Theatre App. Midterm Review

What are the differences between traditional and modern tragedy?

Tragedy- has a unified plot with one noble or royal protagonist Modern tragedy- features ordinary people with real problems

What were the stage spaces/theatres like in Ancient Greece and Early Modern England (Shakespeare's day)?

Ancient Greece- open air theaters where the public could watch the performance
Shakespeare- globe theatre, thrust stage

How do Fences and Rent demonstrate differences between Realistic and Non-Realistic theatre?

Fences demonstrates realistic theatre through time period appropriate acting/setting/clothing/etc. Rent demonstrates non-realistic theatre because it is a musical

What are significant plot events in Fences and Rent?

Fences- Troy having an affair, Cory fighting him, Troy dying
Rent- Roger has AIDS, Mimi has AIDS, Mark gets a call from Alexi, Mimi overdoses and Roger sings her back to life

What is the difference between episodic and climatic play structures?

An episodic theatrical play expands the action broadly.
Climactic structure involves a condensed narrative that is focused on fewer characters over a smaller number of locations.

Climax

the turning point of the story

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Together were an influential, innovative and successful American musical theatre writing team.

Andre Antoine

Early proponent of naturalism, began the Theatre Libre, an experimental theatre which practiced strict recreation of real life on stage

August Strindberg

Swedish realist playwright

Leonard Bernstein

A twentieth-century American composer and conductor. He served for many years as the director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra but is probably best known for his Broadway productions, such as West Side Story.

Jonathon Larson

Wrote Rent

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen

Married, both are directors and playwrights. Notable piece of work: Aftermath

Henrik Ibsen

A major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the godfather" of modern drama and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre.

Eve Ensler

Feminist playwright whose Vagina Monologues blended comedy and sharp social commentary

David Belasco

An American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He is recognized in American history for being able to bring a new kind of naturalism to the stage (such as putting appropriate scents to certain scenes).

Augusto Boal

Theatre artist, theorist, and creator of the Theatre of the Oppressed who designs theatre events for the disenfranchised to encourage and support social change

August Wilson

An American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.

Aristotle

A Greek Philosopher, taught Alexander the Great, started a famous school, studied with Plato

Antonin Artaud

Playwright, director, theorist; who believed in the "Theatre of cruelty";; Physical, spiritual theatre; Don't separate the audience from the play; surround them with it; make them a part of the action

Anton Chekhov

A Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history.

Anna Deveare Smith

Solo verbatim theatre actress. Plays multiple characters "Fires in the Mirror" "Twilight, LA" "Let Me Down Easy"

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616) English poet and playwright considered one of the greatest writers of the English language; works include Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet.

High Comedy

Purpose: to express an opinion, to persuade, to promote a deeper consideration of an idea, and to entertain.
Viewpoints: depicts people who follow a specific code of conduct
Aesthetic aspects: well-crafted wordplay, manners

Low Comedy

Purpose: to create laughter through boasting, boisterous jokes, drunkenness, scolding, fighting, buffoonery and other riotous activity.
Viewpoints: many jokes develop from bodily functions, slapstick, and blatant sexual references
Aesthetic aspects: meant to appear to our most basic sensabilities

Black Comedy

Purpose: is a comic style that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss.
Viewpoints: makes light of subject matter that is considered taboo, normally considered to be serious or painful to discuss
Aesthetic aspects: exploring vulgar issues, provokes discomfort

Romantic Comedy

Purpose: any comedy focusing on love, marriage, courtship, and all that ooey gooey sappy stuff can be called a literary romantic comedy
Viewpoints: lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas
Aesthetic aspects: ends happily

Engaged Theatre

Purpose: used to bring social justice and promotes dialogue through performances
Viewpoints:
build bridges between communities and gives a voice to the voiceless
Aesthetic aspects: brining topical issues concerning micro-communities are brought to the forefront

Applied Theatre

Purpose: to engage in spaces or with groups of people where mainstream theatre still fears to tread
Viewpoints: used to address an issue of social concern
Aesthetic aspects: operates beyond the traditional and limiting scope of conventional western theatre forms

Documentary Theatre

Purpose: to tell the story of an event in recent or past history
Viewpoints: from the perspective of a person or people who were there/impacted by the event
Aesthetic aspects: uses text, documents, records, conversations, interviews from the event and people

Immersive Theatre

Purpose: an interactive theatre, where audiences are able to change the narrative while the performance is taking place
Viewpoints: concepts such as audience influence, participation, social constructs and roles
Aesthetic aspects: removing the stage and immersing audiences with the performance itself

Feminist Theatre

Purpose: to break boundaries and experimentation
Viewpoints: to provide an alternate, not just to the male gaze but also to the normative gaze
Aesthetic aspects: being all woman

Theatre of the Oppressed

Purpose: set of dramatic techniques whose purpose is to bring to light the systemic exploitation and oppression within common situations
Viewpoints: to motivate people, restore true dialogue, create space for participants to rehearse taking action
Aesthetic aspects: allows spectators to become actors

Melodrama

Purpose: formulaic, plot + action instead of character development, one-dimensional characters
Viewpoints: focus on whats happening at home, such a morality and family issues
Aesthetic aspects: concentrates on dialogue, which is often bombastic or excessively sentimental rather than action

Book Musical

Purpose: performance where musical numbers and dances are fully integrated into a proper narrative with defined dramatic goals
Viewpoints: both a script, with the music and lyrics intertwined
Aesthetic aspects: three major elements. music, lyrics and script

Rock Musical

Purpose: Uses rock and roll modernly to tell a story
Viewpoints: helps portray the emotional angst which is being experienced by the main characters in the piece
Aesthetic aspects: influenced by or written by famous rock musicians

Jukebox Musical

Purpose: Uses previously released pop songs to create a story
Viewpoints: to portray a completely original story, can also be used documentary style
Aesthetic aspects: help portray the stories of the original artists

Mega Musical

Purpose: a fully or an almost entirely sung-through musical drama, produced on a very large scale in which the staging, spectacle and specific special effects are equally important as (if not more so than) the plot, characters, book and score.
Viewpoints: commercial profit
Aesthetic aspects: utilize spectacle and increased technology to radicalize the imagistic potential of musical theatre

Naturalism

Purpose: attempts to place actual reality onstage
Viewpoints: attempts to create an illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies
Aesthetic aspects: everyday speech forms, three-dimensional

Realism

Purpose: the world onstage resembles observable reality
Viewpoints: aim of bringing a greater fidelity of real life to texts and performances
Aesthetic aspects: believable dialogue, emphasis on behavior and tough decisions

Theatre in Education

Purpose: used to encourage effective learning in schools
Viewpoints: encouraged to participate through work in-role and through debattte
Aesthetic aspects: performing in an educational setting for youth, including interactive and performative moments

Theatre of Cruelty

Purpose: primal + poetic spectacles using unique language half-way between gesture + thought to assault audience's senses
Viewpoints: dance and gesture became just as powerful as the spoken word
Aesthetic aspects: to assault the senses of the audience

Traditional Tragedy

Purpose: combines a story of human suffering with a sense of audience fulfillment
Viewpoints: common themes or environments created by tragedy is downfall, death, politics, hubris, fate, etc.
Aesthetic aspects: serious, in direct opposition to comedies

Modern Tragedy

Purpose: a person of superior intelligence and character is overcome by the very obstacles they are struggling to remove
Viewpoints: basic concept is mainly the life struggle of common people
Aesthetic aspects: ordinary protagonists, multiple plots, and realistic timelines and settings

Antagonist

A character or force in conflict with the main character

Arena Stage

a performance space in which the audience sits all around the stage; sometimes called in-the-round

Audience

the listener, viewer, or reader of a text

Anachronism

something out of the proper time

Aesthetics

a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in art.

"Willing suspension of disbelief"

audience practice of willingly accepting the content before them as real

Farce Comedy:

Purpose: characterized by physical humor, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense
Viewpoints: often set in one particular location
Aesthetic aspects: highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable

Absurdisim

Purpose: influenced by the philosophy of existentialism
Viewpoints: satire dark humor
Aesthetic aspects: bizarre behavior or character, intentionally

Viola Spolin

recognized originator of improvisational theater

The Guerilla Girls

Are feminist activist artists. We wear gorilla masks in public and use facts, humor and outrageous visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture.

Tectonic Theatre Project

An award-winning stage and theatre group whose plays have been performed around the world. The company is dedicated to developing innovative works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering an artistic dialogue with audiences on the social, political, and human issues that affect us all.

Stephen Sondheim

An American composer and lyricist known for his work in musical theater

Samuel Beckett

An Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator.

Collaboration

the act of working together

Decorum

proper behavior

Denouement

an outcome; result

Drama Therapy

using the creative process of theatre, these professionals work closely with a consultation team of medical professionals to treat and rehabilitate people with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities

Exposition

A narrative device, often used at the beginning of a work that provides necessary background information about the characters and their circumstances.

Genre

a major category or type of literature

Imitation

a copy that is represented as the original

Liberal Arts

academic subjects such as literature, philosophy, mathematics, and social and physical sciences as distinct from professional and technical subjects.

Moscow Art Theatre

A theatre company founded in the late nineteenth century by a group of Russian producers, actors, directors, and dramatists. Made famous by the plays of Anton Chekhov and the acting techniques of Konstantin Stanislavsky.

Non-realism

non-realist/modernist theatre are more mild such as absurdism

Pretense of self

presentation of character

Protagonist

main character

Rising action

Events leading up to the climax

Soliloquy

A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage

Thrust Stage

a theater stage that extends out into the audience's part of a theater and has seats on three sides

Theme

Central idea of a work of literature

Theatre Libre

free theatre

Climatic point of attack

late point of attack

Episodic point of attack

Early point of attacl

Plot

Sequence of events in a story

Immediate and Ephermal

actors and audience share the same space and time

Falling Action

the parts of a story after the climax and before the very end

Convention

practice widely observed in a group; custom; accepted technique or device

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces

Closet Dramas

a play meant to be read rather than acted

What are examples of realistic and non-realistic techniques used in theatre?

Realistic-costumes and settings reflect where 'real' people live and what they would wear, have life histories, needs, motives, anxieties
Non-realistic- may use poetry and song, features ghosts, soliloquy, dreams, symbols and fantasy

What was it like acting in Shakespeare's theatre?

Strictly men actors, not historically accurate costumes, bare stages

What are the forms/genres associated with William Shakespeare?

Tragedy, history, comedy (farcical, romantic, serious)

What are the primary reactions to Realisim?

Never reaches a deeper level of thinking, not considered real art

What are the four typical acting space layouts used in contemporary theatre?

Proscenium, thrust, arena, black box

What are theatre's origins? How are storytelling, ritual and theatre connected through history?

The origins of theatre in ancient Greece, according to Aristotle
Humans have a natural desire to -\> tell stories, which allow the ideas of an individual or community to be passed on -\> leads to ritual -\> ritual allows us to influence uncertainties and organize our lives -\> ritual leads to theatre, with impersonation as a fundamental, rituals remains important in aspects of theatre and become convention

What are Aristotle's six elements of drama?

Plot, character, thought, diction, music, and spectale

What separates theatre from other art forms?

Its the only art form that incorporates all the other arts such as paint, sculptures, and etc

What is theatre? What are the qualities of theatre?

Theatre is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience.
Qualities of theatre is lifelikeness, suspension of disbelief, ephemerality, objectivity, complexity of means, immediacy

Concept Musical

Purpose: focused on exploring a theme or idea; often non-linear
Viewpoints: to show they're in favor of experimentation and freedom of expression
Aesthetic aspects: the content is often more divisive than that of traditional musicals. farcfaf

Absuridism:

Genres:
Purpose:
Viewpoints:
Aesthetic aspects:

Theatre

Any activity regarded as a medium of imaginative or creative self-expression

Art

- 1) literary 2) visual 3) performance
~ reflection of life that reveals what people think, feel, and live; reflects culture

Aesthetic Distance

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

Willing Suspension of Disbelief

to put aside any doubts about the narrative being presented

Elements of Theatre

1)Performers
2)Audience
3)Space
4)Text/script
5)Director
6)Design elements

Super objective

Overall objective of the entire play

Obstacles

What the actor must overcome

Rhetoric

The art of using language in order to persuade or influence others