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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. By Swedish Playwright August Strindberg; fourteen-act play that follows the disconnected logic of a dream






2. 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






3. Comic operas that mixed popular songs of the day with spoken dialogue






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






5. Known for life-like sets that used hand-painted screens and gas-powered lighting effects to stage realistic sunrises and storm clouds; invented the DAGUERREO-TYPE - which was an early form of photography






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






7. Smaller - less expensive alternative experimental theatres; flourished in lofts - basements - coffeehouses and any found space usable






8. The orchestrated melodies






9. 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






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






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






12. Only cost a nickel






13. A blend of melody and drama and refers to the background music often played during these performances






14. Kabuki borrowed many of these movements to make Kabuki acting highly stylized and almost puppet-like






15. A popular form of stage entertainment from the 1880s to the 1940s; included a dozen or so slapstick comedy routines - song-and-dance numbers - magic acts and juggling or acrobatic performances






16. Nigerian playwright that was executed for trying to protect the Ogoni people against encroachments of Shell oil company






17. All lines are sung - usually to grand classical music; Madama Butterfly (1904)






18. Based off the idea that before a problem can be solved - society must first understand that the problem exists; 'attack the message - not the messenger'






19. People who dismissed Traditional African Theatre because it was so unlike anything they knew






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






21. The first all-black show to pay at a top Broadway theatre






22. 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






23. 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






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






25. During the Enlightenment there were revolutions in: ... which had a profound effect on theatre






26. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






27. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






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






29. Composed and produced by Bob Cole - lyrics by Billy Johnson; story of a con man and used minstrel stereotypes and spoofed Chinatown; in one scene a young black man sings about he and his date were denied entry to a nightclub cuz He was black and this






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






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






32. Most famous English actress - born into poverty - started out singing in taverns and selling oranges in theatres - became the King's mistress






33. 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






34. Comedies forced Victorian society to reexamine its hypocrisies; Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) - A WOman of No Importance (1893) - An Ideal Husband (1894); advocated 'art for art's sake'; The Importance of Being Ernest






35. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






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






37. Comedies forced Victorian society to reexamine its hypocrisies; Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) - A WOman of No Importance (1893) - An Ideal Husband (1894); advocated 'art for art's sake'; The Importance of Being Ernest






38. Feature the work of a director-choreographer






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






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






41. Wooden clappers used in Kabuki






42. Musicals that feature a particular band's songs






43. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






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






45. 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






46. French Enlightenment playwright; was an inventor and thinker who spent countless hours at the leading intellectual salons of France; most famous plays are The Barber of Seville - and The Marriage of Figaro - his plays reflect the attitudes of the Enl






47. Form of drama that dominated theatre in India for a thousand years; named for the ancient Indian language in which its plays are performed; combine the natural and the supernatural - the believable and unbelievable






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






49. 'The Father of Realism'; was initially a Romantic writer and his early plays were verse dramas largely based on Norwegian history and folk literature; plays presented complex - sometimes distrubing - views of human society; A Doll's House (1879) - Gh






50. Have become living traditions that are handed down from father to son

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