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