THEA 2013 Quiz Reviews (Modules 1-7)

Match the following types of plays performed in the Middle Ages with their descriptions: -Morality plays -Mystery plays -Miracle plays

Morality plays: plays about how people should conduct their lives, with emphasis on characters facing moral choices between vice and virtue Mystery plays: liturgical plays performed by guilds, or the labor unions of the day (ex: bakers staging The Last Supper) Miracle plays: stories about the lives of the saints

What late-1800s invention competed with theatre and eventually led to avant-garde theatre movement, when theatre sought to "re-theatricalize" itself?

Motion pictures (movies)

Based on your reading and your viewing of the required video, "Blackface: History of a Controversy," what statements are true about the practice known as "blackface" and other related practices or casting issues in the theatre?

-For most of U.S. theatre and film history, blacks, Native Americans, and Asians were discriminated against and even banned from appearing on stage or in films -Blackface dates back to the "minstrel show," a historically popular form of entertainment in which white people perpetuated stereotypes of black people by wearing black makeup and performing in ways that made fun of black people -The practice of casting actors regardless of their race is called color-blind casting -Although whites playing blacks fell out of favor in the 1950s, the tradition of whites playing Asians and Native Americans continued into the 1970s, and has remained an issue to some extent in recent years

What are the three key factors to striking balance between reactionary, opinion-based reviews and formal dramatic criticism in order to become informed and critically thinking audience members and reviewers?

-Have an open mind -Ask questions, especially "why" -Include specific examples to back up your analysis

Many theatrical innovations that influenced theatre throughout Europe originated in Italy, including:

-Humanist theatre -Perspective scenery and a raked stage -Commedia dell'arte -The proscenium arch

What statements are true about the differences between stage productions and film / TV?

-In TV and film, scenes can be shot multiple times and edited to get just the right final result. Theatre performances are live, and so there are no do-overs! -In film, the director usually has the "power position," or creative control, and the ability to change the script, scenes shot, etc. In theatre, the process tends to be more collaborative, with the director having no control over changing copyrighted scripts or over the actors' live performances once the rehearsal process has passed -Movies and TV only require passive participation, whereas stage requires active participation by the audience (in the sense that a live audience's energy and responses directly affect the actors in a stage play) -Actor training as well as acting techniques and styles for screen are different than what is required for stage

What does scholar Edith Hall say are anomalous or unusual aspects that Euripides chose to feature in this play?

-Medea did not sing lyric arias as most tragic heroines would have -Medea is a tragic criminal who escapes without punishment -He only used two actors to play all the main parts

What are some of the terms of the deal that Medea strikes with Aegeus for him to give Medea sanctuary in Athens?

-Medea will help Aegeus with his fertility issues so he can have children -Medea must get to Athens on her own -Aegeus must swear by the gods to never cast Medea out of Athens or to turn her over to her enemies

Describe what we know about the Dark Ages

-Obedience to the Roman Catholic Church was considered the only way to achieve happiness and salvation -There were few new inventions and fewer innovative thinkers (except for Muslim Spain) -People's lives were guided by astrology, superstition, and the supernatural

What are the five elements of ancient Greek plays?

-Parados -Stasimon -Episode -Exodos -Prologue

What statements are accurate in describing the "masques" of Renaissance times?

-Performances included grand dances, lavish spectacle, and florid speeches -This was the most popular form of theatre at court and was written to praise the monarch -Puritans were offended by the extravagance and frivolity of this type of entertainment -Women were allowed to perform in private masques even though they couldn't perform on public stages

What statements describe developments during the period known as the Enlightenment?

-Power of humans to reason and analyze was glorified -Authority and accuracy of Christianity was questioned. Many leaders called themselves Diests, who referred to their higher power as "The Creator" or "The God of Nature" -Travel novels became best sellers as Europeans desired to know more about the people and cultures of the world -The middle class gained power, and theatres began to turn to them for patronage. Playwrights began writing about middle-class heroes who spoke in everyday language

What do we know about contemporary theatre?

-Regional theatres all over the country produce a mixed repertory that includes new plays, commercial hits, and historical drama. -Today, commercial theatre still dominates, particularly on Broadway, but the number of Broadway theatres and touring companies has shrunk over time. -Political, cultural, and socially relevant theatre is practiced today by such playwrights David Henry Hwang, Charyl Churchill, August Wilson, David Mamet, and Wole Soyinka.

In theatre, what does freedom of speech under the First Amendment apply to?

-Satire of public figures -Non-verbal, visual, and symbolic forms of expression such as a candlelight vigil or burning the flag -Words

William Shakespeare is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of all time and is one of the most staged playwrights in the world. What statements are true based on our knowledge of Shakespeare and his plays?

-Shakespeare owned a 12.5% stake in the Globe Theatre and was a wealthy man by the end of his life -Shakespeare used one of the largest vocabularies of any English writer -- almost 30,000 words -- and he sometimes made up new words -Shakespeare often mixed tragedy and comedy and filled his plays with implied sex, overt violence, and conflict -Shakespeare's plays were popular because he gave audiences what they wanted -Shakespeare first worked as an actor, then was writing plays by age thirty

In the second scene between Medea and Jason, when she has summoned him, what tactics does Medea use to get Jason on her side (and begin to put her secret plan in motion)?

-She urges Jason to ask Creon to allow their children to stay in Corinth when she goes into exile -She asks for his forgiveness for her previous actions -She tells him that she has been foolish to be so angry -She sends the children off with gifts for Jason's new wife

What were the main features of the typical Greek theatre space?

-Skene -Orchestra -Theatron

The word "art" appears in everyday conversations and is generally used to convey what three main ideas?

-Skill -Beauty -Meaning

What do we know about the Romantic period and its playwrights?

-The Romantics called for more realist sets that often imitated nature with pastoral settings -Romantic playwrights broke the neoclassical rules such as the three unities -The Romantics felt that science was not an adequate approach to describe the full range of human experience -In Germany, the Romantic movement was called "Sturm und Drang," which meant "storm and stress"

What are the two traits that most scholars agree separate pure ritual from theatre (drama)?

-Theatre usually has a story with conflict -Theatre has an actor who plays a character

What do we know about the humanists of the Renaissance movement?

-They idolized the Romans and the Greeks -They rejected traditional theological curriculum at universities and instead studied classical subjects such as music, poetry, and architecture -They wanted to make humans the measure of all things and strengthen awareness of the individual

The most common theory is that theatre grew out of religious ritual and myth. A ritual is a ceremonial act connected with human life and all that sustains it. What are the purposes for which people used rituals thousands of years ago and still use today?

-To commemorate religious, legal, and historical events -To pass on traditions and knowledge of a society's history and heroes -To teach and entertain -To honor deities, affirm group identities, and foster the continuation of a particular way of life -To help them understand and deal with environmental issues, such as plagues, floods, and earthquakes

A dramatic device in which an actor represents or symbolizes an idea or a moral principle is called a / an what?

Allegory

Which avant-garde theatre artist created the "Theatre of Cruelty" to agitate the masses, attack the spectators' sensibilities, and purge people of their destructive tendencies through surreal and ritualized works?

Antonin Artaud

What did scholar Edith Hall say the audience must rely on when watching a production in ancient Greek or a language one doesn't know?

-Gesture -Costume -Movement -Use of voice

What are the five most common broad categories of theatre?

-Historical -Political -Experimental -Commercial -Cultural

There are several qualities that help us define art. What is not one of those defining qualities?

Art costs money

Which great Greek city-state is known as the "Cradle of Western Civilization?"

Athens

Which Enlightenment playwright was a French inventor and thinker who wrote plays about the witty barber and surgeon named Figaro and was a great supporter of the American Revolution?

Beaumarchais

Which famous Elizabethan playwright was often in trouble with the law and buried standing up?

Ben Jonson

Which playwrights was known for "estrangement," or the "alienation effect," which attempted to keep the audience alienated from the performance so they could critically consider the themes of the plays?

Bertold Brecht

What do we call a realistic theatre set that is a true-to-life interior containing a room or rooms, with the "fourth wall" removed so that the audience has the feeling of looking in on the characters' private lives?

Box set

The Romans practiced a political diversionary tactic, which had the underlying idea that if you give the general population enough food and entertainment, they will not question the government and will do pretty much as they are told. This tactic is still known today as what?

Bread and circus

Which type of "theatre of the people" borrows contrasting ideas from diverse cultures and joins them into a single work?

Cross-Cultural Theatre

Which middle-class plays were a hallmark of the Enlightenment period?

Domestic tragedies and sentimental comedies

Many activities we experience can be considered a basic form of "theatre" (for example, weddings, church services, awards shows, sporting events). What defining factor differentiates "drama"(or a play being performed on stage) from these types of general theatrical experiences?

Drama contains story and conflict

Where are the country of origin of the following non-Western theatres? -Kabuki theatre -Precolonial, colonial, and "total" theatre -Sanskrit drama -Peking opera -Ta'ziyeh plays -Noh theatre -Bunraku -Kathakali

Japan: kabuki, noh, bunraku Africa: precolonial, colonial, and "total" theatre India: sanskrite, kathakali China: peking opera Iran: ta'ziyeh plays

Why is Medea upset at the very beginning of the play?

Jason has left her for another woman

Which type of Japanese theatre was created by a woman named Okuni to entertain the men at her brothel?

Kabuki

What important invention during the Renaissance was the beginning of mass media and the popularization of ideas?

Printing press

The inventions of the camera and electric light influenced a style of theatre that called for more genuine sets, honest acting, and dialogue that sounded like everyday speech. This style of theatre is known as what?

Realism

Which group who refused to testify about their friends' political beliefs were found guilty of contempt of Congress and sentenced to prison?

The Hollywood Ten

What is the name of the time period in European history when society's thinking and concerns made a radical shift from God, redemption, and life after death to humankind, ancient wisdom, and life in the present?

The Renaissance

Define the following: -Wrongness in real time -The public now -Empathy

Wrongness in real time: process in which the audience witnesses characters turning incorrect assumptions, stubborn denials, and unspoken xxx The public now: moment where we as an audience are pulled into the same moment as everyone around us Empathy: ability of the audience to step inside the lived experiences of someone else

Who is believed to have stepped out from the dithyramb chorus to play an individual role, thereby "creating" theatre?

Thespis

In Elizabethan England, theatres were built outside the city limits. Why?

To avoid London magistrates and the Puritans, who despised the theatre and had it banned within city limits

Why does scholar Edith Hall say that Medea kills the children?

To wipe out Jason's whole citizen household / potential kinship line

Which critical thinkers' writings heavily influenced how people perceived reality and, in turn, the move towards realism in theatre?

-Charles Darwin -Karl Marx -Sigmund Freud

What "isms" are avant-garde style?

-Dadaism -Symbolism -Absurdism -Expressionism -Surrealism -Futurism

During the optimistic post-World War II era, which types of plays could commonly be found on American stages?

-Traditional realistic plays (ex: Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun") -Plays that mixed realism with other "isms," such as expressionism (ex: Miller's "Death of a Salesman") -Poetic realism (ex: William's "The Glass Menagerie")

During the Renaissance, the humanists demanded that Aristotelian dramatic principles be applied to drama of the day. This included the "three unities." What are the three unities?

-Unity of time: action of a play must take place within a 24 hour period -Unity of action: comedy and tragedy never commingle -Unity of place: all settings in a play can be reached in 24 hours

What reasons is theatre often first to be censored for?

-Unpredictable nature of live performance -Power over groups

A copyright lasts the lifetime of the creator plus how many years? After that, it is considered to be in the public domain?

70 years

Who makes up the Chorus in Euripides' "Medea?"

A group of Corinthian women

One of the first known universities, located in Egypt, was a repository of knowledge that had entire wings devoted to poetry, astronomy, mathematics, and theatre. Its library stacks held 400,000 papyrus scrolls. Who founded this ancient institution?

Alexander the Great

What is the experience that allows the audience to experience a emotional release -- an intense, two-fold feeling of pity and fear called?

Catharis

What is the altering, restricting, or suppressing of information, images, or words circulated within a society called?

Censorship

The most popular type of drama during the Restoration featured great wit and wordplay and told stories about sexual gratification and the bedroom escapades of the upper class. What was it called?

Comedy of manners

Describe the following Greek playwrights: -Euripides -Aeschylus -Sophocles

Euripides: known as a playwright unafraid to speak his mind; wrote stinging indictments against war; denounce the oracles Aeschylus: often called the father of tragedy; wrote about profound spiritual and moral issues; considered the most "theatrical" of the ancient playwrights Sophocles: "the wise and honored one;" concentrated on a few critical moments within a character's life; depicted humans as beings trapped by fate

What are the three broad categories of absurdism that sometimes overlap?

Fatalist, hilarious, existentialist

What great feat did Medea help Jason accomplish in the past?

Find and seize the Golden Fleece

Which German playwright proposed a set of three questions that we can use to analyze a play (or other work of art) and arrive at a well-structured, intelligent assessment of that work?

Goethe

Define the following terms: -Group dynamics -Willing suspension of belief -Aesthetic distance -Fourth wall

Group dynamics: tendency of humans to act and react differently when they are in a group than when they are alone Willing suspension of belief: process by which we as audience members put aside our concerns about everyday reality and agree to accept the play's particular quasi-reality Aesthetic distance: audience's ability to "remove themselves" from a work of art just far enough that they can contemplate it -- or even judge it Fourth wall: imaginary barrier between the actors and audience that was brought on by the advent of realism in theatre

Which absurdist playwright is known for his dialogue, which captures the incoherence, broken language, and pauses of modern speech?

Harold Pinter

Match the following realism playwrights with their correct descriptions: -Henrik Ibsen -George Benard Shaw -Oscar Wilde -Anton Chekhov

Henrik Ibsen: Norwegian playwright; often called the father of realism; presented complex, sometimes disturbing, views of human society, on subjects such as women's independence, incest and venereal disease, and sexual repression George Bernard Shaw: English Victorian playwright; wrote "high comedies" in which characters argued about social issues; used his plays to comment on poverty, corruption, and romantic ideas about love and war Oscar Wilde: Irish playwright; known for his unique character and wit; plays were filled with witty repartee that forced Victorian society to reexamine its hypocrisies and the arbitrariness of its moral and social taboos; persecuted for his homosexuality Anton Chekhov: Russian playwright; member of the Moscow Art Theatre; depicted the lazy chaos of lives crushed by life's absurdities and missed opportunities; called his plays "comedies," although that has led to great debates in the theatre community

Why is theatre unique?

It is the only art form for which the medium and subject are the same: human beings and human acts

Who does scholar Oliver Taplin believe made up the audiences at plays such as "Medea" in ancient Athens?

Male citizens only

Which ancient Greek "special effect" was a crane that could fly an actor over the skene like a god, and led to a term we use today, "dues ex machina?"

Mechane

Soon after the Romantic period, cheap imitations of Romantic plays began stealing the stage and were made popular by troupes of traveling actors. These plays were known as what?

Melodramas

One of the most popular forms of entertainment in Rome included jugglers, acrobats, comic skits, vulgar language, indecent songs, nudity, and often, satire. As the Roman population grew more diverse with many native tongues, this form of entertainment became wordless and depended more on music, action, dance, gesture, and mimicry. This form of entertainment was what?

Mime

What famous French playwright was known for writing highly political farces that satirized French life and made bold attacks against the Church?

Moliere

What is the term in Kabuki theatre for male actors who specialize in playing women's roles?

Onnagata

Which government agency has been at the center of many debates over arts funding? Its primary mission is "to foster the excellence, diversity, and vitality of the arts in the United States, and to broaden public access to the arts."

National Endowment for the Arts

Which theatre movement was sometimes referred to as "slice of life," exposed the squalid living conditions of the urban poor, and explored scandalous topics as poverty, venereal disease, and prostitution without preaching about them?

Naturalism

Who is Medea's closest companion, who begins the action of the play?

Nurse

From the late 50s through the 60s, the social turmoil of the world led to new developments with theatre spaces, theatrical events, and subjects being addressed in plays. One such development, during the late 1960s, involved a new wave of tiny, inexpensive, alternative, and experimental theatres in New York City, which addressed diverse and taboo subject matter. This was called what?

Off-Off Broadway

During the Middle Ages, a horse-drawn vehicle that was pulled in front of the audience in the town square and used as a stage for performances of short religious plays was called a what?

Pageant wagon

Define the following: -Parody -Satire

Parody: an imitation or copy of a previously existing work, in which the work is altered for comic effect, political criticism, to ridicule its style and subject, etc. Satire: an original work, in a style that is used to poke fun at, attack, or ridicule an idea, vice, foible (character flaw), etc., often for the purpose of inducing change

Define: -Playwrights -Screenwriters

Playwrights: retain copyright and receive royalty payments; have more artistic power but make less money; typically write alone Screenwriters: do not retain copyright; "writers for hire" who don't have as much artistic power but make more money; often write in groups

Define the following terms: -Pop Culture -Ethnocentrism -Culture -Stereotypes -Enculturation -Multiculturalism -Dominant Culture

Pop Culture: the fads, fashions, and trends that dominate mainstream media for a limited time Ethnocentrism: phenomenon by which we see the world through out own point of view and think that our take on it, as seen through our culture, is the correct view Culture: the values, standards, and patterns of behavior of a particular group of people Stereotypes: shortcuts in thinking that attribute a generalized identity to people who are not like us Enculturation: process by which we learn our culture Multiculturalism: endeavor to overcome all forms of discrimination so that people coexist peacefully in a pluralistic society Dominant Culture: those in power in a particular group (ex: upper class, government, religious institutions, men)

During this period of English history, the most popular type of theatre centered around sexual gratification and bedroom escapades of the rich. Also during this time, women first became accepted as actors and playwrights. What period of time was it?

Restoration

How does Medea convince Creon to let her stay in the city one extra day before she is exiled?

She asks for time to prepare for her children

How does Medea die at the end of the play?

She doesn't die; she gets away with it

What does Medea say she'd rather do than go through childbirth?

Stand in battle

What important plot point did scholar Oliver Taplin say that Euripides added in his play to the previously existing myth of Medea?

That Medea herself kills the children

The news that Creon and his daughter have died horrible deaths from Medea's poison gifts is delivered by whom?

The Chorus

Which type of "theatre of the people" promotes a particular people's awareness of themselves and their experiences, traditions, and culture?

Theatre of Identity

Which type of "theatre of the people" promotes change or a social agenda, and vents hostility toward the ruling class, race, or culture?

Theatre of Protest

According to Aristotle, what are the six elements of plays?

-Diction -Thought -Spectacle -Plot -Song -Character

What is true about dramatic criticism?

-Dramatic criticism offers a discriminating, often scholarly interpretation and analysis of a play or performance of a play -Dramatic criticism offers more than an opinion -Dramatic criticism can be applied whether you enjoy a theatrical experience or not