Midterm Exam - THEATRE 120

PLAYS

Night Vision - Dominique Morisseau

Oedipus - Sophocles

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

The Cherry Orchard - Anton Chekhov

Introductory material for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone a presented in lecture - August Wilson

TOOLS

Definitions of theatre offered in lecture

• (Actor + Idea + Audience)/Time

“What to Pay Attention to When Reading a Play” (list of six things)

• Title

• Character Descriptions/Breakdown 

• Setting

• Playwright 

• Opening Moments

• Closing Moments

Barbara Clayton’s Elements of Production

• Scenery 

• Acting 

• Spatial Relationships

• Costumes

• Lighting 

• Sound

• Audience

Fuchs’ Questions for a Small Planet

• How does TIME behave on this planet? 

• What is the CLIMATE of this planet? 

• What is the MOOD on this planet? 

• What are the HIDDEN WORLDS on this planet like?

• What patterns of sound make up the MUSIC of this planet?

• What are the CLASS RULES of this planet?

• In what kinds of PATTERNS do people on this planet arrange themselves?

• How do figures DRESS on this planet? (APPEARANCE)

• How do figures INTERACT on this planet?

• Who has POWER on this planet? 

• What are the LANGUAGE HABITS on this planet?

Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama

• Plot

• Character

• Thought

• Language

• Music

• Spectacle

Selections from Aristotle’s The Poetics

• an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude

• [written] in language embellished* with each kind of artistic ornament

• in the form of action, not of narrative

• through pity and fear affecting the proper purgation of these emotions.

Selection from Wilson’s The Ground on Which I Stand

GENRES AND STYLES 

Comedy

• Fortunes rise for central character

Satire

• employs exaggerated characters and situations

• depends on an intimate familiarity with the model of the parody

• mocks weaknesses and exposes problems

• uses visual images, language, symbols, and situations from the model of the

• parody

Tragedy

• Fortunes fall for central character

Tragicomedy

• Combination of a tragedy and a comedy 

Realism

• a way of thinking, a school of thought in international relations, an artistic movement, or a philosophical viewpoint

The ten-minute play 

• “For me, ten minutes leaves nothing to do but scratch the surface, and yet ten minutes also makes a matter and story extremely urgent. We don’t have a lot of time, so we have to get right at the heart of the matter.”

Representational acting

• illusion that the artist represents life

• utilizes fourth wall

• performer focused

• audience is passive observer

Presentational acting 

• no attempt to hide theatrical “tricks”

• actor knows the audience is present

• audience focused

• passivity of the audience is challenged

DEFINITIONS

Fatal Flaw

• A tragic flaw (or sometimes an error in judgement) that contributes to a character’s downfall

Catharsis

• In the context of tragic drama, catharsis is the process of purging emotions of pity and fear within an audience by the action of the play

• Ultimately, catharsis is an emotional experience that (hopefully) leads to a feeling of renewal born from the purging of emotions

Unity of plot

• “. . . the structural union of the parts being such that, if any one of them is displaced or removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed.”

Epigram

• Epigrams invert traditional platitudes through clever turns of phrase

Subtext

• meaning that is implied or even explicit that does not match (or complicates) the words being spoken

Fourth wall

• The fourth wall is the theatrical convention that there is an invisible, imaginary “wall” that separates actors from an audience

Panoramic focus

• a wide field of vision, or the ability to see a broad view

Parallel monologue

• when two people speak at the same time without listening to each other

Central character

• The CC is in the play

• The CC is at the center of things

• The CC drives the play’s action and generally has the greatest journey

Main oppositional character 

• The MOC is in the play

• The MOC stands in opposition to the CC’s objective and point of view

• The MOC is not the foil

Dramaturg

• Historian for a play

Types of theatre stages and configurations

• Thrust - on three sides

• Proscenium - traditional stage

• Found space - not on a stage

• In the round - on all sides

Colorblind casting

• Casting who ever with no change to the story

Color-conscious casting

• Casting with importance of the race of the people