periods of play. Both intermissions in hockey and halftimes in other sports allow spectators to get up and walk around without missing any game action.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK