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. Only cost a nickel






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






3. Wooden clappers used in Kabuki






4. French director who stage play The Butchers (1888) with real sides of beef infested with maggots






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






6. 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






7. Sarcastic label of Scribe's plays; the sympathetic protagonist suffers at the hands of an evil antagonist in the course of intense action - suspense - and contrived play devices; ending is always happy and the loose ends are neatly tied up






8. Including operetta - developed out of intermezzi






9. Wrote 'high comedies' which were cerebral socially relevant plays that had an intellectual scope so vast they forced audiences to reassess their values; Man and Superman (1903) & The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891)






10. Light opera - differs from 'grand opera' because it has a frivolous - comic theme - some spoken dialogue - a melodramatic story - and usually a little dancing; The Mikado (1885)






11. 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






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






13. Most famous Restoration-era woman to make her living by writing plays






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






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






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






17. Writes the book






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






19. '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






20. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






21. 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






22. Type of Islamic theatre - religious drama of Iran which allowed for actors - both professional and amateur - and has been performed in open-air playing spaces and on some occasions in specially constructed indoor stages for hundreds of years

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23. Most popular type of theatre during the Restoration; often featured great wit and wordplay and told stories about sexual gratification - bedroom escapades - and humankind's unrefined nature when it comes to sex






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






25. 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






26. 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'






27. Musicals that feature a particular band's songs






28. The time period that glorified humans' power to reason and analyze - a period of great philosophical - scientific - technological - political - and religious revolutions






29. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






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






31. 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






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






33. Built in Venice in 1637






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






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






36. 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






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






38. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






39. History plays about major political events of the past - domestic plays about the loves and lives of merchants and townspeople - and dance-dramas about the world of spirits and animals






40. 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






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






42. Writes the lyrics






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






44. Set out to break all the neoclassical rules - attacked the three unities






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






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






47. Plays without music






48. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






49. First female theatre manager in London; was also an actor and singer; managed first theatre to have a box set; Olympic Theatre in London






50. 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