What Is Theatre?

Question 1

The word “theatre”
comes from the Greek
theatron which means?

Answer 1

Seeing place

Question 2

Drama comes from the Greek word
dran which means?

Answer 2

To do

Question 3

Drama is something done - an ?

Answer 3

Action

Question 4

Theatre is something seen - an

Answer 4

Action witnesses

Question 5

Theat’re is ?

Answer 5

French/ British

Question 6

Theat’er is

Answer 6

German

Question 7

Theatre refers to

Answer 7

all the theatrical
arts: architecture, the design, construction,
marketing, etc.

Question 8

Drama focuses mainly on?

Answer 8

the written actions
and the words of a play

Question 9

If we say something is “dramatic”
we are
suggesting actions that are?

Answer 9

compelling.

Question 10

When we call something “theatrical”
, we are
usually implying

Answer 10

“showy” or sensational
behavior.

Question 11

What do we need?

Answer 11

A person performing
• An audience
• A place

Question 12

What does theater mean?

Answer 12

• A building
• Metaphorically it can mean a place
where surgeries or wars take place
• The players (and owners, managers,
and technicians) who perform in a
space – a company.
• An occupatio

Question 13

Theatre architecture

Answer 13

Proscenium Theatre
• Thrust Theater
• Arena Theater
• Black Box

Question 14

Proscenium

Answer 14

The 4th wall removed

Question 15

Thrust Theater

Answer 15

Seats on 3 sides
• More “intimate”.

Question 16

Arena Theatre

Answer 16

Seats on all 4 sides
• Very intimate
• More emphasis on
props & costumes than
on scenery.

Question 17

The Black Box

Answer 17

A flexible space
• The “empty space”

Question 18

Theatre as a Collaborative Art Form

Answer 18

Troupes
• Playmakers
• Thespians

Question 19

Occupations in Theatre

Answer 19

Producing
• Directing
• Acting
• Designing
• Building
• Crewing
• Stage Management
• House Management and Playwriting

Question 20

Playwriting

Answer 20

(the one and only craft of the theatre that
can be (and usually is) executed away
from the theatre building and shops.
• The use of the word “play” – theatre is a
kind of “playing”
• Think of child’s play (game-like), or
“playing” cops and robbers (meaning
impersonate).

Question 21

Art

Answer 21

Theatre is an “art” complete with creativity,
imagination, elegance, power, & aesthetic
harmony.
• Meant to capture the human spirit
• Integrating our emotions with our intellect

Question 22

Impersonation

Answer 22

Unlike other forms of art - poetry, painting,
sculpture, music, cabaret acts - the theatre
involves actors impersonating characters
• The theater has a long tradition of using masks

Question 23

What is a performance?

Answer 23

2 people talking is communication
– 2 people talking for the benefit (attention,
entertainment, enlightenment, or involvement)
of someone else becomes a performance.