Theater Midterm 1

Which special aspect of play production usually makes theatre a bit more democratic than film or television?

A playwright creates and controls a script, the director casts and advises the actors, each of whom gives unique performances every night.

The running crew includes which of the following jobs:

All of these are running crew jobs.

Producing a large-scale production, such as a musical, may include which of the following theatre professionals?

All of these may be included.

Which of the following is considered a spatial art?

Architecture

Which of the following philosophers would agree with the statement: "Theatre is therapy for the soul."

Aristotle

In a repertory theatre, which two of following members of a theatre ensemble carry the most responsibility for getting the administrative, creative, construction, and production teams on the same page to produce what appears to be an effortless theatre experience?

Artistic Director, Stage Manager

Which of the following examples is a way of earning money in traditional television?

CBS sells commercial time for Cheerios during weekly airings of The Big Bang Theory.

Art generally conveys three main ideas. Which is not one of them?

Collaboration

Which of the following terms is defined as the key to the movement of a story and is what qualifies a theatrical work as a "play"?

Conflict

Which members of the theatre ensemble participate in concept meetings?

Director and designers

A work that ignores common standards of technique and beauty, that reflects no skill, that offends viewer's sensibilities, and is practically impossible to comprehend cannot be considered art.

False

Artists create because they want to reinforce the audience's values; entertainers create primarily to express themselves.

False

Non-profit theatres receive about 41 percent of their funding from , outside federal, state, and local government sources.

False

Screen actors require more training and rehearsal hours than stage actors.

False

To a certain extent, all works of art share five basic qualities: (1) they are created by humans, (2) they create consensus, (3) they have a subject, (4) they use a medium, and (5) they are structured.

False

Hannah is a young actress just beginning her career in staged plays and in televised dramas. Which of the following situations will Hannah likely face as a theatre actress, but not as a screen actress?

Hannah must perform all of her scenes in sequence

Which of the following is not true of a "rehearsal report"?

It is written by the director.

Which American president earned the bipartisan support needed to create the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)?

John F. Kennedy

Which of the following is not an obstacle to funding a non-Broadway theatre production?

Most plays require ever-increasing technological innovations, but the cost is high.

This theatre professional financially backs the theatre or orchestrates funding through grant money and ticket sales.

Producer

Which of the following members of the theatre ensemble manage the budget?

Producer, artistic director

This theatre professional designs, builds or purchases all the objects the actors handle while on stage, such as pens, fans, cigars, and umbrellas.

Prop Master

This department of the theatre company promotes the plays, which might include setting up an interview with the director at the local radio station or arranging times for actors to tour area schools as a part of the theatre's outreach program.

Publicity department

This theatre professional often uses a computer to aid in creating the stage elements that make up the physical appearance of the stage.

Set Designer

This theatre professional designs and records various effects that range from synthesized rhythms and pre-show music, to the noises of the onstage doorbell or offstage ambulance sirens.

Sound Designer

This theatre professional not only runs the show during the performance but also helps the director throughout the rehearsal process by taking notes, recording blocking, scheduling rehearsals, and assisting during auditions.

Stage Manager

The __________ of a work of art is what the work is about, what it reflects or attempts to comprehend.

Subject

This theatre professional supervises the construction crews, as well deals with the designers' drawings, paintings, blueprints, scale models, and sketches.

Technical Director

What is the last thing to happen just before the theatre doors are locked for the night?

The ghost light is rolled onto the stage.

Which of the following requires an audience's active participation?

Theatre

In general, who has the most control of the content in a theatre production?

Those who control the funding

Which of the following is a job of the house manager?

To deal with any seating problems and to make sure the play begins on time.

As long as theatre remains locally funded and controlled, a wealth of opinions can be expressed.

True

Communication flows in only one direction during screen entertainment.

True

Every time artists make a choice about what aspect of existence to select and arrange, they express a value judgment and reveal their beliefs. Because of this, art is inherently political.

True

In the movie You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the AOL jingle plays when either gets an email. This is a source of revenue for the makers of movie and television productions

True

The duties of the dramaturg may include acting as a literary advisor or serving as the expert in theatre history who helps the director understand specifics about a play's performance history.

True

Theatre and drama have three qualities that make them unique art forms: the performance is always live, its always about human beings, and its collaborative.

True

Which term describes the principles, standards, or qualities considered worthwhile or desirable within a given society?

Values

Unlike playwrights, Hollywood film and TV writers do not retain the rights to their scripts, but sell their words outright. These writers are known as:

Writers for hire

There is a primal relationship between a theatre audience and the actors because of their physical proximity and the power the audience has to affect the actors' performances. This immediate nature of theatre is why it often is called ________.

a "living art"

In his book, The Empty Space, what three elements does Peter Brook say are needed for theatre to occur?

b. An empty space / someone to walk across it / someone to watch

This theatre professional is in charge of the overall creative vision or goal of the ensemble. This person will often choose which plays to produce, who will direct them, and who will design them.

b. Artistic Director

Which of the following types of plays break down the barriers and push the limits of traditional theatre by eliminating the actor/audience relationship or by trying out new staging techniques?

b. Experimental theatre

Artists create the perception of order in many ways. Which of the following is not one of them?

c. By meticulously creating a slavish copy or an exact replica of visual media

When was the first text written about how to write a play?

c. Circa-350 BC

Big budget Broadway musicals like Chicago, that are designed to appeal to the majority of people, can best be described as ____________________.

c. commercial theatre

The time the actors arrive at the theatre is known as their ____________________, and the time the play starts is called ____________________.

call / curtain

A ___________is a legal guarantee granted by the government to authors and other artists that allows them to maintain control and profit from their creative works.

copyright

This theatre professional reads and evaluates scripts, acting as a liaison between playwrights, agents, and the theatre. This person often writes grant applications to help support new play development and stage readings of new plays.

d. Literary Manager

Which category of theatre allows playwrights, directors, and actors to express their personal opinions about current issues and might even ask the audience to join them in calling for social change?

d. Political theatre

Good entertainment, as opposed to good art, likely does all of the following except:

d. challenges the audience's values

Because artists infuse their beliefs into their work, and are apt to state an opinion that may challenge an audience's values and deconstruct their preconceptions, many artists are likely to become involved in______________.

d. political activities

Film is often called a _____________________medium because this artist has a great deal of creative control.

director's

Songs, plays, pictures, etc. that are ____________________are owned by the general public, and everyone has the right to produce or change them, without permission or payment to the creator.

in the public domain

A theatre's ____________________, written by the artistic director, declares in clear and concise terms the theatre's purpose and key objectives. It can also state what type of theatre is to be produced—from comedies and classics to thought-provoking, socially relevant plays or perhaps even new plays by up-and-coming playwrights

mission statement

With the exception of Broadway, most theatres are ______________ companies, meaning they don't have stockholders or pay federal taxes.

nonprofit

Actors in films and TV are sometimes called "talking heads" because:

of the many close-up shots that reveal emotions through facial expressions.

In the theatre, the medium is exactly the same as the ________.

setting

Today, ______ multinational corporations own 90 percent of American entertainment companies (which include book publishers, magazines, movie companies, television networks, and newspapers).

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