Theatre Exam #2
Character Flaw
(a.k.a. fatal flaw or tragic flaw) - an inner flaw that hampers a character's good judgment and leads the character to make unfortunate choices.
Special Rehearsals
A rehearsal for a special element, such as fight scenes, musical numbers, dance numbers, or dialects.
Blocking Rehearsals
A series of rehearsals in which the director and actors work out the blocking, or the movement of the actors on stage during the play.
Production Meeting
All aspects of the production are discussed
The Difficulty of Accepting Reality
Among the most prominent and urgent themes of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is the difficulty the characters have in accepting and relating to reality. Each member of the Wingfield family is unable to overcome this difficulty, and each, as a result, withdraws into a private world of illusion where he or she finds the comfort and meaning that the real world does not seem to offer.
Disturbance
At the beginning, the basic situation often has equilibrium. In other words, the lives of the characters have achieved a certain stasis or balance - a balance that must be disturbed if there is to be conflict.
Dramaturg
Can be used in different ways; literary adviser/ historical theatre expert
The Impossibility of True Escape
Clearly, Tom views his life with his family and at the warehouse where he works as a kind of coffin—cramped, suffocating, and morbid—in which he is unfairly confined. The promise of escape haunts Tom from the beginning of the play, and in the end, he does choose to free himself from the confinement of his life. Yet, as far as he might wander from home, something still "pursue[s]" him. Like a jailbreak, Tom's escape leads him not to freedom but to the life of a fugitive.
Expressionism
Common, the audience sees the story through the mind of one character
Teasers
Curtains that frame the top of the stage
Simplified or Suggested Realism/Selective Realism (authentic vs stylized)
Designers suggest rather than duplicate the look of the period
Lighting Plots
Detail the location of each lighting instrument and where it will be focused
Ensemble
Dozens of artists and technicians, including playwrights, actors, directors, designers, painters, carpenters, drapers, stagehands, and electricians who join together to make it appear as if a performance were the product of a single creative mind.
Realism
Lifelike imitations of nature
Lip/ Apron
Modern Proscenium Arches: a part of the stage that extends into the audience's side of the picture frame
Event / inciting incident
Most plays begin with an event, an unusual incident, a special occasion, or a crisis in the characters' lives
Substitution
Occasionally, a play demands an actor to play a character with which the actor has no experience or emotional bond. The solution is sometimes the acting technique of substitution when actors replace the character's emotions with unrelated but personal emotions of their own.
General Working Rehearsals
Rehearsals during which the director and actors work on individual scenes and concentrate on understanding the characters' motivations, emotions, and personalities.
Tech Rehearsals
Rehearsals that include the lights, sound, costumes, more complex props, and final set pieces.
Run-through
Rehearsals to go through an act or the entire play from beginning to end with as few interruptions as possible to establish continuity and pacing.
Dress Parade
Showing of all the costumes once they are made
Black Box Theatres
Small, fit around 100 people and the audience and actors are right next to each other
Point of Attack
The disturbance causes the situation to deteriorate to the point where the protagonist must make a major decision (MDQ major dramatic question) that causes curiosity and suspense
Dress Rehearsals
The final rehearsals, when costumes and makeup are added. FINAL REHEARSAL
Table work:
The first step in the rehearsal process; the actors read through the play while seated around a table. Afterward, the director and actors discuss the characters, motivations, and meaning, and the designers may present their ideas to the cast.
Proscenium Arch
The most common type of theatre space-proscenium means "stage" in Latin. Originated in Italy in the 1500s. Formal, the audience is separated from the actors.
Off-book rehearsal
The rehearsal when the actors must have their lines memorized because they no long have the script ( a.k.a."book") with them on stage.
Playwrite
The root word wright comes from the Middle Ages and means "one who builds." Playwrights are so important to the process that many call them the "primary artist." Yet, when the play is produced it is unlikely that the director, actors, or designers will ever meet the playwright. In fact, the playwright is the only member of the ensemble of a production who can be long dead! Unlike the other artists in the theatre, who usually work within the ensemble, the playwright typically works alone.
The Unrelenting Power of Memory
The story that the play tells is told because of the inflexible grip it has on Tom's memory. Thus, the fact that the play exists at all is a testament to the power that memory can exert on people's lives and consciousness.
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
The trade union, affiliated with the AFL-CIO, that represents talk-show hosts as well as announcers, singers, disc jockeys, newscasters, sportscasters, and even stunt people.
Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
The union that represents film and television actors
Actors' Equity Association
The union that represents stage actors; often shortened to "Actors' Equity" or "Equity."
Stage Door
Usually located behind the theatre and has a small lobby
Gels
Were once made of gelatin but today are made of plastic and come in thousands of colors and patterns, which are called GOBOS
Given Circumstance
What are the circumstances of characters' lives? i.e., their situations, their problems and the limits life has placed on them.
Superobjective
What does a character want most? This "most important want" or superobjective becomes the driving force that governs the character's actions throughout the entire play.
Objectives
What does a character want? i.e., his/her unfulfilled needs and desires.
Triangulation
When there are three actors, or groups of actors on stage, whoever is at the upstage or downstage apex of the triangle generally takes the focus
Magic if
a Stanislavsky technique based on one question: "What would I do if I were this character in these circumstances?" To answer this question, actors must spend many hours researching a character's motivations, situation, and back story. Empathy and the magic if can lead to a deep personal understanding or to a flash of tolerance that can be mined for greater insight into the character.
Genre
a category of an artistic work that has a particular form, style, or subject matter. The most common genres are comedy and tragedy. Other genres include melodrama, realism, romanticism, expressionism and absurdism. Working within a genre means obeying its rules. Sometimes playwrights deliberately mix genres in an attempt to shock the audience, to increase irony or comic effect, or to express ideas that cannot be limited to a single genre. Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a realistic play but switches to expressionism when it enters into the mind of the main character, Willy Loman.
Repertory
a group of plays performed by a theatre company during the course of a season
Talent
a natural ability; can be born with or developed- environment helps this.
Theme
a statement about life, a central idea, or a moral; the fundamental and often universal concept explored in a work of dramatic literature. The theme of the play is more often implied than directly stated because playwrights rarely sit down to write a play about a particular theme. Consequently, the theme is often open to interpretation by audiences and readers. (Ex's of The Glass Menagerie from SparkNotes.)
Antagonist
adversary who stands in the way of the protagonist's goals
Concept Meeting
an artistic gathering held long before the play is cast; director and designers brainstorm and research all possibilities for the production
Running Crew
anyone who is helping backstage during a performance; includes STAGE HANDS, who shift scenery and set up for the next scene; DRESSERS who help the actors make quick costume changes; RIGGERS or "flymen" who mount and operate all curtains/anything that uses the fly system above the stage
Wings
areas where the actors make their entrances and set pieces can be stored
Interpretive Directors
attempt to translate the play from the page to the stage as accurately and faithfully possible.
Exposition
back story) lets the audience in on what happened to the characters before the play began.
French Scene
begins whenever a character enters or exits and continues until the next entrance or exit
Protagonist
central character who pushes forward the action of the play
Motivated Light
comes from an identifiable source such as a candle or lamp
CAD
computer aided design
Choreographer
creates the dance numbers/teaches them to the cast
Legs
curtains used on the sides
Ghost Light
dark stage is lit by a single bare lightbulb mounted on a portable pole
Mission Statement
declares in clear and concise terms the theatre's purpose and key objectives
Cast Against Type
deliberately cast actors who are the exact opposite or extremely different from what is expected
Conflict
desire + obstacle x lack of compromise = conflict
Focus
director's attempt to gain the audiences' attention and direct their gaze to a particular spot or actor
Prop Table
each prop is laid out and clearly labeled
Prop Check
ensures that everything is where it needs to be
Crisis
events that make it necessary for the character to take action
Story
everything that happens; the chronological sequence of events
Fight Director
experts at stage-fighting
Limelight
expression came from gas-powered spotlights
Thrust Stage
has a lip that protrudes so far into the auditorium that the audience has to sit on three sides of the stage
Vocal Coach
helps actors with speech clarity, volume, and preservation of their voices for the long run of the show
Cast to type
hire an actor who physically matches the role
Plot
how it fits together; the causal and logical structure that connects events
House Manager
in charge of all ushers
Artistic Director
in charge of the overall creative vision or goal of the ensemble (in charge of entire season)
Stanislavsky
individualized, psychological approach to acting became known as the Stanislavsky system, or in the U.S. method acting.
Empathy
is the ability to understand and identify with another's situation, feelings, and motives so completely that you feel you are experiencing that situation and those emotions.
Beat
is the next smaller structural unit; it is a single unit of thought
Cyclorama
large stretched curtain suspended from a U-shaped rod suggesting unlimited space
Arena Theatres
less common that proscenium or thrust stages- stage is in the center
Basic Elements of Design
line, dimension, balance, movement, harmony, color, and texture; all play into the master concept
House
lingo for place where the audience sits
Didaskalos
means "teacher" in Greek; directors were called this because they not only wrote the play but also instructed the performers and advised the designers and techinicians
Blocking
movement of actors on stage
Stage Directions
notes that indicate the physical movements of the characters
Symbols
objects, figures and colors used to represent abstract ideas and concepts/ Laura's Glass Menagerie Laura's collection of glass animals represents facets of her personality: delicate, fanciful, and somehow old-fashioned. The Glass Unicorn The glass unicorn represents Laura's peculiarity. Laura too is unusual, lonely, and ill-adapted to existence in the world in which she lives. Laura gives it to Jim as a "souvenir." The Fire Escape Leading out of the Wingfields' apartment is a fire escape with a landing: an escape from the fires of frustration and dysfunction that rage in the Wingfield household. Laura slips on the fire escape, highlighting her inability to escape from her situation. Whereas Tom, frequently steps out on the landing to smoke, anticipating his eventual getaway.
Enlightenment
occurs when the protagonist comes to understand how to defeat the antagonist
Creative Directors
often add concepts, designs, or interpretations atop the playwrights words that were never intended by the playwright
Listening
one way to understand a character is how they hear, because what is said and what is heard can be very different.
Scrims
open-mesh gauze curtains that are used to make the stage appear opaque when a scene downstage of it is lighted
Imagery
picture-making words that allow the audience to see into their imaginations.
Greenroom
place where actors wait before their entrances
Rhythm, tempo, sound
playwrights love the music of language. By not only choosing the character's words carefully but also adjusting the sounds, a playwright can reveal a character's feelings.
Techniques
procedures that have been proven to work repeatedly
Motifs
recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes. Abandonment - The plot of The Glass Menagerie is structured around a series of abandonments. Mr. Wingfield's desertion of his family determines their life situation; Jim's desertion of Laura is the center of the play's dramatic action; Tom's abandonment of his family gives him the distance that allows him to shape their story into a narrative.
Nonmotivated Light
reinforces the mood of a scene but doesn't necessarily come from an identifiable or onstage source
Complications
roadblocks that stand in the way of success
Costume Shop
rows of sewing machines, fabric cutting tables, fitting rooms, and laundry facilities
Stitchers
sew the fabric patterns together creating full costumes
Parentheticals
short descriptions to help the actor or the reader interpret a particular line of dialogue, such as: (loving) (angry) (terrified)
Movement Coach
shows actors how people moved during the Restoration- a time when graceful mannerisms were the norm
Costume Plates
sketches that help the costume construction crew to assemble the costumes
Producer/Producing Director
someone who financially backs the theatre and orchestrates through grant money and ticket sales (in charge of single show in a season)
Casting Directors
specialize in finding the right actors to fit the part
Flat
standard scenery unit made of wooden frames covered with canvas, muslin, or thin plywood (twelve to sixteen feet tall/ one to six feet wide)
Musical Director
supervises all aspects of the musical and conducts the orchestra during performances
Technical Director
supervises the construction crews, which includes painters, carpenters, electricians, stitchers, wig makers, and other who are often collectively known as the "tech crew"
Creativity
the ability to see and hear things that solve problems; a flash of enlightenment that changes the world or something smaller; instant we invent or transform something that already exists ect.
Concept Productions
the director's artistic vision or concept, dominates.
Denoument
the final outcome of the play, a short final scene that allows the audience to appreciate that the protagonist, because of the preceding events, has learned some great or humble lesson.
Subtext
the hidden meaning behind the words, the real reason a character chooses to speak. The subtext makes the line memorable
Production Concept
the metaphor, thematic idea, symbol, or allegory that will be central to the whole production
Dark Nights
the one night of the week when a play is not performed and the theatre is closed; typically Monday night.
Plot Structure
the playwright's selection of events to create a logical sequence and as a result to distill meaning from the chaos of life. Plot structure can be unique or conventional.
Climax
the point of the greatest dramatic tension in the play
Motivation
the reason a character takes a particular action. Key: the character's POV (point of view) A well-drawn character is always attempting to change negatives into positives—from his or her perspective.
Dialouge
the spoken text of the play, the words the characters say
Floor Plan
the views of the stage design from above
Elevations
the views of the stage design from front to back
Curtain
time the play starts
Call
time when actors arrive to the theatre
Draper
to study the costume designer's drawings and renderings and then find a way to cut fabric into patterns that realize the design
Inner Conflicts
unfinished business that is so compelling that it handicaps the character until it is confronted.
Rehearsal Costumes
used temporarily during rehearsals so that the actors get a feel for the actual costumes while they are being made
Set Designer
uses CAD to design a set for a production; works months in advance
Picturization
uses many visual-art principles of painting and photography in order to express the character's relationships, psychological situations, and moods at a glance
Public vs personal images
what other people see vs. how we see ourselves
The Dark Moment
when the protagonist fails for internal or external reasons, the quest collapses, and the goal seems unattainable
Sound Designer
working with various effects recordings so that everything is right
Prop Master
works on the props for the production; prop=properties, includes hand props/set props/rehearsal props
Enhancing your creativity:
• Get enough exercise and sleep. • Consider your environment. • Make the time. • Assess your motivation. • Temper your criticism.
Creative Solutions:
• Specify the problem. • Break the problem into manageable components. • Brainstorm possible solutions. • Test the solution to see if it works. One of the keys to discovering our talents and being more creative is to identify the types of intelligences in which we personally excel.
Creative people share certain characteristics:
• a burning curiosity or deep desire to know • the power to concentrate for long hours • the ability to find order where others see chaos • mental agility and the ability to find options using both convergent and divergent thinking • the willingness to take risks and accept failure