Theatre 100- Final Exam

Talk-back

A _ is a post-performance discussion where the audience gets a chance to meet and ask questions of the director, actors, & playwright.

production concept

A director working Aristophanes' Lysistrata decides to set the play as a modern rock opera and use song lyrics to question the idea of war. Once she finishes her research, she meets with the design team so that the interpretation and metaphor is consistently presented to the audience. The director has just devised the __.

Fourth wall

An innovation of realism, the _ is an imaginary barrier between actors and the audience.

thought

Aristotle contended that the least important element of a play was:

Conflict

Complete the equation: Desire + obstacle + lack of compromise = _

true

During design team meetings the director and designers talk about mood, pace, atmosphere, colors, character, story, and the production's style.

Plot

If the story is the chronological sequence of events, then the _ is the casual and logical structure that connects events.

teacher

In ancient Greece, playwrights staged the plays they wrote. The term for these playwright-directors was didaskalos, which also means __.

make actors' faces look more three-dimensional.

In the West, straight makeup is used to __________.

true

Plays can pursue a metaphorical, symbolic, or stylized look. Stylization can take several forms; one of the most common is expressionism. With expressionism, the audience sees the story through the mind of one character.

Dialogue, stage directions, parenthetical

Playwright ing is a limited form of storytelling, so to build a story, a play script is limited to:

picturization

The technique that directors use to compose pictures with the actors that reinforces the story is called __.

prop master

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

Interpretive director

This type of director tries to translate the play to the stage as accurately as possible.

Arena theatre

This type of theatre is presented in-the-round, similar to a boxing ring.

Bowdlerize

To sanitize a script in order to remove anything that might be deemed offensive.

recording sounds from real life; using sounds from vast sound libraries; digitally sculpting sounds

Today's sound designers can record, mix, filter, reverberate, modulate, amplify, and cue up sound effects exactly when they are needed. Their sources for these sounds include _____.

Short descriptions of how a line of dialogue is to be performed

What are parenthetical?

the ghost light is rolled onto the stage

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

a one-dimensional person, force in nature, & an aspect of the protagonist's own character.

Which of the following may be an antagonist.

The playwright "builds" the play's outline which the director, actors, & designers the. Use to inspire their own versions of the dialogue, stage set, portrayal of characters, etc. BBC

Which of the following statements about playwrights is FALSE?

Sound effects were first used on one of Shakespeare's plays

Which of the following statements about theatrical sound is FALSE?

Playwrights are the primary artists and get top billing in the program, even above the director

Which of the following statements accurately describes how the playwright differs from other key leaders in the theatre ensemble?

A chandelier hanging high above a dining room table

Which of the following would be considered a set decoration?

Rising action

Which specific technique does the playwright use to heighten the drama and seriousness of the action in the middle of a formula plot?

Statement of the protagonist's decision it goal & event that changes the balance of the basic situation

Which structural component of a formula plot does the playwright use first to draw the audience into the play?

Tadashi Suzuki

Which teacher of acting believed in training less significant parts of the body to develop a level of power and control that frees the body to interpret the most complex aspects of character?

To make their expressions visible in dim theatres

Why did actors begin wearing stage makeup?

actors equity association ; screen actors guild ; american federation of television and radio artists.

You have just earned an MFA and landed your first job in community theatre. you plan on a long and varied acting career. which of the following organizations would you join?

for the director, designers, actors, and playwright to collaborate on the script.

a growing contemporary trend in playwriting is __.

beat

a single unit of thought is called __.

mission statement

a theatre's _, written by the artistic director, declares in clear and concise terms theatre's purpose and key objective. it can also state what type of theatre is to be produced- from comedies and classic to thought-provoking, socially relevant plays or perhaps even new plays by up-and-coming playwrights

activate different parts of our brain, make us more imaginative, and make us more productive

allowing your mind to wander in appropriate situations can do which of the following?

group dynamics

although each person in a theatre audience is an individual, as a group their feelings, reactions, and thoughts can be manipulated in three ways. which of the following is NOT one of these ways?

voice, mind, and body

an actor's lifelong training focuses on which three aspects of their "instruments?"

false

collaboration is essential to creativity

ture

creativity takes time. people whose lives are totally booked with family and work obligations seldom have much time to be creative

less creative

experts have found that the reason for wanting to be creative can affect the extent of creativity. if the product is more important than the process, you will be generally __.

artistic director and stage manager

in a repertory theatre, which two of the 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?

cold reading

in this type of audition, actors are simply handed a script and are not given time to prepare.

true

inability to solve a problem is often due to trying to solve too many problems at once.

pitch, volume. & resonance

like singers, actors take years of voice training to learn to control __.

10,000 hour

malcolm gladwell, author of outliers: the story of success, popularize the __ rule, which suggests that this is the minimum amount of time masters of creativity spend practicing in their respective fields before rising to significant and constant success

find (or create) order

noncreative people may look at a situation and see only chaos but creative people have the ability to __.

Dramatic criticism

offers the reader a discriminating, often scholarly interpretation and analysis of a play, an artist's body of work, or a period of theatre history

true

one of the best ways to enhance creativity is to get regular exercise and plenty of sleep

emotional memory

part of Konstantin Stanislavsky's acting method includes __. the idea is to think back over a certain incident and remember it well enough to relive the accompanying feelings.

musical director, choreographer, fight director

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

they work against their own impulses

researchers have found the creative people share many traits. which of the following is not one of them/

censorship

some members of the american public want to be warned about the content of a particular play and to restrict the content of plays so that certain ideas will never be heard, even by those who desire to hear them. This restriction is known as:

Rehearsals

the director's job can be split into two phases. which of the following activities does not take place in the first phase?

Directors often begin their careers in office management, which allows them to better manage theatre staff.

the skills that directors most need to create a production that is made by many, but "speaks" in a single voice, includes all of the following except: which of the following statements about the skills a director needs to succeed is FALSE?

call/curtain

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

theatre rouses the emotions of single individuals instead of entire groups of people

theatre is typically the first of the arts to have its content restricted. there are many reasons for this. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

publicity department

this department of the theatre compant 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

sound designer

this theatre professional designs and records various effects that range from sythesized rhythm pre-show music, to the noises of the outstage doorbell or offstage ambulance sirens

producer

this theatre professional financially backs the theatre or orchestates funding through grant money and ticket sales

artistic director

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.

it is written by the director

which of the following is NOT true of a "rehearsal report?"

identify the specific problem

which of the following is the most important step in solving a problem

expressing a factually wrong or politically incorrect opinion

which of these situations does the first amendment guarantee?

table work | off-book | tech rehearsal

while every rehearsal process is different, the approximate order of events is:

false

All plays have a style. Some plays, like most television shows, are lifelike imitations of nature. This is a style known as surrealism.

By researching the historical or literary background of a play in order to help the director better understand the text

How does a dramaturg assist the director?

Enlightenment, climax, & denouement

In the last part of a formula plot, the end, what is the sequence of the structural components to being the play to a close?

concept

Orson Welles' production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar-- in which he placed the action in pre-world war II Rome, made the character of Caesar into the dictator Benitio Mussolini, and replaced the Shakespearean music with the anthem of Mussolini's fascist regime- made a political statement in 1937 and was considered to be a __ production.

presentational theatre

This type of theatre makes no attempt to offer a realistic illusion onstage and the actors openly acknowledge the audience and sometimes even invite members to participate.

Proscenium arch theatre

This type of theatre separates the stage from the audience creating the illusion of seeing the play through a picture frame.

Thrust theatre

This type of theatre's stage protrudes out into the seats so the audience sits on three sides

TRUE

Traditionally, theatre artists were divided into two groups: creative artists, the playwrights who create the scripts, and interpretive artists, the directors, actors, and designers who work within the parameters the playwright has set

given circumstances

an actors prepare for the part, they conduct background research. this is discovering the __, which can include the character's upbringing, religion, and social standing.

a conformist culture and an insistence on adherence to tradition

an enviroment that is conductive to creativity has all of the following attributes except:

song

aristotle deconstructed plays into 6 basic elements. Which one was essential in ancient tragedies but is optional in theatre today?

discovery

creativity is __. It is the moment someone invents something that is new or transforms something extant, thereby adding value to our culture, society, or lives.

by becoming an apprentice in a theatre

for most of theatre's history, what was the most common way for a person to learn acting

by becoming an apprentice in a theatre

for most of theatre's history, what was the most common way for a person to learn acting?

false

freedom of speech allows a playwright to write a script in which the government is criticized, changed are demanded, or which advocates violence for removing leadership from power.

cattle call

in theatre lingo, this kind of audition is also known as the "open call," where actors only have about one min to show what they can do.

enviroment

our __ is one of the chief factors that helps us develop our talents

false

three of the most productive questions for analysis were proposed by Greek philosopher Aristotle: "what is the artist trying to do? How well has the artist done it? Is it worth doing?"

substitution

when actors have little or no emotional bond with a character, they replace the character's emotions with unrelated bu personal emotions of their own. This technique is called __.

director and designers

which members of the theatre ensemble participate in concept meetings?

French scene

A(n) __ begins whenever a character enters or exits the stage until the next entrance or exit.

environment

All the theatre designers must work together to create the visual effects of a dramatic production—in other words, the play's ______________, which sets the tone and reminds the audience who the players are and where in time and place they're supposed to be.

upstaging

An actor who takes focus when he is not supposed to is ________ the other actors.

Enlightenment

At the beginning of a formula plot, information about the characters and setting is conveyed through several structural components. Which is not one of them?

Tempo

Playwrights love the music of language. When they write dialogue to be spoken at a particular speed, they are concerned with its _.

False

Playwrights, like actors, can join closed-shop unions in which all employees must belong so meaningful strikes for better wages are possible

Aesthetic effect, history, & dramatic structure

Rather than rating a particular production, literary criticism has more to do with delving into a play's:

true

Some of the rules of theatre etiquette include: not texting, tweeting, taking photos or recording video during a play; not talking; and not arriving late

Motivated light / Non-motivated light

Stage lighting can be divided into two categories. ____________________ comes from an identifiable source such as a candle, a table lamp, or the sun. ____________________ reinforces the mood of a scene but doesn't necessarily come from an identifiable or onstage source.

He eliminated rehearsals, but ordered his actors to explore every psychological aspect of their characters.

The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, Georg II, is known as the first modern director for many reasons. Which of the following is not one of them?

character

The costume designer is an expert at play analysis, especially ___________ analysis.

true

The basic elements of design are line, dimension, balance, movement, harmony, color, and texture.

Actions

The characters' deeds and their responses to circumstances, which in turn affect the course of the story, are called:

Subtext

The hidden meaning behind the words, the real reason a character choose to speak, is called:

blocking

The movement of actors on stage is called __.

Found spaces

Theatre can take place anywhere an audience can gather: parks, basements, streets, or jails. What is the name given to these theatrical spaces?

designers

Theatre is intended to be experienced by our eyes, our ears, our mind, our whole being, so theatre has always had __________ in one form or another to help create the experience.

contrast

There are subtle ways to lead the audience's eyes and pull focus. When the actor standing away from a group pulls focus, it is called __.

The non-formula plot grows naturally from characters' motivation and needs

What is the main difference between non-formula plot and a formula plot?

A review us an opinion and a criticism is a detailed analysis

What is the major difference between a review and criticism

Costume plates

What term describes the designer's sketches—the ones that the costume construction crew uses to assemble the costumes?

lights / costumes / blocking

When a film director wants to focus the audience's eye she simply zooms in. What do stage directors have at their disposal to focus the audience's eye?

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Which book written by an American author has been the most frequently censored book in the United States since it's publication in 1951, primarily because the main character takes the Lord's bane in vain almost 300 times.

it doesn't teach students how to ask productive questions

how does the U.S. educational system fundamentally fail to stoke students' creativity?

Members of the WGA have power when demanding higher pay. Meme era of the DGA have little power to demand for higher pay

Which of the following accurately describes a difference between the writer's guild of America (WGA) & the dramatists guild of America (DGA)?

Crisis

Which of the following is introduced in the middle of the play?

Does hamlet ever avenge his father's death?

Which of the following is not an example of a major dramatic question (MDQ)?

Study the script / develop an understanding of the characters / research the customs, manners, and culture of the time / examine the theatre space

Which of the following lists the basic order in which designers approach the preparatory work for their respective contributions to the play?

Playwrights allow the theme to reveal itself during the writing process

Which of the following statements most accurately describes how playwrights handle a theme?

Computer aided design (CAD)

________________ has changed the way set designers work because it allows almost unlimited changes and creative experimentation.

Resolution/a general circumstance

__ is the reason a character takes a particular action, which can be best identified and understood by looking at the situation from the character's point of view. sometimes it can just be the desire to do the right thing.

a character (fatal/tragic) flaw

if the characters internal turmoil is powerful enough to affect good judgement and causes the character to make unfortunate choices, then it's called a __, which can prevent him from achieving his goal.

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.

realism

the modern concept of a director did not come about until the 19th century, when a new genre of theatre called __ became popular

write down every solution that comes to mind / walk away from the problem and list / return and evaluate each solution

the next time you have a problem to solve, which of the following presents the best sequence for solving it?

false

the primary motive behind many reviewers today is to promote a play to help the theatre survive in an environment of intense competition from film and television entertainment.

stagehands, dressers, riggers

the running crew includes which of the following jobs:

logical-mathematical intelligence

this is the ability to order and unify structures and to perceive patterns and casual relationships.

set designer

this theatre profession often uses a computer to aid in creating the stage elements that make up the physical apperance of the stage.

stage manager

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

literary manager

this theatre professional reads and evaluates scripts, acting as a liasion between playwrights, agents, and the theatre. this person often writes grant applications to help support new play department and stage reading of new plays

Cast against type

this type of casting deliberately casts actors who are the exact opposite of what is expected in the role.

creative director

this type of director adds concept and designs beyond what the writer intended

convergent/ divergent

when discussing mental agility, __ thinking is measured by IQ and involves well-defined rational problems that have only one correct answer. __ thinking involves fluency and the ability to generate a multitude of ideas from numerous perspectives.

the kind of intelligence you have, talent, and technique

when it comes to creativity, which is more important than raw intelligence

Willing suspension of disbelief

when we watch a production of Hamlet, we know that the actors playing Gertrude and Hamlet will not actually die after being poisoned. What term explains our decision to go with the flow?

Tadashi Suzuki

which acting coach emphasizes physical and mental stamina, including training the body so completely that actors are able to express emotion with their feet.

wearing a costume/ holding a prop that relates to your charcter/ dressing like a professional for a job interview

which of the following acting techniques would be an example of controlling your emotions from the outside/in?

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

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

they do not experience stage fright.

which of the following is not a typical quality of "natural born" actors?

unexpected good news

which of the following likely would not provide a character with an inner conflict?

producer, artistic director

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

a community theatre production that runs for less than 10 performances.

which of the following qualifies as having a short run of a play?

unlike the sciences, testing the soltution in the theatre does not require data

which of the following statements about creative problem solving is FALSE?

unlike athletes who train for years, most actors achieve greater physical control quite quickly to reduce body tension.

which of the following statements about how actors train their body is FALSE?

creative people test their ideas and seek criticism

which of the following statements in FALSE?

going up

which of the following terms is used when an actor forgets her lines?