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






2. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






3. A medley of the show's songs played as a preview; usually the beginning of a traditional musical; lets the audience know that it's time to stop talking because the performance is about to begin






4. First part had musical numbers with little comic dialogue; second part was full of songs - dance and standup routines; third part featured a one-act play






5. Book - music - and lyrics






6. First part had musical numbers with little comic dialogue; second part was full of songs - dance and standup routines; third part featured a one-act play






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






8. 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






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






10. 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






11. 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






12. 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






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






14. Three parts of a Noh play






15. Form of theatre that mixed traditional African ritual theatre and Western-style drama; encouraged African nationalism - glorified Africa's past - and advanced African customs - rituals - and culture; also dealt with serious political themes and appla






16. The first 'talkie' movie; featured white actor Al Jolson in blackface performing in a minstrel show






17. 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






18. Writes the music






19. Plays without music






20. Most famous of the absurdist playwrights; best considered a fatalist - although work is sometimes hilarious and can ask existential questions; Endgame (1957) Krapp's Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1961); Waiting for Godot (1953)






21. 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






22. Book - music - and lyrics






23. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






24. A repetition of the song - sometimes with new lyrics - sometimes with the same lyrics but with new meaning or subtext in order to make a dramatic point






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






26. A repetition of the song - sometimes with new lyrics - sometimes with the same lyrics but with new meaning or subtext in order to make a dramatic point






27. 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






28. Sell over $1billion worth of tickets annually - majority of those are for musicals






29. A production of British actor Charles Kean; had realistic costumes - set and props that he had researched to make sure they were historically correct

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30. Attacked the evils and restrictions of society; tried to reveal the higher reality of the unconscious mind with fantastic imagery and contradictory images; performances were often violent and cruel as they tried to shock the audience into the realiza






31. Wooden clappers used in Kabuki






32. Earliest form for photography






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






34. 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






35. 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






36. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






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






39. Developed from the dance-prayers of Buddhist priests; has five possible subjects: the deities - the deeds of heroic samurai - women - insanity - and famous legends






40. 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






41. 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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42. Staged inexpensive - noncommercial productions of artistically significant plays in small - out-of-the-way theatres






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






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






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






46. Form of theatre that mixed traditional African ritual theatre and Western-style drama; encouraged African nationalism - glorified Africa's past - and advanced African customs - rituals - and culture; also dealt with serious political themes and appla






47. Plays without music






48. Studied the history of class conflict






49. Recorded conversations of slum dwellers in Dublin and used their words verbatim in his plays

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







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