Chapter 16

Question 1

What award did Suzan-Lori Parks play “Topdog/Underdog” win in?

Answer 1

Pulitzer Prize

Question 2

What is the name of the theatre in Louisville that became known for introducing new plays and playwrights?

Answer 2

Actors Theatre of Louisville

Question 3

What is the name of the premiere play festival that is housed there?

Answer 3

Humana

Question 4

Who is the Asian American playwright who came to prominence in the 1980s and whose parents immigrated from China to California?

Answer 4

David Henry Hwang

Question 5

What does Nuyorican refer to?

Answer 5

Puerto Ricans

Question 6

Who is the most prominent African American performance artist in the United States?

Answer 6

Anna Deavere Smith

Question 7

What group grew out of the Performance Group under the artistic direction of Elizabeth LeCompte?

Answer 7

The Wouster

Question 8

Who is well known for viewpoints, a theoretical approach to acting?

Answer 8

Anne Bogart

Question 9

Whose work helped El Teatro Campesino (Farmerworkers’ Theatre)

Answer 9

Luis Valdez

Question 10

What theatre company in Pittsburg did August Wilson help found?

Answer 10

Black Horizons

Question 11

What theatre comes under the headings of both Native American theatre and feminist theatre?

Answer 11

Spiderwoman

Question 12

Who is well known for viewpoints, a theoretical approach to acting?

Answer 12

Anne Bogart

Question 13

What major gay theatre company led audiences to consider their own attitudes toward homosexuality and was founded by Charles Ludlam?

Answer 13

Ridiculous Theatrical Company

Question 14

Fences

Answer 14

August Wilson

Question 15

Buried Child

Answer 15

Sam Shepard

Question 16

Company

Answer 16

Stephen Sondheim

Question 17

The Clean House

Answer 17

Sarah Ruhl

Question 18

Buried Child

Answer 18

Sam Shepard

Question 19

Oleanna

Answer 19

David Mamet

Question 20

The Heidi Chronicles

Answer 20

Wendy Wasserstein

Question 21

Angels in America

Answer 21

Tony Kushner

Question 22

Evita

Answer 22

Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Lyrics by Tim Rice

Question 23

Describe aspects of August Wilson and his career.

Answer 23

• Evokes the African American experience at various times in history through richly poetic texts
• Submitted a draft of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center - a workshop devoted to new plays - his work come to the attention of Lloyd Richards
• “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson” received the Pulitzer Prize
• Wilson argued that in order to know who you are now, you must know who you were in the past
• His characters are universal figures, standing for everyone who has ever struggled with himself or herself and with social forces
• The Virginia Theatre in NYC’s Broadway district was renamed in his honor.

Question 24

Fires in the Mirror

Answer 24

Anna Deavere Smith

Question 25

Identify 3 influential feminist playwrights and one play they wrote.

Answer 25

Marsha Norman- “Getting Out”
Beth Henley- “Crimes of the Heart”
Sarah Ruhl- “Eurydice”

Question 26

Identify 4 plays written by Sam Shepard

Answer 26

Buried Child
Curse of the Starving Class
True West
Fool for Love

Question 27

Identify 5 new trends (approaches) in musicals and list an example (title of the musical) of each trend.

Answer 27

• Concept Musicals (Company) A production is built around an idea rather than a story
• Choreographer turned director (Hello, Dolly!) Gower Champion
• British composers and lyricists (Jesus Christ Superstar) Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice
• Adaption of films into stage musicals (The Producers)
• Jukebox/songbook musical (Mamma Mia)