Theatre History Study Guide

Quem quaeritis

literally, “whom do you seek?”; title of an Easter trope (or interpolation into an existing text) that inspired liturgical drama

Mystery plays

plays based off events in the life of Christ and stories from the Old Testament

Morality plays

didactic allegories, often about the struggle for salvation

Pageant wagons

movable stages (much like parade floats) associated with medieval cycle plays, allowed the audience to scatter along a processional route while the plays were performed in sequence

Sanskrit drama

theatre that developed on the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh), named for the language in which it was written)

Shakuntala

the best known of Sanskrit dramas, which were often presentational, not illusionistic

Verisimilitude

literally “truth seeming”, the elimination of events that could not reasonably be expected to happen in real life 

Decorum

the traits that characters in neoclassical drama were expected to embody that were appropriate for their sex, age, social class, etc.

Performing arts

theatre, music, and dance

Golden Age of Athenian Theatre

fifth century BCE

Passion plays

plays about the trial, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ

Oberammergau

one of the best-known surviving examples of Passion plays, performed in Germany every ten years

Horace

Ancient Roman poet who described how to write good plays in his work Ars Poetica

Ars Poetica

a practical guidebook aimed at people who want to write plays

Roman comedy

most popular form of Roman theatre, divided into ones written about Greeks and about Romans

Pear Orchard/Garden

the traditional name associated with China’s early royal performing arts/music academy

NGU’s Billingsley Theatre

black box theatre

Proscenium arch

a frame built around the stage introduced in the Italian Renaissance

The Reformation

a movement begun by Martin Luther that renewed emphasis on direct engagement with Scripture rather than dependence upon Rome

Aristotle’s plot

a unified plot involving meaningful causal relationships, reversal, and serious significance

The City Dionysia

the major Athenian religious/theatrical festival honoring Dionysus and featuring multiple days of dramatic competition

Dithyramb

choral odes

Eccyclema

a moveable platform capable of being rolled or rotated out of the skene to reveal the result of an offstage action

Satyr play

a short comic piece that followed tragedies and occasionally burlesqued them

Surviving Greek drama

32 total plays: 7 Aeschylus, 7 Sophocles, 18 Euripides, 11 Aristophanes

Thespis

May or may not have existed; traditionally considered the first actor

Deus ex machina

 “God from the machine” → outside force suddenly solves the problem

Exodus

Final section/scene of a Greek tragedy 

“Tragedy” Greek words

tragos = goat + ōidē = song → “goat song” 

Sponsor

a citizen who was responsible for meeting the costs incurred by the chorus

Judge

citizen elected by vote, both a civic duty and an honor