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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. 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






2. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






3. Musicals with a particularly well-developed story and characters






4. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






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






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






7. Six characters take on life of their own when the playwright fails to complete the play in which they were supposed to appear






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






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






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






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






12. 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






13. 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






14. 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






15. 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






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






17. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






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






19. French philosopher often called the Father of the Romantic movement; argued that people could find happiness in a 'state of nature' and that they should learn from nature rather than the artificial and corrupted teachings of society






20. French philosopher often called the Father of the Romantic movement; argued that people could find happiness in a 'state of nature' and that they should learn from nature rather than the artificial and corrupted teachings of society






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






22. Type of Islamic theatre - religious drama of Iran which allowed for actors - both professional and amateur - and has been performed in open-air playing spaces and on some occasions in specially constructed indoor stages for hundreds of years

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






24. 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






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






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






27. 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






28. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






29. French director who stage play The Butchers (1888) with real sides of beef infested with maggots






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






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






32. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






34. Comic interludes performed during the intermissions of opera






35. 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






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






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






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






39. Bandits discuss rival systems of goverment while waiting for an attack






40. 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






41. 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






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






43. 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






44. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






45. 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






46. 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






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






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






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






50. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect







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