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. The quality of an action or performance that makes it seem to be happening right now - before our eyes - as if for the first time.






2. The exchange of action and reaction.






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






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






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






6. Recalling a significant moment in your past to fit a character. WARNING: Must be appropriate for the character.






7. The ______ is what his or her character does to try to fulfill a need by attaining some objective. Stanislavski spoke of both spiritual (inner) and physical (outer). Note that speaking is one of the most common forms - in other words speaking is doin






8. 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






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






10. Actresses began to appear on stage.






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






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






13. 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.






14. The father of the modern actor.






15. 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.'






16. 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






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






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






19. 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






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






21. Actresses began to appear on stage.






22. Stanislavski's physical approach to acting.






23. A person fully committed to an important objective.






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


25. 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.






26. Meyerhold. The fusion of mind and body; teaching the 'body how to think'.






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






28. 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.






29. _____ causes an _____ directed toward an __________






30. 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.'






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






32. Everything an actor does in a performance has to be _______ by the character's internal need.






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






34. 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.






35. A person fully committed to an important objective.






36. _____ causes an _____ directed toward an __________






37. The quality of an action or performance that makes it seem to be happening right now - before our eyes - as if for the first time.






38. 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.






39. 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.






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






41. 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






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






43. The key to almost everything in acting. For an actor - _______ is not a reduction of energy but rather a freeing of energy and a readiness to react. AKA Restful Alertness. The first step in Letting Go. Awareness is at a high level.






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






45. 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.






46. Bertolt Brecht's idea that the actor does not become the character completely - but rather demonstrates the character's behavior for the audience while still expressing some attitude about it.






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






48. The exchange of action and reaction.






49. 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 -






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