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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. Type of Islamic theatre which is created by lighting two-dimensional figures and casting their shadows on a screen; the audience watches the silhouettes while a narrator tells a story






2. No spoken dialogue - entirely sung; comes from the Latin word 'work' and may have originally meant 'works in music' or 'musical works for the stage'; first operas were in Italy in late 1500s






3. Earliest form for photography






4. The sung words






5. Uses rock music - the rock and roll of the 1950s (Grease) - the psychedelic rock of the 1960s (Hair) or contemporary pop and rock (Rent)






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






7. Including operetta - developed out of intermezzi






8. 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






9. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






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






12. Feature the work of a director-choreographer






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






14. 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






15. Six characters take on life of their own when the playwright fails to complete the play in which they were supposed to appear






16. Writes the music






17. Told stories about common people who felt grand emotions and suffered devastating consequences (Enlightenment)






18. 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






19. 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






20. First part of a Noh Play - usually a chance meeting between two characters - introductions are made and the characters engage in a question-and-answer sequence that reveals the protagonist's concern






21. Six characters take on life of their own when the playwright fails to complete the play in which they were supposed to appear






22. 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)






23. Musicals that feature a particular band's songs






24. Romanian-born French playwright best categorized as a hilarious absurdist; The Bald Soprano (1949) & Rhinoceros (1959)






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






26. Life has no purpose and they confused and antagonized audiences by refusing to adhere to a coherent set of principles - mirroring the madness of the world






27. First part of a Noh Play - usually a chance meeting between two characters - introductions are made and the characters engage in a question-and-answer sequence that reveals the protagonist's concern






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

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29. 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






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






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






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






33. 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






34. Includes all other forms of drama - from the ancient ritual theatre of Africa to the traditional theatre of Asia to the shadow and puppet theatre of Muslim lands






35. 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






36. 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






37. 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






38. Elmer Rice; about a man named Mr. Zero Who is fired from his job and replaced by an adding machine






39. Showed middle-class characters finding happiness and true love (Enlightenment)






40. 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






41. 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






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






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






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






45. Closely tied to ritual - and it uses color - dance - song - and movements to exaggerate - stylize - and symbolically represent life






46. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






47. Would agitate the masses - attack the spectators' sensibilities and purge people of their destructive tendencies; wanted stylized - ritualized performances - not realism - which they felt restricted the theatre to the study of psychological problems






48. 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






49. French physicist - mathematician - and philosopher - expressed the essence of Romanticism






50. 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