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. Musicals that feature a particular band's songs






2. 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






3. Plays without music






4. Holds that human beings are naturally alone - without purpose or mission - in a universe that has no God; not a negative - for without God humans can create their own existences - purpose and meaning






5. Russian playwright whose play The Lower Depths (1902) took look at people living in cellar of Moscow flophouse






6. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






8. Type of theatre greatly influenced by Buddhism and Shinto; originates in ritual






9. 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






10. Characterized by a light-hearted - fast-moving comic story - whose dialogue is interspersed with popular music; Guys and Dolls (1950)






11. A form of musical entertainment featuring bawdy songs - dancing women - and sometimes striptease






12. The realism of the play is expressed through lyrical language






13. Unstructured theatrical events on street corners - bus stops and anywhere else people gathered






14. The German equivalent to Diderot; was a playwright - critic - and Enlightenment philosopher Who wrote tragedies and comedies about the middle-class; his greatest play was Nathan the Wise






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






16. Said that the free enterprise system is seriously flawed and is a cause of great human misery because it exploits the poor






17. 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






18. 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






19. The first theatre in the world to be lit with electric lights






20. Founded in 1946 by Julian Beck and Judith Malina; dedicated itself to contemporary social issues and highly political - easthetically radical plays






21. Theatre was not seen as being of value to society - so plays were not an important part of:






22. The men who play female roles are called:






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






24. 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






25. Comic interludes performed during the intermissions of opera






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






27. The men who play female roles are called:






28. Writes the book






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






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






32. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






33. 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






34. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






35. 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)






36. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






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






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






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






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






41. 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






42. No protagonist; deals with a family of characters who tell many stories at once; the fact that characters on stage take no action may inspire audience members to be motivated for the opposite in real life






43. Writes the music






44. Studied the history of class conflict






45. 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






46. 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






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






48. 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






49. 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






50. Russian playwright whose play The Lower Depths (1902) took look at people living in cellar of Moscow flophouse