Quiz 1 Theatre History

Question 0

Skene

Answer 0

Stone building used as a dressing room and as a backdrop for action.

Question 1

Orchestra

Answer 1

“Dancing place where the chorus sang and danced.

Question 2

Parados

Answer 2

Aisles where the chorus enter and exit.

Question 3

Theatron

Answer 3

Seeing place where the audience sits.

Question 4

Protagonist

Answer 4

1st actor in a play; only plays one role, usually the hero.

Question 5

Deuteragonist

Answer 5

2nd actor in a play; plays two roles.

Question 6

Tritagonist

Answer 6

3rd actor in a play; plays all additional roles (2 or more).

Question 7

Hypokrites

Answer 7

Actors

Question 8

Thespis

Answer 8

First western actor.

Question 9

Tragedy

Answer 9

“Goat song”

Question 10

Tragedy (definition)

Answer 10

A play in which the action ends badly catastrophically for the protagonist.

Question 11

Comedy (translation)

Answer 11

“Revelry song”

Question 12

Comedy (definition)

Answer 12

A play in which the dramatic action resolves well for the protagonist.

Question 13

Dionysus

Answer 13

Greek god of wine, revelry, Dolphins, fertility, and theatre.

Question 14

City Dionysia

Answer 14

Major Athenian theatre festival honoring Dionysus.

Question 15

Orestia

Answer 15

Aeschylus’s work the _____ is the only surviving Greek trilogy.

Question 16

Aeschylus

Answer 16

Tragic playwright who instituted the second actor; famous for Agamemnon.

Question 17

Sophocles

Answer 17

Tragic playwright who instituted the third actor; famous for Oedipus Rex and Antigone.

Question 18

Euripedes

Answer 18

Tragic playwright who used strong female characters, did not win as many festivals as the other tragedians we studied, but has the most commonly produced Greek play today: Medea.

Question 19

Dithyramb

Answer 19

In Ancient Greece a choral song describing the adventures of a god or heroic figure.

Question 20

Chorus

Answer 20

A group of Greek men who sang and danced the stories of gods and heroes .

Question 21

Aristophanes

Answer 21

Famous Greek comedian who wrote The Birds and The Frogs.

Question 22

Satyr Play

Answer 22

Ancient Greek form of tragiccomedy, they always featured a chorus of goat men, were based in Greek mythology and contained themes of, among other things, drinking, overt sexuality, pranks and general merriment.

Question 23

True or False: All Greek performers wore masks.

Answer 23

True

Question 24

True or False: Women played roles such as Clytemnestra and Antigone in Ancient Greece.

Answer 24

False

Question 25

Ekkyklema

Answer 25

A raised stage platform that could be wheeled on and off stage to show off stage action, often dead bodies.

Question 26

Deus Ex Machina

Answer 26

“God from Machine” device by which playwrights created an arbitrary or improbable ending for a piece of theatre using a crane to bring on a god or mythological creature.

Question 27

Tetralogy

Answer 27

A group of four plays written together by the same playwright.

Question 28

Trilogy

Answer 28

A group of three plays written by the same playwright.

Question 29

Hubris

Answer 29

Excessive pride

Question 30

Aristotle

Answer 30

First theatre critic; wrote the Poetics.

Question 31

Catharsis

Answer 31

Drawn from Aristotle’s writings on tragedy. Refers to the “cleansing” of emotion of an audience member experiences during a play.