stage door

American  

noun

1. a door at the back or side of a theater, used by performers and theater personnel.

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stage door British  

noun

1. a door at a theatre leading backstage

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Etymology

Origin of stage door

First recorded in 1770–80

Example Sentences

Josie said she met Sleep in person years earlier, outside York Theatre Royal's stage door, to give him paintings of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky which she had created herself.

From BBC • Dec. 19, 2025

There are few movies, and almost no musicals, that depict the nasty way that fascism tends to sneak in through the stage door before announcing itself in the spotlight like 1972’s “Cabaret.”

From Salon • Jul. 13, 2025

Eventually, Carlisle and Donna walked through a stage door and had a low-key conversation with group members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart.

From Seattle Times • May 27, 2024

“It’s nice to walk in the stage door as a director,” Hallberg said, “and not feel any of those anxieties I did as a dancer.”

From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2023

She waited at the stage door after the Saturday matinee and followed him to the shabby brownstone house where he lived untheatrically in a modest furnished room.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith