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Imagine standing on stage during rehearsal, and your director yells, "Move right!" Do you move to your right, or to the director's right?
In the theatre world, guessing wrong can ruin an entire scene, which is why actors and directors use a shared coordinate system.

The Actor's Perspective

Stage directions are always from the perspective of the actor facing the audience.
Stage right is to the actor's right side, while stage left is to the actor's left side.
What about moving closer to the crowd or stepping back? Why do directors call those moves "up" and "down" on a flat floor?

Historical Origin of Upstage and Downstage

The historical origin of upstage and downstage comes from Renaissance and Elizabethan theatres, which used a tilted, raked stage sloping downward toward the audience.
Walking away from the audience literally meant walking up a hill to upstage, while walking toward the audience meant walking down to downstage.
Now that we know left, right, up, and down, how do we combine them to pinpoint any exact spot on the stage?

The 9 Stage Areas