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. 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)

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


2. Wooden clappers used in Kabuki






3. Type of theatre that grew out of ritual - incorporated acting - music - storytelling - poetry - dance - costumes - and lots of masks to create a theatre that combined ritual and ceremony with drama






4. The realism of the play is expressed through lyrical language






5. 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






6. First black woman playwright to be producted on Broadway; Raisin in the Sun based of her actual childhood






7. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2005); The Dumb Waiter (1957)






8. A program of sketches - singing - dancing and songs pulled from previous sources






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






10. Used giant puppets and actors to enact parables denouncing the Vietnam War and materialism






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






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






13. One of the most valuable historical records of Indian theatre; an encyclopedic book of dramatic theory and practice; has 37 chapters and covers every aspect of classical Indian drama - also a treatise on dramatic theory and philosophy - states that t






14. The audience remains alienated from the performance so they could critically consider the play's themes






15. Plays without music






16. Kabuki borrowed many of these movements to make Kabuki acting highly stylized and almost puppet-like






17. One of the most famous Sanskrit dramas - a love story in seven acts written by the playwright Kalidasa






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






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






20. Form of drama that dominated theatre in India for a thousand years; named for the ancient Indian language in which its plays are performed; combine the natural and the supernatural - the believable and unbelievable






21. Elaborate geometrical designs were used for these roles which included supernatural beings - warriors - and bandits; the color of the make-up indicated the character's personality






22. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






23. Composed and produced by Bob Cole - lyrics by Billy Johnson; story of a con man and used minstrel stereotypes and spoofed Chinatown; in one scene a young black man sings about he and his date were denied entry to a nightclub cuz He was black and this






24. Book - music - and lyrics






25. First female theatre manager in London; was also an actor and singer; managed first theatre to have a box set; Olympic Theatre in London






26. 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






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






28. A blend of melody and drama and refers to the background music often played during these performances






29. First part of a Noh Play - usually a chance meeting between two characters - introductions are made and the characters engage in a question-and-answer sequence that reveals the protagonist's concern






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






31. Known for life-like sets that used hand-painted screens and gas-powered lighting effects to stage realistic sunrises and storm clouds; invented the DAGUERREO-TYPE - which was an early form of photography






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






33. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






34. A permanent - professional theatre outside NYC; founded in 1947 by Margo Jones; stage new plays alongside commercial hits and historical plays; appeal to the intellectual audiences that Hollywood seldom serves






35. 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






36. Form of theatre that mixed traditional African ritual theatre and Western-style drama; encouraged African nationalism - glorified Africa's past - and advanced African customs - rituals - and culture; also dealt with serious political themes and appla






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






38. 'The Father of Realism'; was initially a Romantic writer and his early plays were verse dramas largely based on Norwegian history and folk literature; plays presented complex - sometimes distrubing - views of human society; A Doll's House (1879) - Gh






39. 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






40. The audience remains alienated from the performance so they could critically consider the play's themes






41. All lines are sung - usually to grand classical music; Madama Butterfly (1904)






42. Comic operas that mixed popular songs of the day with spoken dialogue






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






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






45. No protagonist; deals with a family of characters who tell many stories at once; the fact that characters on stage take no action may inspire audience members to be motivated for the opposite in real life






46. A repetition of the song - sometimes with new lyrics - sometimes with the same lyrics but with new meaning or subtext in order to make a dramatic point






47. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






48. A blend of melody and drama and refers to the background music often played during these performances






49. 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)

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


50. 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