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






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






4. 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






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






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






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






8. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






9. French philosopher and playwright; The Flies (1943) & No Exit (1944)






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






11. Islam's holy book - contains a warning about 'graven images' similar to the one in the Bible - prohibition applies to dolls - statues - portraits - and people playing a character






12. 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)






13. Earliest form for photography






14. 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






15. Named new 'photographic' realism NATURALISM and his phrase 'slice of life' is quoted description of it






16. Wooden clappers used in Kabuki






17. Instead of learning how to conjure real emotions - actors of Sanskrit drama studied for many years to learn representations of emotions through:






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






19. 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






20. 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






21. Writes the book






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






23. 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






24. Instead of learning how to conjure real emotions - actors of Sanskrit drama studied for many years to learn representations of emotions through:






25. 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






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






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






28. Contemporary form of Sanskrit Theatre - dramatized version of the Hindu epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata






29. First part had musical numbers with little comic dialogue; second part was full of songs - dance and standup routines; third part featured a one-act play






30. 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






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






32. The sung words






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






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






35. Would agitate the masses - attack the spectators' sensibilities and purge people of their destructive tendencies; wanted stylized - ritualized performances - not realism - which they felt restricted the theatre to the study of psychological problems






36. Studied the history of class conflict






37. The sung words






38. A synthesis of music - dance - acting - and acrobatics; it was first performed by strolling players in markets - temples - courtyards - and the streets






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






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






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






42. In Sigmund Romberg's play the king young heir to the throne sacrifices his personal happiness for the good of the kingdom when he sorrowfully pulls himself away from his true love in order to marry a princess whom he does not love






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






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






45. Contemporary form of Sanskrit Theatre - dramatized version of the Hindu epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata






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






47. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






48. 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






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






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