Theatre – Flashcard
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Audience response to a performance can be affected by..?
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other audience members, the size and shape of the auditorium, and each audience members imagination and concentration
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true or false: A reader may re-read, reflect, and sustain several possible interpretations of a line, scene or entire play, but the playgoer experiences the action and characters more immediately and directly.
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True
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True or false: An effective tragedy requires the arousal of empathy for those who strive for personal integrity and dignity
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True
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true or false: It is much easier to control audience focus in the theatre than it is on television or film
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False
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In the statement "A performs B for C" which of the following is the principle component of "A"?
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Actor
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willing suspension of disbelief
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A dynamic in which the audience agrees to accept the fictional world of the play on an imaginative level while knowing it to be untrue.
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true or false: "Exposition" relates that part of the action that occurs after the "crisis" or "climax"
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false
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what accurately reflects similarities between theatrical performance and sports?
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Both have specialized dress for their participants, Both have players and spectators, and Both have a special playing space or area for the activity
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what most fully describes the qualities of effective dramatic action?
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It should be deliberately shaped to reveal its purpose and goal, It should engage and maintain interest, It should be internally consistent, and It should be complete and self-contained
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what BEST describes Melodrama as a dramatic form?
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A serious action that is resolved happily and affirms the power of good over evil
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true or false: All surviving Roman comedies are adaptations of Greek plays
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True
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What function did the chorus serve in the Classical Greek theatre?
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Served as the ideal spectator, Expressed the author's point of view, and Served as a group character to express opinion or give advice
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what is NOT an Elizabethan theatrical convention?
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Realistic staging
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Which audience area had the least expensive admission price?
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The Pit
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What did NOT influence the development of Elizabethan drama?
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Strict adherence to neoclassical unities of time, place, and action
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true or false: Greek theatrical contest rules restricted the number of speaking actors to 3 for each playwright, but did not restrict the number of characters each of those actors could play
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True
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true or false: Shakespeare was the only significant dramatist of his time
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false
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true or false: The proscenium arch was invented to frame the stage picture
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true
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The use of masks in Greek theatre served what purpose?
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Facilitated the rapid change of roles when one or more actors played multiple parts, Helped male actors to represent female characters, and Assisted in communication within their large theatres
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true or false: Like the Greek theatre which influenced it, the Roman theatre used a chorus to perform songs between the episodes
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false
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Who is usually considered the first director, in the modern sense?
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George II, duke of Saxe-Meiningen
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true or false: Realism and naturalism were based on the idea that character is determined by heredity and environment
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true
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What musical is often cited as the first to fully integrate music, story, dance and visual elements to support the dramatic action?
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Oklahoma
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true or false: Stanislavsky believed that on stage the actor should be free to improvise spontaneously
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false
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The independent theatre movement
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Got around the censorship laws governing public performance by staging "private" performances
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true or false: Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape" is an example of an "Epic Theatre" play
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false
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What is associated with Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theatre?
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Creating "alienation," so that the audience watches actively and critically, The use of fragmented scenery and unmasked lighting instrument, and The interplay of theatrical elements, with each making its own statement
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Ibsen's dramas were considered controversial because
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They challenged existing moral values and social norms
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The Federal Theatre Project
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Was a nationwide program that aimed to provide jobs and Americans with free, adult, uncensored theatre
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Which are playwrights whose works characterized American psychological realism of the early postwar years?
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Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams
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Which Off-Off Broadway theatre offers plays free of charge in central park?
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The New York Shakespeare Festival
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Which theatre became the prototype for regional theaters in the U.S.?
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Theatre '47
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Which is considered an important factor in the revival of the American musical?
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The 42nd Street Development Project, The Disney corporation producing musicals, and Adapting movies into musicals
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True or false: Environmental theatre blurs the distinctions between acting space and audience space
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true
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Which BEST describes some of the ideas and practices of Postmodernism?
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Mingling of elements from disparate styles, periods, or cultures
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True or false: Robert Wilson's productions juxtapose visual images; often of a variety of styles, cultures and historical periods, out of which each spectator constructs his or her own associations and meanings
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true
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Josef Svoboda is among those typically credited with..
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Increasing the quick transformable quality of stage scenery, The incorporation of film with live performers, and The use of multiple screens of varied sizes hung at varied distances from the audience on which different images were projected
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Which was the first play by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway?
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Raisin in the Sun
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true or false: Off-Broadway theatres were founded as a way to produce plays that the typical Broadway audiences probably wouldn't come see
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true
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What type of dramatic structure does How I Learned to Drive use?
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An episodic plot structure in which the action moves forward and backwards in time through associations structured through a central metaphor of a driving lesson
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Components of theatre
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what is performed, the performance, the audience
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esthetic distance
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We are detached enough from the performance to view it with some objectivity
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empathy
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Feeling of involvement with the performance
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Perception
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the audience's experience of the performance
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Interpretation
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how the audience derives meaning from the performance
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Intention
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what the artists (director, playwright, etc.) try to communicate to the audience through the performance
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Aristotle's six elements of drama
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Plot, Character, Thought, Diction, Music, and Spectacle
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In a Kabuki performance a "mie"is:
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A highly styled pose struck and held by the principal character
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Which Japanese theatre forms uses puppets as its main characters?
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Bunraku
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Which of these is a Zen Buddhist principle that influenced Noh?
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Nothing in earthly life is permanent, Individual desire must be overcome, and Ultimate peace comes through union with all being
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True or False: In African indigenous performances, audience participation is expected
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true
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Which of the following is NOT a feature of Wayang Kulit?
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Actors which interact with the puppets
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true or false: Colonialism had no effect on the cultural activity of North Africa
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true
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true or false: The staging conventions used in Strong Breed are much the same as those found in European and American theatres
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false
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The Strong Breed reflects cultural traditions of which Yoruba festival?
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Egungen
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In indigenous African performances, what is the least important aspect?
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Dialogue
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The play Shrine in the Fields is what type of Noh play?
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A Woman play
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true or false: Almost all plays that are written for the theatre eventually gain a fully mounted production
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false
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Playwrights have been the most removed from the production process in:
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21st century American
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The typical rehearsal schedule follows what process?
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Read and discuss the script, blocking, memorize lines, ensemble playing, technical rehearsals
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true or false: A basic question one asks when considering a play for production is "why this play for this audience at this time?"
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true
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true or false: Each moment within a play creates an image that sends a message to the audience - whether planned or not
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true
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Which statement best defines the auteur directorial approach?
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The director uses the script as raw material to be reshaped for his or her own purposes
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Which statement best describes the essential service the producer provides the director?
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The producer provides the space, personnel and money the director needs to realize his or her vision
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The term "blocking" refers to:
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Establishing the performers' movements from place-to-place and their bodily position
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Which best explains the difference between literary management and production dramaturgy?
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Literary management is concerned with the entire season, whereas production dramaturgy is concerned with a specific production
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A production dramaturg:
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Assists the director by supplying information and asking critical questions
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In which arrangement is the audience seated on at least 2 but not more than 3 sides of the stage?
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Thrust
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Where do you hear and see actors?
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Commercials, Radio, Musical theatre, Training videos
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True or False: Two types of actors include "personality actors" and "transformational actors"
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True
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In which arrangement is a production's costumes likely to be the least detailed?
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Proscenium
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True or False: The inside out approach to acting is more prevalent in film and TV.
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True
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True or False: Technical rehearsals mark the period in the rehearsal process where the design elements come together for the first time in the same space.
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True
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What does an actor need to know to understand the role for which he or she has been cast?
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Which character traits are necessary within the dramatic action, The scripts themes and implied meanings, The objectives, actions, and obstacles of the character, How the role relates to the others in the play
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True or False: The visual elements of design serve as building blocks for design and directing
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True
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True or False: Stage Managers are responsible for maintaining the artistic integrity of the show once it has opened
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True
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True or False: In a flexible space theatre, the audience seating and performance areas may not be rigidly fixed
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True
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Theatre
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a building or outdoor area in which plays and other dramatic performances are given
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Greek Masks
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Facilitated rapid change of roles, Enabled male performers to embody female characters more easily, Helped actors to assume different types of roles, Assisted communication by capturing and emphasizing essential character qualities
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Intermezzi
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interludes performed between the acts of regular plays
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Proscenium Arch
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acting area at one end with all spectators facing it
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Thrust
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acting area surrounded on 2 to 3 sides by audience
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Arena
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acting area surrounded on all 4 sides by audience
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Flexible space
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relationship between acting and audience areas as variable and flexible
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Dadaism
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Grounded in rejection of values that had provoked WWI and Sought to replace logic, reason, and unity in art with chance and illogic
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melodrama
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drama with suspenseful plots; good vs bad, good wins
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Romanticism
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The less a thing deviates from its natural state the more truthful it is; rejects rules
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Realism and naturalism
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Grounded in scientific outlook: need to understand human behavior in terms of natural cause and effect
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Epic theatre
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Bertolt Brecht
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Raisin in the Sun
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by Lorraine Hansberry; African american theater
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Decentralization
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spreading out (regional theaters)
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subsidization
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government funding
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African Performance
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participation (audience, dancing, music)
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Dramaturgs and Dramaturgy
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internal critic
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Bunraku
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used puppets
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Noh
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development influenced by Zen Buddhist; shrine in the fields
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Producer
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financial support, space, marketing movement, gesture, and business
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director
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artistic vision
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blocking
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actor movement
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American Design Process
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starts with reading the play
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Stage Manager
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maintain integrity show run rehearsals, call show cues technical rehearsal
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Scene Designer
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technical director
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Costume Design
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Costume shop manager
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Lighting Designer
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master electrician
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Sound Designer
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audio engineer
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True or false: A light plot is a map of the type and location of each instrument used in the production
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True
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Which accurately describes a function of costume design?
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May embody a metaphor, symbol or allegorical concept, May establish social and economic status of the characters, and May alter an actor's shape and appearance
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The primary function of lighting is
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Illumination
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Visual communication can be accomplished through
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Drawings and sketches, Magazine pictures, Sculpture and art, Real objects and places
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true or false: Scene Designers communicate verbally, in writing, and visually
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true
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true or false: Sound designers are responsible for everything the audience hears, planned and unplanned, from the time they enter the auditorium to the time they leave
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true
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In most theatres, which person sees to it that the scenery is built appropriately?
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Technical Director
