Quiz 1

Question 0

Absurdism

Answer 0

A style of drama popularized in France after World War II that viewed human existence as meaningless and treated language as an inadequate means of communication

Authors include Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco

Question 1

Abstraction

Answer 1

An artistic depiction that is different from a literal, photographic representation of the thing depicted, usually by being more generalized, less particular

Question 2

Acting

Answer 2

Creation of a character in action, through impersonation, for an audience

In formal acting, the actor seeks the truth of theatrical convention; in realistic acting, the actor seeks the truth of everyday life

Question 3

Action

Answer 3

According to Aristotle, a causally linked sequence of events, with beginning, middle, and end; the proper and best way to unify a play

Question 4

Actor-manager

Answer 4

A starring actor who is head and nominal artistic director of a company

Sir Henry Irving in late 19th century England

Question 5

Aesthetics

Answer 5

Study of the nature of beauty

Question 6

Afterpiece

Answer 6

A short play that followed the main attraction

Question 7

Agent

Answer 7

Professional who represents theater artists for a percentage of their income

Question 8

Alley stage

Answer 8

Performance area shape that puts audience on each side, with the performance area, usually a long rectangle, between

Question 9

Amateur theater

Answer 9

A producing organization in which most participants are not paid or are paid only token amounts well below professional levels

Question 10

Antagonist

Answer 10

The opponent in an agon, or contest; in drama, either of two opponents in conflict, or the character who opposes the protagonist

Question 11

Applause

Answer 11

Positive response to performance by clapping hands

Question 12

Apron

Answer 12

The part of the stage that extends in front of the proscenium arch

Question 13

Arena stage

Answer 13

A stage in which the audience completely surrounds the playing area; also called “theater in the round”

Question 14

Art

Answer 14

Activity done for its own ends, separable from both life and practicality, although it may be applied to very practical as well as aesthetic purposes

Question 15

Art theater movement

Answer 15

A theatrical movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that tried to separate itself from commercial theater and the reliance on box office

Question 16

Audience

Answer 16

Those who watch or listen to a performance

Question 17

Audition

Answer 17

A session at which a theater artist, usually an actor, displays his or her craft in order to secure a job

Question 18

Auditorium

Answer 18

“Hearing place”; audience section of theater

Question 19

Avant-garde

Answer 19

Art thought ahead of the mainstream, experimental

Question 20

Backdrop

Answer 20

Painted two-dimensional hanging, usually as part of a scenic background

Question 21

Balance

Answer 21

On the proscenium stage, the visual equalizing of the two halves of the stage picture as seen from the audience

In any stage moment, the attempt to achieve a sense of equal weight between the people and objects on stage

Question 22

Beat

Answer 22

A rhythmic unit in a play

Question 23

Beijing opera

Answer 23

Traditional Chinese theatrical form, spectacular, non realistic

Question 24

Black theater

Answer 24

A theater movement of the 1960s and after, primarily for black audiences, actors, and playwrights, originally connected with the Black Power movement, a political ideology