2nd semester Flashcards
Examples of theatres that have been created or sustained by governments or ruling elites include all of the following EXCEPT the
theatre of the absurd
Theatre can be seen as entertainment
in all cases
Which of the following is the journalist critic’s principal job qualification?
writing ability
All plays and play productions can be usefully analyzed and evaluated on the way they use the theatrical format to the best advantage and make us rethink the nature of theatrical production(T or F)
True
Generally the playwright is more intelligent and better informed than the members of the audience.(T or F)
False
A play’s final repository is
the minds and memories of its audiences.
The discipline of performance studies draws from what other scholarly field?
anthropology
Plays that deal with theatrical matter not simply as a vehicle but as a theme are called
metadrama or metatheatre.
An audience member’s aesthetic sensibility and response is
a composite of many individual reactions and therefore subjective.
Performance studies is a form of criticism that rates the “performance” of different plays based on how “perform-able” they are.(T or F)
False
Performance studies is a form of criticism that rates the “performance” of different plays based on how “perform-able” they are.(T or F)
False
Why is the theatre in a strong position to force and focus public confrontation with social issues?
Most productions do not act as propaganda but present the issues in all their complexity as food for thought and as such focus public debate, stimulate dialogue, and turn public attention and compassion to important issues.
What form does professional dramatic criticism take?
production reviews, scholarly works, and online blogs and journals.
What word fits the definition of “that which holds the attention”?
entertainment
The public form of play analysis following a production is called
dramatic criticism.
The presence of a critical focus in the audience has the effect of keeping the theatre
honest
A play’s relation to the individual stems from the fact that the best plays
link up with our deepest musings and help us to put our unconnected ideas into some sort of order or philosophy.
The journalist’s review generally is
limited to a brief, immediate reaction written within a few days of seeing the performance.
Elizabeth I was part of what is known as the Royal era, often inviting William Congreve to produce plays at the royal residence.(T or F)
False
Which of the following can NOT be said of Shakespeare?
He wrote only for the court of Elizabeth I.
The Royal era was characterized by the aristocracy’s support of public theatres, such as the Globe Theatre.(T or F)
False
Which of the following is NOT true of the Greek chorus?
It offered individual the opportunity to voice personal opinions.
The work of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson in England and Machiavelli and commedia dell’arte in Italy are all examples of Renaissance theatre.(T or F)
True
Kabuki is mainly a director’s theatre.(T or F)
False
Playwrights of the Romantic era include all of the following EXCEPT
Pedro Calderón.
Plays of the royal theatre era are characterized by
rational sensibilities.
The most comprehensive and detailed theatrical treatise of the ancient world, detailing analyses of dramatic texts, the theatre building, acting, staging, music, and even theatre-company organization, is
the Sanskrit Natyasastra, or “treatise on theatre” (begun in the second century a.d.).
A mansion is _________________ in medieval theatre
a temporarily crafted stage piece that was set up in a public square and then moved about from day to day.
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are the three masters of Greek tragedy.(T or F)
True
Which Renaissance-era theatre building has been recently (1997) restored as a functioning performing space?
The globe
In Mandarin, Chinese Opera is called xiqu, which means
“tuneful theatre”
According to the book, historically, traditional drama began when
spoken drama was introduced into shamanistic rites.
Which country is the home of the oldest continuous theatre tradition?
Chin
The “medieval era” describes the period of history
between the fall of Rome and the coming of the Renaissance.
The word kabuki
derives fromkabuku, meaning “askew”, and refers to a style of behavior that might today be called “hip” or “punk”.
Medieval mystery plays were performed only in Latin.t or F
False
Which production introduced full frontal nudity to the musical form?
hair
Musical theatre evolved initially as a revolt against other forms of theatre, particularly realism.(T or F)
False
Marc Blitztein’s 1938 musical The Cradle Will Rock was canceled an hour before its New York opening by government officials who protested the play’s “left-wing propaganda”.(T or F)
True
Is musical theatre a form of antirealist theatre similar to expressionism and theatre of the absurd?
No, because musical theatre, while seemingly antirealist, does not derive from a rebellion against verisimilitude but has aesthetics unique to its own performance.
Which of the following statements correctly characterizes the major development of the musical form in roughly the first third (1900-1920) of the twentieth century?
It marked the age of the great musical comedy.
Which musical (book by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II), adapted from a gritty novel by Edna Ferber, uses music and dancing to carry its complex plot, touches significantly on race relations in America, and contains the famous aria “Ol’ Man River”?
Show boat
All of the following genres contributed to the growth of musical theatre except
boulevard theatre
Which winner of the 1998 Tony Award for the best musical, directed by avant-garde director-designer Julie Taymor, has become the highest-grossing Broadway play of all time?
The lion King
The American Broadway musical dates back to
the staging ofThe Black Crook, a melodrama, at Niblo’s Garden in New York City in 1866 when a French dance company stranded in the city was added to the show.
Which city remains the international capital of the world’s musical theatre?
New York
What percent of Broadway box office revenue comes from musicals?
80
Which of the following is NOT a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber?
Miss Saigon
The Producers, The Lion King, and Spring Awakening generate diverse forms of audience appeal, whether by attracting crowds of all ages, as with the first two shows, or bringing young people in their teens, twenties, and thirties to live theatre, as with the last.(T or F)
True
Which of the following musicals was conceived and directed by George C. Wolfe, choreographed by Savion Glover, and offers a capsule history of racial injustice in America?
Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk
Who raised dance to a new level of prominence when he developed a new choreographic style—quick, jerky moves that suddenly segue to slow, sinuous come-ons; bumps and grinds; costumes of white gloves and black bowler hats—in a series of musicals that he directed and choreographed, among them Dancin’ and Chicago?
Bob Fosse
Which artist (b. 1930), credited with changing the face of the American musical, developed a new style featuring disturbing plots, an ironic tone, and sophisticated, intricately rhymed lyrics?
Stephen Sondheim
When did musical theatre begin to evolve as a specific genre of its own?
over the past 150 years of western dramatic history
This award-winning and hugely popular musical, from the creators of TV’s South Park, mixes scandalous satire with joyous comedy?
The book of Mormon
The first of the choreographer-directors, trained in both ballet and acting, was Jerome Robbins, who staged such works as The King and I and West Side Story. (T or F)
True
Thematically speaking, the trend for musicals in the twenty-first century has been toward the
serious, cynical, and even grim.
This theatre, formed by Joseph Chaikin in 1963, combined social improvisation with Brechtian techniques and used character as a vehicle for direct interaction with audiences.
The open theatre
Which of the following is NOT true of the role of women in the history of drama?
Women are more under-represented today in theatre than at any point since the 1650s.
Which of the following is NOT true of Broadway performances?
The “Great White Way” has offered breakthrough teaching and acting positions through government-funded mentorships and apprenticeships.
.Jerzy Grotowski’s Towards a Poor Theatre emphasizes how performers should embrace external artifice and divorce emotion from their technique.(T or F)
False
The extremity in artistic representation that responded to the social change of the sixties and the seventies took a number of forms, including plays that feature urination, bold profanity, and total nudity.(T or F)
True
The emergence of spectacular theatre was facilitated mainly by
advanced theatre technology
Which of the following is NOT true of nonprofit theatres?
“Nonprofit” means that no one makes a profit; therefore, actors, stage designers, and all members involved in the production receive no salaries.
Professional theatres operating on significantly reduced budgets and located primarily in Greenwich Village, SoHo, and upper East and West sides of Manhattan became collectively known in the 1950s as
Off-Broadway.
Which American playwright created works, including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, and The Piano Lesson, that portray the entire twentieth-century history of black America?
August Wilson
Theatre of community features works created for a community, by members of that same community, that often express, celebrate, and sometimes critique the culture of their creators.(T or F)
True
If you were to join a discussion about macaronic drama, you would be chatting about plays that
include speeches in different languages.
The term ‘dangerous theatre’ is highly ironic: this movement’s plays are straightforward fun and avoid any political or physical altercations.(T or F)
False
Although American artists are largely protected from direct censorship by the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment, government funding is subject to approval by local and national legislators who sometimes balk at funding the work of certain artists.(T or F)
True
The representation of homosexuality on stage was illegal in England as late as 1958.(T or F)
True
If you were to mount a site-specific production of the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, you would stage it where?
At an actual balcony outside, at night
From a practical standpoint, theatre may be considered a “conservative” institution because it conserves
the history and conventional way of working as a theatre.
While puppet performance has historically been on the fringes of American theatre, one recent examples of a smash hits that features puppets is
Avenue Q
Which region in Europe has been producing, according to many critics, the most exciting theatre of today, featuring subversive political ideas and artistic flamboyance conveyed through classical plays?
Eastern Europe
This director/designer draws inspiration from Javanese rod puppetry, Balinese headdresses, and African masks.
Julie Taymor
In Six Characters in Search of an Author, Pirandello uses the theme of the theatricality of human existence to show
that everyday life is beset by the eternal confusion between appearance and reality.
Which of the following is true of symbolism?
Through images and metaphors, symbolism explores the inner realities which cannot be directly or literally perceived.
How did Stanislavsky contribute to realist theatre?
He brought realist acting to realist plots.
The founding playwright of the realist era was _______________________.
Henrik Ibsen
Which production had the most violent premiere in theatre history, such that the audience shouted, hissed, threw things, shook fists at the stage, and fought duels after subsequent performances?
Jarry’s Ubu Roi
Brecht’s distance effects sought to enhance the audience’s engagement with the characters.(T or F)
False
Which is a characteristic of realist drama?
characters drawn true to life and subject to their individual social states
Realist theatre
has had a lasting effect on modern theatre.
The subject matter of naturalistic plays is
slice-of-life action.
Which movement was based in the idea that, although humans search for some meaning or purpose in human life, they are met with the immutable irrationality of the universe, thus making the effort futile?
absurdism
This playwright, born in Germany in 1898, emerged from World War I as a dedicated Marxist and pacifist, and consolidated his theories about drama into a body of plays that include The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Good Person of Szechuan.
Bertolt Brecht
This type of drama, in vogue in Germany during the first two decades of the century, featured shocking and gutsy dialogue, boldly exaggerated scenery, piercing sounds, bright lights, and an abundance of primary colors.
expressionism
Which movement, whose development paralleled but was essentially independent of realism, based its aesthetics on nature, particularly on humanity’s place in the (Darwinian) environment?
naturalism
The foremost American playwright, whose ventures into naturalism eventually turned toward expressionism and the authorship of The Hairy Ape, was
Eugene O’Neill.
Which movement can be interpreted to signal “the death of isms” in our contemporary age?
postmodernism
This theatre attempted to distance the audience by repudiating realistic conventions through a didactic performance style, an acting style that required the actor to “demonstrate” rather than “integrate with” his character, and a stage that called attention to its own artificiality.
Brecht’s theatre of alienation
The saying “no more masterpieces” is a tenet of
Artaud’s theatre of cruelty.
Typical themes of the symbolist theatre include the loss of innocence and the futility of communication.(T or F)
True
The theatre where Chekhov collaborated with Konstantin Stanislavsky is the Moscow Art Theatre.(T or F)
True
The “problem” in a “problem play” refers to a moral dilemma. Aproblem play portrayed good and evil in strictly delimited ways to prevent moral ambiguity from creating a perceptual problem. (T or F)
False
