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






2. Term used to describe performances that mix theatre - visual arts - music - dance - gesture and rituals; often use multimedia effects - sounds and lighting effects to make a point and allow the audience to understand its deeper implications; often re






3. Big-time vaudeville who performed a series of lavish musical reviews on Broadway






4. The sung words






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






6. Exposed the squalid living conditions of the urban poor and explores scandalous topics like poverty - venereal disease and prostitution; 'Sordid Realism'






7. Light opera - differs from 'grand opera' because it has a frivolous - comic theme - some spoken dialogue - a melodramatic story - and usually a little dancing; The Mikado (1885)






8. Attacked the evils and restrictions of society; tried to reveal the higher reality of the unconscious mind with fantastic imagery and contradictory images; performances were often violent and cruel as they tried to shock the audience into the realiza






9. What western theatre is often called:






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






11. Only cost a nickel






12. 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






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






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






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






16. 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






17. A period of licentious gaudiness inspired by the elaborate styles that Charles II brought with him from the French Court






18. Would be removed in the box set to give audience a real life look into the scene






19. Result of western influence - a toned down version of Kabuki - told stories of everyday life - particularly those of women - women played women's parts (whereas Kabuki was all male)






20. Built in Venice in 1637






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






22. 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






23. An early form of theatre; it used theatrical techniques such as song - dance - and characterization - but it was still firmly rooted in religion






24. Most famous English actress - born into poverty - started out singing in taverns and selling oranges in theatres - became the King's mistress






25. A German poet - director and playwright who challenged traditional ideas about theatre; became a communist after watching policement shoot 4 unarmed civilians; The Life of Galileo (1938) - Mother Courage and her Children (1939) & The Caucasian Chalk






26. A medley of the show's songs played as a preview; usually the beginning of a traditional musical; lets the audience know that it's time to stop talking because the performance is about to begin






27. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






28. Including operetta - developed out of intermezzi






29. Only cost a nickel






30. 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






31. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






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






33. Would be removed in the box set to give audience a real life look into the scene






34. Play that takes place in a mental institution - the audience sits on the stage with the actor-patients






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






37. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






38. Life has no purpose and they confused and antagonized audiences by refusing to adhere to a coherent set of principles - mirroring the madness of the world






39. More serious plot and theme; West Side Story (1957)






40. Founded in 1946 by Julian Beck and Judith Malina; dedicated itself to contemporary social issues and highly political - easthetically radical plays






41. 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






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






43. The want for more 'genuine' sets - more 'honest' acting - and dialogue to be modeled after everyday speech - influenced by ideas of CHarles Darwin - Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx






44. '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






45. Holds that human beings are naturally alone - without purpose or mission - in a universe that has no God






46. Uses rock music - the rock and roll of the 1950s (Grease) - the psychedelic rock of the 1960s (Hair) or contemporary pop and rock (Rent)






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






48. Characters were not individuals but types; standard roles included scholar - lover - hero - maiden - old woman - coquette - virtuous wife - and acrobatic warrior-maiden






49. The men who play female roles are called:






50. A sudden - striking pose (often with their eyes crossed - chin sharply turned - and big toe pointed towards the sky) in Kabuki accompanied by several powerful beats of wooden clappers