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. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






2. Musicals that feature a particular band's songs






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






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






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






6. Characterized by a light-hearted - fast-moving comic story - whose dialogue is interspersed with popular music; Guys and Dolls (1950)






7. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






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






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






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






11. The artist imposes his own internal state onto the outside world itself; expressionism is a subjective account of an objective perception; expressionist plays use deliberate set distortion






12. 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






13. Writes the music






14. Greatest of the Sturm und Drang playwrights; was also a critic - journalist - painter - biologist - statesman - poet - novelist - philosopher - scientist - and the manager of the Duke of Weimar's playhouse






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






16. 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






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






18. Filled with characters who cannot resist an argument about social issues; no character is exempt from talking politics and theorizing about moral - artistic or religious reform






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






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






21. Based off the idea that before a problem can be solved - society must first understand that the problem exists; 'attack the message - not the messenger'






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






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






24. 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






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






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






27. 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






28. 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






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






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






31. 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)






32. 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






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






34. Including operetta - developed out of intermezzi






35. Romanian-born French playwright best categorized as a hilarious absurdist; The Bald Soprano (1949) & Rhinoceros (1959)






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






37. 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






38. 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






39. Book - music - and lyrics






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






41. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






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






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






44. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






45. Proclaimed 'God is dead...and we have killed him.'; felt taht absence of God was a tragedy - but believed human beings needed to accept the tragedy and move forward in a world that was unjust and meaningless






46. 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






47. 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






48. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






50. The orchestrated melodies