Toward the front of a theater stage, closer to the audience; the front area of a stage where actors perform.
Theater terminology from the 19th century, combining 'down' (from stage geography where 'down' means toward the audience) and 'stage.' This inverted meaning bewilders many non-theater people.
It's wild that in theater, 'down' means toward the audience while 'up' means away from them—the opposite of geography. This happened because theaters were built on sloped floors, so the stage literally tilted down toward viewers!
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