Theatre Appreciation Midterm

Rake

(1) To position scenery on a slant or at an angle other than parallel or perpendicular to the curtain line. (2) An upward slope of the stage floor away from the audience.

Limited time

- the time it takes for the play (1-3 hours) -the time limit within the play (it could be a few hours, days or longer but there is a limit)

strongly opposed forces

-two opposing individuals or groups (Like Capulets and Montagues in Romeo and Juliet) -there is a balance of Forces among the groups of individuals

Climactic structure

1. plot begins late in story 2. begins at climactic-heightened moment 3. limited scenes and characters

Stock characters

2 dimensional example: the absent minded professor, dumb blonde

Extraordinary characters

3 dimensional characters; fully rounded

Arena Stage

A stage completely surrounded by the audience; aka circle theatre or theatre in the round

black box

A theatre space that is open, flexible, and adaptable, usually without fixed seating. The stage-audience configuration can be rearranged to suit the individual requirements of a given production, making it both economical and particularly well suited to experimental work.

The psychological or physical separation existing between the performer and the audience is called

Aesthetic distance

Proscenium

Arch or frame surrounding the stage opening in a box or picture stage.

List at least three non realistic techniques that might be used in a theatrical production

Costumes, makeup, scenery, characters, acting

Incentives and motivation-reasons for the characters to act

Examples -Helen Keller resists learning bc she hasn't been made to obey -but later, Helen has reason to obey bc if she doesn't she is punished by the new teacher, Annie Sullivan -Annie the teacher, desires to succeed so she won't lose her job and bc she truly cares for Helen and wants her to learn

Another name for thrust stage is fourth wall (T/F)

False

Both the auteur and the post modern director revere the playwrights texts and would never think of tampering with it (T/F)

False

In Bunkaru puppet theatre, two people are used to manipulate the puppet (T/F)

False

In absurdist theatre, stage designers attempt to portray a slice-of-life (T/F)

False

In an allegory, characters resemble people in every day life (T/F)

False

Kabuki drama was for more dignified smaller audiences (T/F)

False

Musical theatre sets adhere to naturalism or slice-of-life designs (T/F)

False

Naturalism uses skeletal or suggestive set pieces (T/F)

False

One advantage of proscenium stage is the intimacy it encourages (T/F)

False

The lead puppeteer in Bunkaru, controls the left hand and feet (T/F)

False

Theatre focuses on shapes colors and forms (T/F)

False

Theatre is not transitory or immediate (T/F)

False

Dramaturg/Literary Manager

German word for "dramatic advisor". On the staff of a theatre, a person who consults with and advisees directors, writes program notes, and edits scripts

Flashback (pg 16)

In a narrative or story, movement back to a time in the past to show a scene or an event before the narrative resumes at the point at which it was interrupted; abrupt movements from the present to the past and back again

All of the following playwrights help bring realism to the stage except

Lewis Carol

wings

Offstage spaces to the sides of the acting area

What happens at the end of An Enemy of the People? Is the Doctor's honesty rewarded?

People angrily riot at doctor's house and he is not rewarded

The slant of an auditorium is called a

Rake

Combination of Climactic and Episodic

Ritual structure - ceremonial events - often religious (with beginning, middle and end) Serial structure - series of acts/episodes (strung together like a necklace) Example: musical revue - short scenes, skits, dance numbers in one program (Wonderettes) Avante Garde theatre: nonverbal theatre; improvisational theatre (breaking with traditional) Tableaux - static scene onstage Musical Theatre— · spoken scenes · followed by songs · dance routines

The primary objective of the play is also called the...

Spine

the magic if (pg. 78)

Stanislavski's acting exercise that requires the performer to ask "How would I react if I were in this character's position?"

emotional recall

Stanislavski's exercise that helps the performer present realistic emotions. The performer feels a character's emotion by thinking of an event in his or her own life that led to a similar emotion.

The following were all demands Greek actors faced except...

They were body suits

In The Glass Menagerie the story is told by ___ point of view

Tom's

A cashier at walmart is a "social role" some play (T/F)

True

Arena stages are not very adaptable, hence their wane in popularity (T/F)

True

Art is not created in a vacuum (T/F)

True

During Shakespeare's time, heroines were acted by young men and boys

True

Elizabethan plays often shifted local and time periods unlike greek productions (T/F)

True

Expressionistic plays attempt to portray inward emotions using outward techniques (T/F)

True

If you choose to play a martyr and always give in to your friend's wishes, you are acting out a personal rather than a social role (T/F)

True

In Greek dramas, violent acts such as suicides or murders usually appear offstage (T/F)

True

Initially, Kabuki theatre was started by women but later females were banned from the theatre (T/F)

True

Kabuki drama means "song/dance/skill" (T/F)

True

Most Broadway style theatres are proscenium stages (T/F)

True

NO theatre uses masks to convey characters while kabuki theatre relies upon stylized makeup

True

The "magic if" helps actors use their imagination to put themselves in the shoes of their character (T/F)

True

The "super objective" is what the character wants overall (T/F)

True

The Glass Menagerie is an autobiographical play which closely resembles Tennessee Williams own family life (T/F)

True

The greatest difference between a film and theatrical performance is the performer-audience relationship (T/F)

True

Traditional directors are script-based and remain true to the playwrights intent (T/F)

True

When selecting a script, the director should consider not only the audience but also personal preferences (T/F)

True

pantomime

a form of theatrical presentation that relies on dance, gesture, and physical movement without speech

soliloquy

a speech given by a character alone on stage and speaks inner thoughts aloud

found space

a theatre space suitable for performances but not originally designed to be a theatre.

Nora, the female lead character in Ibsen's The Doll's House, shocked audiences bc she

admits she doesn't know what she believes in religion, confesses that she no longer loves her husband, and leaves her husband and children

apron

an additional stage portion, added in front of the proscenium arch

Actors on stage differ with real life in that they....

are always observed, are playing a role, and may represent a symbol or non realistic element

A multipurpose theatre space where lighting, staging, and seating are flexible is called

black box

realism (pg. 19)

broadly, an attempt to present onstage people, places, and events corresponding to those in every day life

The point of highest intensity in a play is called the

climax

Nonrealism

departures from realism. means all types of theatre that depart from observable reality

When I recollect in my past teaching, experiences w difficult children as I played the roll of Annie Sullivan in the play The Miracle Worker, I was using Stanislavski's technique called

emotional recall

The opening scene of a play provides ___

exposition - setting and tone and style of the play and the start of action.

In Kabuki, stylized acting includes a 3 step dramatic mie which involves spreading the legs, spreading the body, wiggling, and moving the ____ in exaggerated ways

eyes

In The Importance of Being Ernest, Oscar Wilde satirizes Southern culture (T/F)

false

Commedia dell'arte

filled with well-known stock characters, started in Italy in 16th and 17th centuries ~characters: stock, divided into servants and ruling classes

Quick movements from the present to the past and back again in theatre or film are called

flashbacks

A ____ researches a play and provides educational material for student audiences

literary manager

Protagonist

main character

Antagonist

main character's chief opponent

An Enemy of the People has

multiple sets

When choosing a script, a director considers all but the following

non-realistic elements

Narrator (chorus)

o Talks directly to the audience o Can also be a character in the play (ex: Tom Wingfield) o Comments on the play's actions Presents a moral judgment

To make the play interesting-worth watching- a good playwright adds ___ along the way to goals. The playwright may add _____(new forces/twists in plot)

obstacles, complications

Representative/quintessential characters

people from every day life; they serve as representatives for others

According to Stanislavski, the key to realistic acting is to incorporate

physical actions

To better appreciate a play, viewers can learn more about the ____ and ___

playwright and background of the period

The angle at which the story is told is called the

point of view

This type of director believes in cross gender and multiculture casting

post-modern

The theatre ___ usually works for a TV station, newspaper, or a magazine and reports on what has occurred at the the theatre

reviewer

We act in everyday life through imitation and ____

role playing

Symbol (pg. 17)

sign, token, or emblem that signifies something else; visual embodiment of something invisible

Limited space

sometimes, as in the play "Night, Mother" , the play is limited to one room in a rural home, but at the other times there may be multiple sets as in "The Sound of Music". But due to the time and space constraints, there are only a limited number of places covered

the spine of the play

spine of the drama, main action; determined by the goal, or the primary objective of the characters in the play both collectively and individually

thrust stage

stage space that thrusts into the audience space; a stage surrounded on three sides by audience seating

A ____ stands for something else. For example, the fire escape in the Glass Menagerie is used to illustrate the character's escape

symbol

During the Roman period, traveling, acting troupes had to do all but the following

tap dance

fourth wall

the imaginary wall through which the audience views the play

Which of the following attempts to go into greater detail in describing or analyzing a theatrical event

theatre critic

A theatre critique usually has more ______ than a reviewer

theatrical knowledge

Japanese theatre stages use a form of the ___ stage

thrust

On which shaped theatre stage did Elizabethan (Shakespearean) plays originally appear?

thrust

The ____ stage was developed by the Greeks?

thrust

Which U-shaped stage borrows the best of two worlds from other stage shapes

thrust

house

where the audience sits

Renaisance actors faced all of the following challenges except for

working w the opposite sex in changing roles

Episodic Structure

· Can cover numerous locations. · Short scenes may alternate with longer ones. · May be parallel plots/subplots. (Ex: King Lear - King has 3 daughters - one good and 2 evil. There is a subplot about the Earl of Gloucester - who has 2 sons (one disloyal and one loyal.) · Use of contrast: o Short scenes followed by longer ones. o Tragic scenes followed by comic ones. · Events pile up, one afer another, like a tidal wave.