Test your basic knowledge |

Theatre Basics

Subject : performing-arts
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Plays about the issues of the day that were in Manhattan neighborhoods






2. A form of musical entertainment featuring bawdy songs - dancing women - and sometimes striptease






3. Most famous American expressionist playwright who won Nobel Prize for Literature (1936); A touch of the Poet (1935) - The Iceman Cometh (1939) - A Long Day's Journey into Night (1956) & A Moon for the Misbegotten (1952); The Hairy Ape (1952)

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4. A form of musical entertainment featuring bawdy songs - dancing women - and sometimes striptease






5. Unstructured theatrical events on street corners - bus stops and anywhere else people gathered






6. Grew out of the theatre of Thespis in Ancient Greece; passed from the Athenians to the Romans to the medieval Europeans






7. Told stories about common people who felt grand emotions and suffered devastating consequences (Enlightenment)






8. Bandits discuss rival systems of goverment while waiting for an attack






9. 1. theatre has an actor who plays a character - theatre is artificial - and 2. theatre usually has a story with a conflict - conflict is key to all drama






10. French Enlightenment playwright; was an inventor and thinker who spent countless hours at the leading intellectual salons of France; most famous plays are The Barber of Seville - and The Marriage of Figaro - his plays reflect the attitudes of the Enl






11. A big production number that usually receives a torrent of applause that literally stops the show






12. Play by Wole Soyinka; celebrates Nigerian independence but also warns against returning to Nigeria's violent past






13. French physicist - mathematician - and philosopher - expressed the essence of Romanticism






14. History plays about major political events of the past - domestic plays about the loves and lives of merchants and townspeople - and dance-dramas about the world of spirits and animals






15. Staged inexpensive - noncommercial productions of artistically significant plays in small - out-of-the-way theatres






16. One of the most important French philosophers of the Age of Reason - wrote and edited the first encyclopedia; was also a dramatist who penned books on the techniques of acting; authored The Paradox of Acting - a book that attached the pompous declama






17. French philosopher often called the Father of the Romantic movement; argued that people could find happiness in a 'state of nature' and that they should learn from nature rather than the artificial and corrupted teachings of society






18. Brought Western-style theatre to Africa to dramatize Bible stories in order to win converts






19. Elmer Rice; about a man named Mr. Zero Who is fired from his job and replaced by an adding machine






20. Writes the lyrics






21. Smaller - less expensive alternative experimental theatres; flourished in lofts - basements - coffeehouses and any found space usable






22. Grew up in poverty and put himself through medical school and set up free clinics in Russia to help the poor; The Seagull (1896) - Uncle Vanya (1899) Three Sisters (1901) & The Cherry Orchard (1904); placed on stage the lazy chaos of lives crushed by






23. Any artist or work of art that is experimental - innovative or unconventional; some styles would be symbolism - expressionism - futurism - Dadaism - surrealism - and absurdism






24. Includes all other forms of drama - from the ancient ritual theatre of Africa to the traditional theatre of Asia to the shadow and puppet theatre of Muslim lands






25. Africa's greatest living playwright; born in Nigeria; plays combine symbolism - mysticism - beautiful dialogue - and they make strong political points; plays are deeply rooted in African myths - dance - and rituals but also influenced by Western dram






26. Wrote plays about the rugged lives of Irish peasants using their dialect; Riders to the Sea (1904) & The Playboy of the Western World (1907)






27. Included comic scenes - dance interludes and sentimental ballads all based on white stereotypes of black life in the South






28. Argued that the prime function of playwrights is to expose the social and moral evils of their time






29. Closely tied to ritual - and it uses color - dance - song - and movements to exaggerate - stylize - and symbolically represent life






30. French philosopher often called the Father of the Romantic movement; argued that people could find happiness in a 'state of nature' and that they should learn from nature rather than the artificial and corrupted teachings of society






31. Showed middle-class characters finding happiness and true love (Enlightenment)






32. A dialogue that captures the incoherence - broken language - and pauses of modern speech; usually marked by surreal distortion and impending danger; from writing of Franz Kafka






33. An extreme form of realism; an acurate 'documentary' of everyday life - including its seamy side






34. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






35. The first all-black show to pay at a top Broadway theatre






36. A production of British actor Charles Kean; had realistic costumes - set and props that he had researched to make sure they were historically correct

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37. Suggests we are trapped in an irrational universe where even basic communication is impossible






38. Three parts of a Noh play






39. Plays about the issues of the day that were in Manhattan neighborhoods






40. People who dismissed Traditional African Theatre because it was so unlike anything they knew






41. The first modern musical; a melodrama about black magic staged in NYC in 1866






42. Improved the daguerreotype and created modern photography; was also an English physicist






43. Type of Islamic theatre - religious drama of Iran which allowed for actors - both professional and amateur - and has been performed in open-air playing spaces and on some occasions in specially constructed indoor stages for hundreds of years

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44. Most famous American expressionist playwright who won Nobel Prize for Literature (1936); A touch of the Poet (1935) - The Iceman Cometh (1939) - A Long Day's Journey into Night (1956) & A Moon for the Misbegotten (1952); The Hairy Ape (1952)

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45. One of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment - French poet - essayist - and playwright whose writing often got him in trouble with the church; built a theatre on his own estate so he could freely present his plays






46. Comic interludes performed during the intermissions of opera






47. One of the most well-known Muslim Playwrights - who uses her plays not only to express herself but also to prompt discussions about such topics as violence against women - religious fanaticism - and female sexual desire






48. Nigerian playwright that was executed for trying to protect the Ogoni people against encroachments of Shell oil company






49. Suggests we are trapped in an irrational universe where even basic communication is impossible






50. Musicals that are mostly singing and have less spoken dialogue; similar to operattas - but thier tone is often much darker and more dramatic