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. Any artist or work of art that is experimental - innovative or unconventional; some styles would be symbolism - expressionism - futurism - Dadaism - surrealism - and absurdism






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






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






4. 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






5. 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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6. 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






7. 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






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






9. Three parts of a Noh play






10. Thought that inner truths could be hinted at only through symbols; sought to replace the specific and concrete with the suggestive and metaphorical; usually had little plot or action and tended to baffle the audience






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






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






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. 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






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






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






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






18. 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






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






20. 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






21. One of the most popular Kabuki and Bunraku playwrights - who - like Shakespeare - wrote crowd-pleasing plays that combined poetry and prose in dramatic tales of comedy - tragedy - love - and war






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






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






24. Feature the work of a director-choreographer






25. Writers who felt science was not adequate to describe the full range of human experience - and their writings stressed instinct - intuition - and feeling






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






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






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






29. 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






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






31. A robust and spectacular version of Noh; named after the characters for 'song' - 'dance' - and 'skill'; created by a woman named Okuni - owner of a brothel






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






33. Closely tied to ritual - and it uses color - dance - song - and movements to exaggerate - stylize - and symbolically represent life






34. 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






35. 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






36. Type of Islamic theatre which is created by lighting two-dimensional figures and casting their shadows on a screen; the audience watches the silhouettes while a narrator tells a story






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






38. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






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






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






42. 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






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






44. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






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






47. Musicals that feature a particular band's songs






48. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






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






50. No spoken dialogue - entirely sung; comes from the Latin word 'work' and may have originally meant 'works in music' or 'musical works for the stage'; first operas were in Italy in late 1500s