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. Including operetta - developed out of intermezzi






2. Most famous of the absurdist playwrights; best considered a fatalist - although work is sometimes hilarious and can ask existential questions; Endgame (1957) Krapp's Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1961); Waiting for Godot (1953)






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 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






5. Said that the free enterprise system is seriously flawed and is a cause of great human misery because it exploits the poor






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






7. Earliest form for photography






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






9. Sell over $1billion worth of tickets annually - majority of those are for musicals






10. The sung words






11. Feature the work of a director-choreographer






12. 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






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






14. The first theatre in the world to be lit with electric lights






15. Records of this type of theatre are fragmentary - but we do know that it grew out of regional religious rituals related to Confucianism - Taoism - and Buddhism - and ritual dances performed during the Shang dynasty






16. 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






17. 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






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






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






20. The German equivalent to Diderot; was a playwright - critic - and Enlightenment philosopher Who wrote tragedies and comedies about the middle-class; his greatest play was Nathan the Wise






21. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






22. Most famous surrealist and was a French writer and director; studied Asian religions - mysticism - and ancient cultures; declared theatre should should wake the nerves and heart; argued that proscenium arch theatres create a barrier between the audie






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






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






25. Third part of a Noh play - the protagonist appears as a new self - and the cause of torment is resolved






26. Developed from the dance-prayers of Buddhist priests; has five possible subjects: the deities - the deeds of heroic samurai - women - insanity - and famous legends






27. Writes the lyrics






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






29. A program of unrelated singing - dancing and comedy numbers






30. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






32. Holds that human beings are naturally alone - without purpose or mission - in a universe that has no God; not a negative - for without God humans can create their own existences - purpose and meaning






33. Set out to break all the neoclassical rules - attacked the three unities






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






35. 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






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






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






39. 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






40. Sigmund Freud's book which analyzes the character of Oedipus and Hamlet






41. 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






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






43. The first 'talkie' movie; featured white actor Al Jolson in blackface performing in a minstrel show






44. During the Enlightenment there were revolutions in: ... which had a profound effect on theatre






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






46. The time period that glorified humans' power to reason and analyze - a period of great philosophical - scientific - technological - political - and religious revolutions






47. 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






48. The sung words






49. 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






50. Second part of a Noh play - protagonist performs a dance that expresses his or her concern