Subtest IV - Creative Performance

Question 1

What are the responsibilities of the teacher to organize a play?

Answer 1

Selecting a play, holding auditions, organizing a stage crew, and rehearsing.

Question 2

When rehearsing a scene with others, the actor should consider what?

Answer 2

Relationship (how the characters feel about each other), Conflict, Motivation (why a character is acting a certain way), and Setting (how does scenes affect actions and feelings).

Question 3

What are the roles of the stage crew?

Answer 3

Set designer, costume designer, lighting designer, sound engineer, props person, and stage manager.

Question 4

What are the three types of stage lights?

Answer 4

1) key light: main light
2) fill light: softens harsh shadows created by the key light
3) back light: used to visually separate the actors downstage from the background

Question 5

Conceptualization

Answer 5

Determining the class’s approach to the play and what the play should say to the audience

Question 6

Blocking

Answer 6

Planning and executing the patterns of onstage movement in a play. Successful blocking grabs attention, unfolds events with increasing urgency, and focuses on individual or group characters. Arranging actors in a triangular relationship builds tension and moving actors in diagonal lines creates more interesting movement. Observers tend to look from left to right. A director should have eight to ten “framing moments” that the audience should remember from the play.

Question 7

Tempo

Answer 7

The pace of a play’s movement and dialogue. A director should strive to maintain a brisk pace that moves the action along without confusing the audience. Changes of tempo create focus on dramatic high points.

Question 8

What are the six stages of the dramatic arc?

Answer 8

Exposition/Introduction (of main characters and scenes), Inciting Incident (conflict arises), Rising Action (conflict grows), Climax (turning point in which the situation changes for better or worse), Falling Action (Suspense is prolonged as difficulties are confronted and questions answered. Conflict is overcome), Resolution/Denouement (all remaining issues are settled and there is reconciliation)

Question 9

Farce or absurdist comedy call for more rapid and frenzied movement and tempo. What are two strategies to help actors rehearse for the fast speeches and brisk movements?

Answer 9

1) Actors stand still and practice rattling off their lines very quickly and with exaggerated clarity but no effort to be expressive. This helps them deliver the dialogue without thinking and might bring out the absurdity of the words.
2) Rehearse stage movements repeatedly at even greater speed without dialogue to reinforce muscle memory, and enables the actors to feel at ease when performing the stage business at a slightly slower speed.