Rollenfach

   Literally, "line of business." The practice of "type-casting" performers in a play or within a production company, based upon physical and vocal characteristics, was well established in the German theater by the mid-18th century. The Fach, or specialty, usually determined the contract under which a performer was hired. At the time, they included—though were not always restricted to—the Held (hero), Charakterdarsteller (character actor), Charakterkomiker (character comedian), Diener (servant), Raisonneur (confidant), jugendlicher Held (juvenile), Intrigant (heavy man/woman, villain/villainess), Liebhaber (lover), Naïf (ingenue), Salondame (walking lady), Bonvivant (walking gentleman), Narr (fool), and Soubrette (usually a saucy maid or attractive, lower-class brunette).