Theatre Final Study Questions - Flashcards

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Parades, juggling, pantomime, and street carnivals may all be considered theatrical entertainments.

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True

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Audience taste may significantly influence what is performed, how it is performed, and where it is performed

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True

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Which statement best describes "willing suspension of disbelief"?

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a. 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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What types of intelligence does theatre develop and make use of?

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d. All of the choices

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Which statement accurately reflects similarities between theatrical performance and sports?

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d. All of the choices

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In the statement "A performs B for C" which of the following is NOT a component of "A"?

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d. Audience

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Because of "empathy," we don't call the police if we see a character murdered on the stage during a performance.

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False

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All theatre depends upon a script as its basic starting point.

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False

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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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Which does NOT express a difference between theatre and games or sports?

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a. In theatre, spectators assemble at a special time and place for the event

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What the audience sees is always the only possible interpretation of a script.

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False

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Theatres which produce plays intended for a small segment of the population (such as minorities) find it much easier to attract an audience than theatres whose goal it is to appeal to the community as a whole.

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False

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Which statement BEST defines the rules about how to experience a theatrical performance?

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d. There are no rules on how to experience a theatrical performance, but it may be more satisfying if one pays attention and uses their imagination

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Some plays and musicals have met with negative or mixed reviews and still achieved popular success.

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True

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Which is NOT one of the three basic problems of criticism?

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b. Research

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Which is NOT part of the three-step process for developing critical judgment?

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c. One develops a subjective response

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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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Although some theatre critics may write flippant remarks, the most constructive or useful criticism:

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d. All of the choices

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Professional critics always adhere to a single context in making their judgments.

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False

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Audience response to a performance can be affected by which factor?

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d. All of the choices

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Which most fully describes the qualities of effective dramatic action?

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e. All of the choices

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Which of the following is NOT one of the six elements of drama, according to Aristotle?

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e. Situation

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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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"Point of attack" refers to:

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a. The moment at which the plotline takes up the larger story of the play

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In many plays the "major dramatic question" stems directly from the "inciting incident."

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True

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"Exposition" relates that part of the action that occurs after the "crisis" or "climax."

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False

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Which best describes Melodrama as a dramatic form?

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a. A serious action that is resolved happily and affirms the power of good over evil

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Style in the theatre stems only from the manner in which a playwright uses the elements of drama.

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False

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Tragedy is a form associated especially with:

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b. Elizabethan England

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Two of the most common plot structures are episodic and sequential.

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False

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Small professional companies, such as Off-Off Broadway theatres, have more extensive auxiliary spaces than regional and university theatres usually do.

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False

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The level of formality expressed through architecture and decoration within a theatre does not affect an audience's expectations or responses to a production.

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False

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Which is NOT an element of design?

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d. Harmony

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Which of these practitioners makes use of visual design?

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d. All of the choices

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In which arrangement is a production's costumes likely to be the least detailed?

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c. Proscenium Arch

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Which is NOT a characteristic of the theatrical space?

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d. Location

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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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c. Thrust

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Theatre artists are able, through careful collaboration and coordination of visual and aural signs, to ensure that the audience will fully interpret their intentions.

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False

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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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The principles of design are: line, shape, space, color, texture, and ornamentation.

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False

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Almost all plays that are written for the theatre eventually gain a fully mounted production.

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False

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The 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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Playwrights need to see their work performed to answer questions about:

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d. All of the choices

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Which is NOT considered an "old practice" in terms of play development?

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a. Actors ask for changes to enhance their roles

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The Humana Festival in New York stages multiple new plays every year.

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False

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Who is considered to be the first dramaturg?

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a. Lessing

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Two weeks before opening night of a new play the playwright is no longer allowed to make revisions so that the actors have sufficient time to learn their lines.

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False

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Dramaturgs have some responsibility for educating the audience.

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True

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Playwrights have been the most removed from the production process in:

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a. 21st century America

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A production dramaturg:

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c. Assists the director by supplying information and asking critical questions

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Which best explains the difference between literary management and production dramaturgy?

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b. Literary management is concerned with the entire season, whereas production dramaturgy is concerned with a specific production

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Which statement best describes the essential service the producer provides the director?

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a. The producer provides the space, personnel and money the director needs to realize his or her vision

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From the beginning of rehearsals, directors are usually able to rehearse with the actual scenery, properties and costumes.

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False

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Directors generally dictate to the designers exactly what the show should look like.

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False

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The term "colorblind casting" refers to what practice?

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a. Casting the most talented performer suitable for the role regardless of race or ethnicity

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The typical rehearsal schedule follows what process?

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c. Read and discuss the script, blocking, memorize lines, ensemble playing, technical rehearsals

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Stage movement may:

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d. All of the choices

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The means to create visual emphasis remain the same, regardless of the type of stage.

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False

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Producers usually provide potential investors with:

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b. A proposed budget for all expenses prior to opening the show, weekly operating costs, and a plan for dividing any profits

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When studying the script, one of the questions a director may ask is whether or not the length of the script should be cut.

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True

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Director Anne Bogart has gained considerable notoriety for staging familiar or classical plays in a manner that can seem iconoclastic.

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True

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Which is NOT a main directorial concern in guiding the performers' use of voice and speech?

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a. That the contents of their speeches should not be offensive or vulgar in any way

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The term "blocking" refers to:

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a. Establishing the performers' movements from place-to-place and their bodily position

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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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c. The director uses the script as raw material to be reshaped for his or her own purposes

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The term "open call" means that anyone who wants to audition may do so without any restrictions.

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False

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The producer's primary functions are financial and managerial in nature.

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True

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Ariane Mnouchkine staged some of Shakespeare's history plays using the formalized conventions of Asian theatre is an example of the auteur directorial approach.

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False

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Which is NOT ordinarily a responsibility of the director?

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d. To determine the total cost of the production and its projected income

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The term "technical rehearsals" refers to when the actors first discuss the play with the director.

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False

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Which is the perhaps the most indispensable of the director's assistants?

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b. The stage manager

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An action is "cheated" if:

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c. It isn't really done, but instead is faked through careful timing and positioning of the actors

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Stage acting requires:

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d. All of the choices

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Which accurately identifies the 4 levels of characterization?

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c. Biological, sociological, psychological, ethical

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Most actor's vocal and movement training begins by developing an understanding of how the voice and body work, and by releasing unnecessary tension or inhibitions.

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True

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What does an actor doing scene study typically do?

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d. All of the choices

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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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d. All of the choices

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To "endow" an object means to give it an emotional significance and value from the character's perspective.

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True

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An actor only needs to understand his or her own role and not be concerned with the others.

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False

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The term "cue lines" refers to knowing what another actor is going to say just before it is your turn to speak.

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True

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Film actors have greater control over shaping their performances than do stage actors.

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False

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3-dimensional units are used more often in arena theatres than any other configuration.

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False

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"Front elevations" show:

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b. The appearance of the unit including any molding, baseboards, or attached platforms

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Scene designers must consider their work in much the same way as interior decorators.

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True

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Each of these is an example of a soft scenery unit EXCEPT:

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b. Flat

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A "set prop" refers to a property that is attached to the setting or one that functions as part of the design, such as a sofa or a cabinet.

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True

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"Spattering" refers to a painting technique of simultaneously applying and blending more than one shade of paint on the same surface to create a mottled effect.

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False

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Which is NOT part of a theatre's counterweight system?

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d. Elevator

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The technical director works for the scene designer and is supervised by the scene designer.

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False

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Which accurately describes a function of scene design?

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d. All of the choices

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A "wagon" is generally used for:

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a. Moving heavy or complex set pieces on and off stage

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Wood may eventually replace steel because of its greater strength and durability.

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False

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In most theatres, which person sees to it that the scenery is built appropriately?

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d. Technical director

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In the professional theatre, actors are responsible for applying their own makeup, though the costume designer may design it.

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True

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Which accurately describes a function of costume design?

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d. All of the choices

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The typical process of building a stage costume is to: (1) take the performer's measurements, (2) purchase the materials, (3) draft patterns for the cutting and shaping of the material, (4) construct the garment, and (5) fit the garment to the performer.

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True

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Lighting designers can make firm decisions about all aspects of their designs work at the same time as the scenery and costume designers.

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False

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Realistic sound refers to sounds that stem from a recognizable source.

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True

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The instrument schedule serves what purpose?

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a. Summarizes in tabular form all of the technical information needed for setting up the lighting instruments

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The term "selective transmission" refers to what?

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a. The wavelengths of light that each color filter permits to pass through

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Which is NOT one of the functions of sound design?

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a. Reinforces the stage composition

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A costume working drawing is a color sketch that shows:

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a. The costume from a distinctive angle, often including details of special features

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The development of the dramatic action can be underscored by changes in what each character wears.

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True

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Which is NOT considered a type of painted makeup effect?

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d. Prosthetics

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Costumes always adhere to realistic standards of dress.

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False

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The term "mixed-media production" refers to what practice?

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d. All of the choices

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An ellipsoidal is essentially a flood light and is used primarily for general illumination.

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False

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Although sound has always played an important role in theatrical production, it is not considered a separate art of design.

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False

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Specific illumination is:

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b. Generated by spotlights

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In the professional theatre, how are custom made beards, moustaches and wigs typically made?

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a. Human hair is tied with special needles onto a special woven net, then measured and cut to fit the performer.

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Costumes help to determine the amount, type and overall pattern of movement and stage business.

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True

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The "sound score" is an audio recording of all of the sound effects for a production.

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False

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In a proscenium theatre all of the lighting instruments are mounted behind the proscenium.

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False

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The proscenium arch was invented to frame the stage picture.

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True

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Which was NOT used in association with perspective scenery?

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b. The discovery space

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"Molière" was:

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a. The stage name of a leading French actor, playwright, and head of a prominent theatre company

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An Intermezzi is:

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b. Court entertainments based on myth or legend typically designed to pay an elaborate compliment

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Which is NOT an Elizabethan theatrical convention?

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b. Realistic staging

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Which is NOT one of the three stock character types commonly found in commedia dell'arte?

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b. Princes

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The Elizabethan staging conventions were an adaptation of medieval staging conventions.

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True

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Which audience area had the least expensive admission price?

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a. The Gallery

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French actors in the 17th and 18th centuries were hired according to "lines of business" - or the type of characters they traditionally played.

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True

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The acceptance of perspective scenery signaled a movement away from the formal and architectural stage in favor of the representational, pictorial stage.

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True

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Which did NOT influence the development of Elizabethan drama?

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d. Strict adherence to neoclassical unities of time, place, and action

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Tartuffe is organized in "french scenes:" wherein dramatic action is developed as characters enter and exit a central location.

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True

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French neoclassicism advocated all of the following EXCEPT:

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c. The mixing of tragedy and comedy in the same play

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Opera emerged as an attempt to recreate the relationship between music and speech found in Greek drama.

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True

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Shakespeare was the only significant dramatist of his time.

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False

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Elizabethan theatre was a shift from professional, secular, and regularly performed theatre to communal, religious, and occasionally performed theatre.

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False

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Which is a new feature introduced to the English stage during the Restoration?

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a. The use of women to play the female roles in public theatre performances

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Elizabethan theatre companies were fully financially supported by a noble patron.

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False

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Many credit Carlo Goldoni (The Servant of Two Masters) with refining and reforming commedia in the 18th century. What did Goldoni NOT do?

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a. Heightened the use of improvisation

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In France costumes were provided to the actors by the company manager.

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False

question

The configuration of Wagner's theatre at Bayreuth set the pattern for most 20th century theatres.

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True

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In the play A Doll's House, Nora walks out on her husband because he won't give her any money.

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False

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Romanticists thought of a play as merely "a slice of life" - reality transferred to the stage.

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False

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A Doll's House exemplifies realism in that:

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b. The play develops logically through a cause-to-effect dramatic construction

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Wagner's demand for "unity of production:"

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a. Sought to filter all stage expressions through a single artistic consciousness

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The independent theatre movement:

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c. Got around the censorship laws governing public performance by staging "private" performances

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Stanislavsky believed that on stage the actor should be free to improvise spontaneously.

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False

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Numerous independent theatres were established all over Europe, the first of which was the Théâtre Libre in Paris.

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True

question

Among other things, Freud's theories contributed to an increased awareness of subtext (the possibility of a covert meaning beneath what is overtly communicated).

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True

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Which is an implication some derived from Charles Darwin's theories?

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a. Heredity and environment influence human behavior and characteristics

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Which was NOT an appeal of melodrama?

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d. Box Sets

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Melodrama encouraged the development of realistic spectacle.

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True

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Who is usually considered the first director, in the modern sense?

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a. George II, duke of Saxe-Meiningen

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George Bernard Shaw wrote comedies for London's Independent Theatre that punctured popular prejudices and provoked audiences to reassess their values.

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True

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Which artistic movement challenged neoclassicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries?

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b. Romanticism

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Stanislavsky's "magic if" refers to:

answer

c. A way through which the performer may imaginatively project themselves into the world of the play

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Realism and naturalism were based on the idea that character is determined by heredity and environment.

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True

question

Ibsen's dramas were considered controversial because:

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a. They challenged existing moral values and social norms

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The complexity involved in staging the spectacular effects required by melodrama was a contributing factor in:

answer

d. The perceived need for a director to coordinate and unify stage action

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Saxe-Meiningen's company was known especially for its realistic crowd scenes.

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True

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Which idea or practice did Adolphe Appia urge?

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c. Flat painted scenery should be replaced with three-dimensional structures

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In Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, one major theme is the isolation and loneliness of human beings.

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True

question

The widely acclaimed Group Theatre (1931-1941) had no connection to Stanislavsky and bitterly opposed his ideas and practices.

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False

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In The Good Person of Setzuan a kind-hearted prostitute named Shen Te disguises herself as her hard-hearted cousin Shui Ta because she finds it impossible to be good in an economic system that forces people to do bad things in order to survive.

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True

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Which are playwrights whose works characterized American psychological realism of the early postwar years?

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b. Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams

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Elia Kazan, who directed the first Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, was successful in insisting that Tennessee Williams include "Big Daddy" in the last act, and make other changes to make the overall tone of the play more positive.

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True

question

Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape" is an example of an "Epic Theatre" play.

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False

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Which is associated with Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theatre?

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d. All of the choices

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Futurism and Dadaism both advocated simultaneity and multiple focus.

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True

question

Adolphe Appia considered light the most flexible of all theatrical elements.

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True

question

At which modernist group's performance might "chance poems," music, and dances be included?

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d. Dadaists

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Expressionism was the first artistic movement to reject representationalism (the long-standing relationship between perception and representation).

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False

question

Which is a typical Futurist practice?

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c. Compression of a full-length play's essence into a few moments

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Artaud advocated the creation of new performance spaces wherein the formal divisions between performers and audience would be eliminated.

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True

question

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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d. Oklahoma!

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Artaud was at one time a member of the realistic movement.

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False

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Which statement most accurately defines the goals of the "new stagecraft" or modified realism?

answer

c. Simplification and suggestion to stimulate the imagination rather than providing every detail

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The Federal Theatre Project

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a. Was a nationwide program that aimed to provide jobs and Americans with free, adult, uncensored theatre

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Which is NOT an absurdist playwright?

answer

a. Arthur Miller

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Antonin Artaud advocated a "theatre of cruelty" wherein "cruelty" refers to:

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d. The audience being forced to confront itself in order to purge the unconscious mind of destructive impulses

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Happenings typically had all the following characteristics EXCEPT:

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b. An emphasis on representation of a scripted text for an audience

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Which is a characteristic of Stephen Sondheim's musicals?

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d. Ironic and melancholic views of human behavior

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The Stratford Festival is most closely associated with the English National Theatre.

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False

question

England's Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre are both examples of very successful theatres that owe much to the federal subsidies they were granted .

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True

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Which is NOT considered a regional theatre?

answer

a. Playwrights Horizons

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Popular Broadway musicals in the 1970s and 80s were, for the most part, imports from England.

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True

question

Which Off-Off Broadway theatre offers plays free of charge in central park?

answer

a. The New York Shakespeare Festival

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Playwright David Mamet writes about serious subjects in and outrageous manner to comically underscore the absurdity of modern life.

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False

question

Josef Svoboda is among those typically credited with:

answer

d. All of the choices

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Which playwright's work instigated Parliament to abolish censorship laws that had been in place for over 200 years?

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a. Edward Bond

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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

question

Which theatre became the prototype for regional theaters in the U.S.?

answer

d. Theatre '47

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The Ford Foundation funded the 1963 opening of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.

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False

question

Performance art formed, in part, due to impulses that had also inspired which of the following people?

answer

a. Alan Kaprow

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Paradise Now was the first time nudity and obscenity appeared in a production on Broadway.

answer

False

question

No European countries consider funding for the arts a cultural responsibility.

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False

question

The term "decentralization" refers to the efforts to establish theatre centers in various parts of the country.

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True

question

The Living Theatre:

answer

e. None of the choices

question

What did Jerzy Grotowski want to achieve?

answer

b. He wanted actors and audience to undergo an event wherein they might spiritually confront themselves

question

Environmental theatre blurs the distinctions between acting space and audience space.

answer

True

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