THEA2000 Study guide quiz 1

Dithyramb

festivals honoring the god Dionysus- how greek theater began

Dionysus

god of wine fertility and theater

chorus of fifty men

in early greek theater they would recite the stories of god

Thespis

allegedly the first "character actor" (root of the word "thespian")

theater was born in

5th century BCE (greek)

Theatron

the theatre (audience seating area)

Skené

the backdrop/scene building

Parasknia

two-sided building attached to a central structure

Proskenion

the proscenium (area in front of the skené)

Periaktoi

three-sided rotating scenery, each side showing a different location

Masks

worn by performers

Tragedy

hubris of man, defiance of the gods, upper-class characters, tragic endings

Writers: Aeschylus (Oresteia trilogy), Sophocles (Oedipus), Euripides (Medea, The Bacchae)

Comedy

comic blunders, rude humor, lower-class characters, happy endings

Writers: Aristophanes, Plato, Philemon

Deus ex machina

literally "god in the machine"; a god lowered by crane to resolve the plot; today refers to any sudden random event that "fixes" an otherwise unfixable situation

when did theater start in europe

around the 5th century, expanding through the medieval period

Depicted Christian stories

Creation, Cain and Abel, the Nativity, the Crucifixion

Medieval mystery plays were..

morality plays

Medieval mystery plays were preformed in

cycles that could last for days

medieval mystery plays were preformed by

traveling players or hosted by city guilds

Medieval mystery plays were written

in vernacular (local language)

First permanent playhouse

the Red Lion (1567)

Other famous venues

The Rose, The Globe

Key playwrights

Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson

Playhouses had to be built…

outside the City of London

Theatre was banned at first to help

prevent the spread of plague

Theater was originally performed in

in open air with little scenery and no lights

Originally only

men/boys were allowed to perform

clothing indicated a character’s

type and class

Restoration theatre follows

the Commonwealth of England (1653–1659), during which theatre and performance were banned

theatre returned with

King Charles II in 1660

Restoration theatre is known for

comedies of manners- often very rude

restoration theatre now allowed

female performers on stage and was the emergence of female playwrights

Restoration theatre moved

performances indores and lighting was introduced

melodrama

heightened situations and heightened performances

Melodrama built on stock characters:

• Hero

• Villain

• Heroine

• Sidekick

• Servant

20th Century Theatre

• Realism

• Modernism

• Expressionism

• Impressionism

• Absurdism

• Political Theatre

• Non-Western theatrical forms

• Post-Colonialism

Three Stages of Production

• Planning

• Pre-Production

• Show Run

Board / Season Selection

handles script approval, budget, timeline for the whole season

producer

handles script approval, budget, timeline for a single show

flow of planing

Board/Season Selection → Producer → Playwright → Director → (back to Board)

designers

• Media Designer

• Lighting Designer

• Sound Designer

• Set Designer

• Prop Designer (+ Puppet Designer)

• Costume Designer

• Hair and Make-Up Designer

performer coaches

• Assistant Director(s)

• Dance Choreographer

• Fight Choreographer

• Intimacy Choreographer

• Music Director

• Vocal Coach

• Stage Manager

preformers

• Leads, Principals, Ensemble

• Understudies, Standby, Swing

• Music Director oversees the Band/Orchestra

the process

• Audition

• Call Backs

• Table Read

• Rehearsals/Building

• Hell Week/Load In

• SHOW

Convention

an accepted practice that has become standard (e.g., audience sitting silently in the dark)

Archetype

a character or genre device that closely follows a set of conventions (e.g., a masked, bearded king in Greek tragedy)

Thrust

a stage that extends into the audience, with audience seated on three sides

Modernism

more grounded in realism but still representational/heightened; late 19th–early 20th century

Realism

an attempt to portray life as truthfully/accurately as possible

Embodiment

physically inhabiting a character — taking on their physicality and emotions

Fringe theatre

(place) a small, non-profit, converted performance space away from main theatre districts; (practice) experimental, small-scale, new work by new artists, still professional level

Absurdism

a genre where something strange happens and no one questions it (e.g., Waiting for Godot)

Chester Mystery Plays

a collection of biblically themed plays performed on movable carts in Chester, England, in the local vernacular so ordinary people could understand; later banned by Elizabeth I for its Catholic associations, but still revived today