Midterm

Question 1

Theatre

Answer 1

a collaborative art form in which audience gather in a shared space for the live enactment of a story

Question 2

Audience (part of the Theatre definition)

Answer 2

receivers/watchers

Question 3

Space (part of the Theatre definition)

Answer 3

shared place and time

Question 4

Performance (part of the Theatre definition)

Answer 4

presenters/enactors

Question 5

Play

Answer 5

form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of dialogue or singing between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading

Question 6

Script

Answer 6

Written down blueprint of events, Performers draw from this

Question 7

Text

Answer 7

any sequence of words in the Blueprint, usually spoken by performers

Question 8

Farce

Answer 8

A branch of comedy using absurd and highly improbable events. Setting is a key factor and often the central character does not (or should not) belong in the place of action

Question 9

Goethe’s 3 Questions

Answer 9

• What is the artist doing?
• How well is the artist doing it?
• Is what the artist is doing worthwhile?

Question 10

Existentialism

Answer 10

• A philosophical and literary perspective that focuses on the experience of an individual person’s understanding of the world
• who you are is created and defined by your actions
• There are no universal rules that apply to everyone

Question 11

Proscenium

Answer 11

a stage with an arch surrounding the opening. All the audience face in one direction…the action on stage is seen through a frame of some kind.

Question 12

Thrust

Answer 12

space in which the audience sits on three sides of the stage. Most popular, audience sits on three side, or in a semi-circle: encloses a stage that projects into the centre

Question 13

Alley

Answer 13

a stage with the audience predominantly on two sides of the stage, facing each other. Aka. Tennis court, or corridor stage; runway feels.

Question 14

Arena

Answer 14

a playing space in the centre with spectators surrounding it…aka Theatre in the round.

Question 15

Blackbox

Answer 15

open, flexible, and adaptable usually without fixed seating, or permanent stage area. Every aspect 9 (lights, seats, stage, etc..) is moveable.

Question 16

FOUND SPACES

Answer 16

creative space not originally intended for theatre use which is converted for productions. A theatre set up in a place not used for performance. (street, bar, elevator.)

Question 17

Fourth wall

Answer 17

imaginative barrier separating the audience from performers: break means drawing attention to the theatre event itself, remove illusion that the events happening on stage are progressing realistically.

Question 18

Prose

Answer 18

phrases with no form or structure

Question 19

Verse

Answer 19

Phrases with an organized structure

Question 20

Blank verse

Answer 20

iambic pentameter, which had 10 syllables in each line and was meant to mimic natural speech, just with a definite structure. Shakespeare used this to convey important parts of his message

Question 21

Playwright

Answer 21

author of a blueprint(script). Creator of the creative world, events, characters/words and shapes the dialogue and incidents to make a play.

Question 22

Characters

Answer 22

agents created to carry f actions of the plot

Question 23

Plot

Answer 23

the sequence of events in the play; structured to have the maximum impact;

Question 24

Story (part of the Theatre definition)

Answer 24

the blueprint of ideas, info, or events shared between performers and audience.

Question 25

SUBplot

Answer 25

secondary plot that reinforces or runs parallel to a more major plot

Question 26

SUBtext

Answer 26

what is meant but not said

Question 27

ACT

Answer 27

Subdivision between sections of a play. Acts are further divided into scenes.

Question 28

Genre

Answer 28

Category, or type; implicit agreement between director and audience

Question 29

Goethe’s 3 Question

Answer 29

What is the artist trying to do? (classification)
How well is the artist doing it? (evaluation)
Is it worth doing? (value, judgement)

Question 30

Surrealism

Answer 30

departure from realism that attempts to present subconscious

Question 31

Naturalism

Answer 31

extreme form of realism; everything lifted directly from life; Slice of Life

Question 32

WELL-MADE PLAY

Answer 32

combined apparent plausibility of incident and surface realism with tightly contracted plot

Question 33

BLACK comedy

Answer 33

A comedy with a distinctly disturbing quality. Deals with tragic of distressing subjects

Question 34

SCRIM

Answer 34

large piece of gauze cloth

Question 35

CUE

Answer 35

any prearranged signal

Question 36

FOLLOW SPOT

Answer 36

lighting instrument used for large or general area