Theatre finals guide

What lesson might we learn from the Federal Theatre Project and the NEA4?\

a. only governs,nt should regulate artist output

b. term-40all artists are communists

c. government funding of the arts often comes with strings attached

d. art is just a luxury for the very wealthy

In a performance, how do the plan and the action work together?

The plan organizes the action.

Which of the following might constitute a performance in everyday life?

a. a dog catches a ball in front of an applauding audience

b. a sick man who has an emergency appendectomy

c. a woman chooses a special dress for a date

d. a tree falls in a forest, but no one is there to hear it.

c. a woman chooses a special dress for a date

Performance studies is a field that ________.

a. studies languages and the abilities of speakers to "perform" native accents.

b. includes the study of all performances.

c. uses performance as a lens to understand everyday activities

d. gives feedback to employers about employee job preference and efficiency.

c. uses performances as a lens to understand everyday activities.

The organization of the performance determines_______.

The actor-audience relationship

A football fan is similar to a theatre audience member because both:

are conscious of their impact on performance

Which of the following examples demonstrates the idea that "theatre is ephemeral?

a. the emotional climax of the performance makes audience cry.

b. a woman wears a special dress to the theatre to impress her date.

c. an audience laughs so much that the show is 20 minutes longer one night.

d. the lead actress falls in love with the lead actor.

c. an audience laughs so much that the show is 20 minutes longer one night.

You are witnessing a performance in your town. The performers are interacting with one another, and they are impersonating other people, but they are not interacting with their audience. Where could you be?

a. a movie theater, watching a new action flick.

b. a dog park, watching a woman play with her dog and chat with a friend.

c. a football game, watching a coach shout at the referee

d. a town festival, watching a couple dance to a local musician.

a. a movie theatre, watching a new action flick.

How do rituals differ from theatrical performances?

a. rituals may include masks, costumes, dance, or music

b. theatre is intended to affect the participants in some way

c. theatre is a self-conscious art form

d. actors impersonate other beings in rituals

c. theatre is a self-conscious art form

Thinking about the similarities we have determined all art shares, which of the following examples would be considered art?

a. a painting of a beautiful meadow

b. a stunning sunset

c. an antique dining room set

d. a Venus flytrap eating a mosquito

a. a painting of a beautiful meadow

Different art forms exploit organizational rules to focus audience attention on a different aspect of human existence. A theatrical performance might focus on the ________.

a. potential to transform lives and build community

b. voice and ability of the lead actress as she sings an aria

c. psychological agony of the main character

d. beauty and technique required in a complex ballet dance

a. potential to transform lives and build community

Theatre, film, and television differ from other art forms because they are __________.

a. highly visual

b. collaborative

c. contemporary

d. focused on aesthetics

b. collaborative

As scientists in cognitive psychology have documented, the importance of play is vital in_________.

a. assessing the quality of a theatrical performance

b. describing the fictional world depicted in a performance

c. recognizing a visual art form used in a theatrical performance

d. the development of children and the mental health of adults.

d. the development of children and the mental health of adults

Which of the following examples demonstrates how play in a theatrical production might influence the real world?

a. a play about refugees could motivate the audience to support refugee rights

b. ornate costumes could encourage an audience member to make her own clothes.

c. a play that reenacts miracles of the saints could end religious persecution entirely on its own

d. high-energy dancing could make the audience clap while watching Mamma Mia!

a. a play about refugees could motivate the audience to support refugee rights

Reading plays has become a common practice due, in part, to ____.

a. the invention of the printing press

b. Aristotles guide to reading a play

an increased interest in play analysis

c. the ban on public performance in 1565

a. the invention of the printing press

Theatre historians and theorists began to privilege the study of play texts during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries because_______.

a. the text was the most accurate depiction of the performance

b. other evidence of performance was scarce or nonexistent

c. literary scholars began to invade the field of theatre history

d. ancient texts detailed acting methods and production values

b. other evidence of performance was scarce or nonexistent

When reading a play text, stage directions are either the playwrights descriptions or ______.

a. the scenic designers descriptions of designs elements

b. the stage managers record of the original production

c. a directors interpretation of what the play should look like

d. the publisher's addition to m akee the play's action seem clearer

b. the stage manager's record of the original production

If you wanted to know more about the traditional dramatic structure of Noh drama, you might consult __________.

a. Emperor Akihito's Gekijo

b. Bharata Muni's Natyasastra

c. Zeami Motokiyo's Fushikaden

d. Aristotle's Poetics

c. Zeami Motokiyo's Fushikaden

Complications, discoveries, and reversal are all part of the intensification of dramatic action, or _____, in a play with a climactic plot structure.

a. .rising action

b. episode intensification

c. pastiche

d. climax

a. rising action

A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room is made up of multiple scenes with different characters, but all taking place in the same dining room. What type of plot structure does this most likely represent?

a. cause-and-effect

b. cyclic

c. episodic

d. Aristotelian

c. episodic

A characters overall desire or goal in a play is called a _______.

a. subtext

b. epigraph

c. super objective

d. motivation

c. super objective

In August Wilson's Fences, the character Troy is a Middle-Aged African American man who works as a garbage man, lives in a small house in Pittsburgh, and was a baseball player in the Negro league. This falls into the category of ________ information.

a. social

b. psychological

c. moral/ethical

d. physical

a. social

Which of the following id true about thought, as defined by Aristotle?

a. a play can have multiple themes

b. themes are usually stated explicitly as a moral

c. the theme of a play might be "love" or "evil"

d. themes are typically obvious and require little critical thinking

a. a play can have multiple themes

Susan Lori-Parks's famous use of periods, spaces, blank lines, and repetitions of the word "pause" reflect her shaping of the text's __________.

a. narration

b. pentameter

c. setting

d. rhythm

d. rhythm

As described by Aristotle, music refers to both songs or melodies sung or created by a musical instrument and the ______.

a. poetic language that ebbs, flows, or sets the tone of a piece

b. epigraph, which highlights the most important themes

c. emotional "crescendo" of a performance

d. power of a spectacular special effect

a. a poetic language that ebbs, flows, or sets the tone of a piece

In an Ancient Greek play, an ekkyklema would _________.

a. show the audience Medea's murdered children

b. represent what Lysistrata has sacrificed to protest the war

c. show the audience Cassandra's vision in Agamemnon

d. allow the god Apollo to fly and address the characters in The Oresteia

a. show the audience Medea's murdered children

An audience member experiencing catharsis might react by___________.

a. laughing because the story seems implausible

b. realizing who murdered the protagonist before

c. admiring the antagonist for his quick thinking

c. pitying the protagonist because of his tragic mistake

d. pitying the protagonist because of his tragic mistake

Agamemnon is a tragedy by Aeschylus. It begins at the very end of the Trojan War and relies on many of the events of the war, but the play itself occurs over the course of only 48 hours. This means that the play has

a. a more dramatic climax

b. multiple protagonists

c. very little exposition

d. a late point of attack

d. a late point of attack

Unlike tragedy, watching and appreciating comedy requires __________.

a. a sense of mortality

b. the ability to empathize

c. distance and objectivity

d. a strong stomach

c. distance and objectivity

Which of the following scenarios describes the "willing suspension of disbelief"?

a. believing that the plot of Romeo and Juliet could happen in real life.

b. noticing that the actor playing Romeo is way too old for the role.

c. crying when Romeo and Juliet kill themselves

d. stopping the show to make sure that Romeo and Juliet really die

c. crying when Romeo and Juliet kill themselves

Sleep No More is a contemporary popular theatre work in which audience members travel from room to room in an old hotel to view moments adapted from Shakespeare's Macbeth. Which of the following had staging practices that were most like those in Sleep No More?

a. Sanskrit theatre

b. Renaissance comedies

c. medieval religious drama

d. Ancient Greek tragedies

c. medieval religious drama

If a nobleman attended a play during the English Renaissance, he probably sat in __________.

a. the pit

b. the gallery

c. the orchestra

d. a box

d. a box

The rise of the "democratic" auditorium emerged in response to ________.

a. the desire to have everyone attend the theatre

b. the need to shift the content of plays from communist to democratic

c. a puritan attempt to convince everyone to attend theatre

d. an increase in working -class audience members

d. an increase in working-class audience members

Good critics balance four major types of information, including judgment, description, analysis, and __________.

a. theory

b. interpretation

c. lede

d. the dramatic pentad

b. interpretation

A critique in a scholarly journal will most likely incorporate __________.

a. deep analysis and research

b. nasty criticism

c. censored lines from the play

d. popular opinion

a. deep analysis and research

Which of the following topics might be best explored by a theatre theorist?

a. how have social norms and infrastructures play a role in strange representations of African Americans since the Civil War.

b. how might the costume, set, and lighting design in a production work together to create a unified visual picture.

c. how might I collect enough funding to pay for the artistic talent this show needs to thrive on broadway?

d. what marketing strategies will best target the intended audience for this production?

a. how might social norms and infrastructures play a role in stage representation of African Americans since the Civil War

Which of the following is a job for Dramaturg?

a. finding an actor with a specific look

b. adapting a medieval play for contemporary audiences

c. creating preliminary sketches of period costumes

d. calling local press to reach potential audiences

b. adapting a medieval play for contemporary audiences

In addition to assisting in the selection of plays and working with playwrights on the creation of new plays, a dramaturg _________.

a. understudies the main roles in the production

b. recruits audience members based on demographics

c. determines the production concept

d. serves as an "ideal" audience member

d. serves as an "ideal" audience member

When Hallie Flanagan testified before HUAC about the motives of the Federal Theatre Project, the question she received about Marlowe was ironic because __________.

a. Marlowe was not a communist, but Shakespeare was

b. the committee did not know that Marlowe was a pseudonym for Marx

c. Marlowe was a very well-known communist in his time period.

d. those investigating theatre did not know such an important artist

d. those investigating theatre did not know such an important artist

The outcome of the NEA4"s lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Arts allowed ________.

a. the privatization of all arts funding in the United States

b. artists to receive protection for their rights to free speech

c. the NEA to take standards of "decency" into account when deciding who would receive grant money.

d. the abolishment of the National Endowment for the Arts

c. the NEA to take standards of "decency" into account when deciding who would receive grant money.

Which of the following sounds like work of a marketing team?

a. a group of cast members performs a flashmob and hand our flyers

b. the production is of a new play by an up-and-coming playwright

c. the company applies for and receives a government grant.

d. a production of a play is set in an entirely different era than it was written

a. a group of cast members performs a flashmob and hand our flyers

What lesson might we learn from the Federal Theatre Project and the NEA4?

a. only the government should regulate artist output

b. all artists are communists

c. government funding of the arts often comes with strings attached

d. art is just a luxury for the very wealthy

c. government funding of the arts often comes with strings attached

A proscenium theatre is an especially good fit for a production if the director wants to __________.

a. use lots of spectacle and big set pieces

b. have flexibility when arranging the theatre space

c. physically immerse the audience in the performance

d. provide an intimate connection between the actors and audience

a. use lots of spectacle and big set pieces

When blocking on a thrust or arena stage, __________ can create a challenge for a director.

a. acoustics

b. sightlines

c. machinery

d. flown-in scenery

b. sightlines

On an arena stage, scenery tends to be __________.

a. realistic

b. spectacle-driven

c. bulky

d. representational

d. representational

Which situation best fits the attributes of an arena-style theatre?

a. in a piece that humanizes immigrants, the director wants the audience to deeply connect to the characters, feel immersed in the action, and have a communal experience.

b. a large musical has a huge cast that must enter and exit unseen, and elaborate spectacle with tricky (and potentially dangerous) special effects.

c. the director wants to reconfigure the location of the audience for every performance so each show is a new experience.

d. for a production of a murder mystery play, the director wants the audience member to feel separated from the action so that they can be constantly surprised by new information and "be" the detectives.

a. In a piece that humanizes immigrants, the director wants the audience to deeply connect to the characters, feel immersed in the action, and have a communal experience.

Which production is most likely to work well in a black box space?

a. a four-actor musical that requires intimacy and has a small band onstage

b. a drama that requires several detailed sets that must change very quickly and need ample storage space in the wings

c. a play that needs to make money quickly with a large audience and lots of ticket sales.

d. a farce that requires a trap door, 5 other working doors on stage, and elaborate special effects

a. a four-actor musical that requires intimacy and has a small band onstage

Punchdrunk's Sleep No More is considered site-specific theatre because it __________.

a. is staged throughout a hotel and requires the audience to move throughout the space

b. moves and adapts the show to a new location for every performance

c. is based on Macbeth but sets the play in Denmark instead of Scotland

d. configures seats in a clack box theatre so that the audience must interact with performers

a. is staged throughout a hotel and requires the audience to move throughout the space

What event led to the professionalism of theatre?

a. the advent director

b. the Great Actor Strike of 1643

c. the separation of church and theatre

d. the start of church-sponsored theatre

c. the separation of church and theatre

Off-Broadway theatres have become __________.

a. a place for religion and theatre to unite again

b. far inferior in quality to broad way productions

c. less and less common in the last decade

d. a cheaper place to try out potential broadway shows

d. a cheaper place to try out potential broadway shows

By 1970, the experimental company La MaMa E.T.C. was __________.

a. the only theatre in New York that was producing new works

b. on the verge of bankruptcy and changed their mission

c. producing more plays than all Broadway theatres combined

d. one of the highest-earning theatre companies in the nation

c. producing more plays than all Broadway theatres combined

While the Edinburgh Fringe Festival now dwarfs the original "official" festival, it began when __________.

a. experimental theatre companies arrived and booked untraditional locations for their work

b. the "official" festival sought a new audience and invited experimental theatres to join the festival

c. the Roman empire expanded and showed their might with an official arts festival and the local population rebelled through "fringe" performance

d. Elliott Fringa created the first experimental performance at a church outside of Edinburgh

a. experimental theatre companies arrived and booked untraditional locations for their work

The first college degree in theatre was offered at __________ in 1914.

a. Carnegie Institute of Technology

b. Harvard University

c. William and Mary College

d. Joesph Papp theatre school

a. Carnegie Institute of Technology

George Pierce Baker is one of the founding fathers of __________.

a. children theatre

b. community playhouses

c. high school drama programs

d. university theatre training

d. university theatre training

A good example of a theatre company that operates in a hybrid way would be __________.

a. a university theatre company that is solely dedicated to the education of its students

b. a community theatre company that produces both plays and musicals

c. a not-for-profit theatre company that always chooses to produce a play that is different from the one it produced previously

d. an Off-Broadway theatre that nurtures some shows for Broadway debuts while producing free outdoor productions for working-class families

d. an Off-Broadway theatre that nurtures some shows for Broadway debuts while producing free outdoor productions for working-class families

Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, Aphra Behn, and Susana Centlivre were all __________.

women playwrights

Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project created __________.

The Laramie Project

Companies like the Living Theatre and the Open Theatre were famous for their __________.

a. collective creative pieces

b. independent playwrights

c. ability to "fix" other theatre problem plays.

d. ability to train director like Lloys Richards

a. collective creative pieces

Which director created productions with a then unheard-of attention to historical accuracy?

a. Richard Wagner

b. Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

c. David Garrick

d. Molière

b. Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

dramaturg

Literary manager or dramatic adviser of a theatre company.

Which of the following is an example of stage business?

a. an actor sets the table during a scene

b. an actor receives a call from her agent

c. a designer dresses the stage with pricey knick-knacks

d. a producer rejects a request for additional musicians

a. an actor sets the table during a scene

Auteur Robert Wilson trained as a visual artist, so he uses all of the components of production—including the actors—to create __________.

a. pictures on stage

b. realistic acting

c. orignial music

d. classical works

a. pictures on stage

Susan Stroman, a prominent director, made history as the first woman to __________.

a. reject the authority of the director and embrace more collaborative approach

b. win Tony awards in two categories for a single show

c. imagine A Doll's House in a carnival world of trapezes and slides

d. uses Julius Caesar to comment on contemporary politics

b. win Tony awards in two categories for a single show