Theater Appreciation- Exam 1

Def. of fine arts

art that serves no functional purpose

Aesthetic distance

a psychological perspective or attitude which should exist on the part of anyone contemplating a work of art

Convention

an unspoken agreement between actor and audience concerning a fictional reality

“Willing suspension of disbelief”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, idea that the audience will set aside skepticism and critical judgement to accept elements of a story

Engaged theatre

drama that aspires to promote dialogue and social justice through performance (general term)

Documentary theatre

a form of a performance built from authentic real-world materials like interviews, new reports, and historical documents rather than fictional narratives

Passion play

plays depicting the birth/ death/ resurrection of Christ

Hell House

Scenes of sin that viewers walk through led by the devil to promote the church

Agitprop theatre

provide new information and galvanize the public to act upon it (The Dunkard)

Role of the producer

Highest role in the theater, can fire everyone, oversees productions business side, CEO

Breakdown

character descriptions distributed to the casting industry so they can put forth actors for auditions

Actors Equity Association

A union for actors to demand better pay/ working conditions

Casting director

fired by the produces, sends breakdowns of characters, sets up auditions

Stage manager

connection between tech/ director, takes notes on what the director’s vision is, responsible for running all activities backstage/ maintaining the prompt book (copy of script marked up with blocking and cues)/ facilitating communication among the production team

Bentley’s working definition of theatre

“A impersonates B while C looks on”

Upstage/downstage

Upstage= back of stage, downstage= front of stage

Given circumstances

essential factual conditions of a character and their environment (who, what, where, when why)

Drama therapy

when participants are invited to rehearse desired behaviors, practice being in relationships, expand and find flexibility between life roles, and perform the change they wish to be and see in the world (allows person to reflect on life/ choices)

Influence of #MeToo and BLM movements

Me Too- raises awareness for sexual assault, stop assault in casting or rehearsals (intimacy coaches) & BLM- more casting of black actors, more outreach to black audiences, produce more black playwrights, more black staff in theaters

Rhetorical tradition

gestures, collections of gestures that represent an emotion used in acting

Declamatory style

actor studies people who are the emotion they want to portray, see what kinds of gestures they perform, and form their own interpretation of what that emotion looks like

History of actor training

originally, mostly copying preset gestures that represented emotions, then Stansilvaski comes up with new techniques

Francois Delsarte

developed first systematic training method (similar to gesture approach), chart of the angels and inflective medallion

“Method acting”

emotional based acting, actor immerses themselves in the character to achieve an authentic performance

Method of physical actions (actionfocused)

an actor expresses actions based on character’s objectives

“The magic if”

ask “what would I do in the same situation”

Constantin Stanislavski

Moscow Art Theatre- started by Stanisklavski, still open today

Anton Chekhov

wrote plays of characters that were flawed humans struggling for happiness (created roles form inside out)

Creative state of mind

to find it,need relaxation, concentration, naivete (child like innocence), imagination

Affective memory (emotion focused)

to constantly evoke memories to help a performance (think of your own experiences where the emotions match the desired ones)

Typecasting

casting according to looks (leading man/women, young lovers, the friend, character actor)

Non-traditional

the casting of ethnic and minority/ female actors in roles where race/ethnicity/sex is not germane to character or play development (Ex. black/female cop)

Color-blind

over looks race entirely as a consideration

Color-conscious

casting choices should acknowledge race (our society does consider race, so blind costing is dishonest)

Headshots

whats leftover after the audition, resume put on back

Dress rehearsal

run of the show in full costume and all technical elements as through the audience is present

Role of director

the highest artistic authority in a production

Climax

highest emotional point in the play

Denouement

after falling action, when all of the final loose ends of the plot are resolved

Spine

“Character X struggles to..”, what you see as a the purpose

Protagonist/antagonist

pro= character who carries the theme, ant= character who stands in the way of the pro

Point of attack

where the playwright attacks the story, where past becomes present (late= stuff has already happened that you find out about, early= all present, tells the whole story)

Director’s concept

the approach of the play

Open/closed text

Open= not fixed in time, can set play in any point in time (Shakespeare), Closed= can’t change the time period

Blocking vs organic blocking

Blocking= doing what is told, Organic= actors doing what feels best (not told)

Foregrounding

highlighting a specific actor by placing then towards the front of the stage

Business

side/minor actions on the stage that make the environment seem more real and natural

Stage pictures

moments in time/ snap shots where the collection of human bodies placed in a specific way sends a specific message (often about power)