Test your basic knowledge |

Acting 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. German word for power. The actor's physical and vocal tools.






2. The physical form of the action of the scene expressed in changing spatial relationships between the characters and their environment.






3. The acceptance of responsibility for your own development through systematic effort.






4. An actor devoted to searching for the truth of human behavior. The craft of working 'from the inside out'.


5. Immediate and urgent needs cause actions in the pursuit of objectives within given circumstances.






6. Although it has a literal - physical dimension - being in a state of________ implies a unified sense of self that allows actions to involve the whole body and be well focused.






7. The dramatic ______ is what happens in the story - scene - or beat in the most fundamental sense.






8. Stanislavski's physical approach to acting.






9. Becoming the new version of yourself by needing and doing what the character needs and does.






10. The ability to function on more than one level of awareness at a time. Ex: A character pursuing his or her objective simultaneously observing and adjusting the performance for the sake of the spectators.






11. Something a character lacks or wants that drives him to pursue an action to satisfy that lack or desire.






12. Relinquishing too much effort - chronic physical tension - a false voice - preconceptions about the work - personal fear - and most importantly who you already are.






13. The father of the modern actor.






14. A unit of action with it's own specific conflict and crisis. In each one a character has a single objective. They are formed of interactions and flow to create the underlying structure of a scene.






15. A person fully committed to an important objective.






16. Finding in the character's situation some need or objective that has true personal significance.






17. Our relationship to ______ implies internal states to the audience. Ex: Willie Loman with a bent back is hopeless and defeated and losing his battle with _____. In musical theatre it is convention that lovers actually defy _______ by skipping - as if






18. A unit of action with it's own specific conflict and crisis. In each one a character has a single objective. They are formed of interactions and flow to create the underlying structure of a scene.






19. An actor devoted to searching for the truth of human behavior. The craft of working 'from the inside out'.


20. The event itself. It is not 'about' something.






21. He developed a presentational and overtly theatrical style of acting.






22. Heightening the drama of an action or scene by making it more significant or urgent.






23. The condition of relaxed playfulness that some psychologists say allows for maximum creativity. When the inner parent allows the inner child to come out and play.






24. Showing the audience something about the character instead of simply doing what the character does.






25. The great unifier of body - mind - and voice.






26. The physical form of the action of the scene expressed in changing spatial relationships between the characters and their environment.






27. Relinquishing too much effort - chronic physical tension - a false voice - preconceptions about the work - personal fear - and most importantly who you already are.






28. Three finger widths below your navel. The origin of breath and therefore your voice - as well as all large motions of the body. The undistorted source from which our work begins in order to develop the unique ways of using our bodies and voice requir






29. Although it has a literal - physical dimension - being in a state of________ implies a unified sense of self that allows actions to involve the whole body and be well focused.






30. Singular - Immediate - & Personal. (SIP)






31. All parts of the actor--body - voice - and mind--work together in an integrated way.






32. The event itself. It is not 'about' something.






33. Singular - Immediate - & Personal. (SIP)






34. The goal of a character pursues through action to satisfy a need. It is best identified using a transitive verb such as - 'to persuade him to give me a territory in town.'






35. Won an acting competition in Athens - Greece in 534 B.C. Considered the first actor.






36. The reduction of self-consciousness from the total engrossment in a role.






37. The goal of a character pursues through action to satisfy a need. It is best identified using a transitive verb such as - 'to persuade him to give me a territory in town.'






38. Showing the audience something about the character instead of simply doing what the character does.






39. The reduction of self-consciousness from the total engrossment in a role.






40. An actor's ability to put himself in the place of another person - both for purposes of observation and for applying the Magic If to a role. It is possible to empathize with someone without sympathizing with that person.






41. Believed the qualities of a good play and a good actor should be: 1) Believable 2) Connect with the audience in a personal way. AKA Empathy 3) Immediacy 4) Communicate 'truthfulness'. Present experiences in a meaningful way relative to the audience.






42. German word for power. The actor's physical and vocal tools.






43. Heightening the drama of an action or scene by making it more significant or urgent.






44. Stanislavski's classic question. If I were in the situation of the character - and if I wanted what the character wants - what would I do?






45. The job a character was created to perform within a story.






46. This occurs when: Everything the actor does as the character should grow directly out of the needs of the character - so that the 'inner' world of the character and the 'outer' world of the performance are unified.






47. The exchange of action and reaction.






48. Male choir groups began competing against one another reciting poems at religious festivals in Ancient Greece. Gradually the choir leader began to speak as an individual character and acting was born. As a second actor was added - dialogue emerged -






49. Our relationship to ______ implies internal states to the audience. Ex: Willie Loman with a bent back is hopeless and defeated and losing his battle with _____. In musical theatre it is convention that lovers actually defy _______ by skipping - as if






50. An actor's ability to put himself in the place of another person - both for purposes of observation and for applying the Magic If to a role. It is possible to empathize with someone without sympathizing with that person.