Drama 116 Final

Front 1

What is ritual?

Back 1

Repeated behavior to achieve a desired result.

Front 2

What is theater?

Back 2

A performance that places human experiences before an audience in the present moment.

Front 3

What makes theater unique?

Back 3

it is:
- immediate
- double
- alive

IDA!

Front 4

What are the essential parallels of theater?

Back 4

actors -- humanity
simulation -- reality
rehearsal -- spontaneity
audience -- society

Front 5

Name three different theater spaces.

Back 5

- proscenium
- thrust
- theatron

Front 6

What are the three essential components of theater?

Back 6

- audience
- actor
- action

three A's

Front 7

What are the two essential components of theater space?

Back 7

the audience and the actor

Front 8

What type of acting used formal movement and stylized gestures, as well as masks and make-up?

Back 8

Asian and Greek acting

Front 9

What happened to acting in the 18th and 19th century?

Back 9

it alternated between exaggerated and naturalistic

Front 10

What is the key characteristic of contemporary drama?

Back 10

portraying a character's wants and needs through artistically truthful behavior that reflects a characters psychological and emotional life

Front 11

Who was Constantin Stanislavski?

Back 11

A Russian actor and theater director; naturalistic approach led to Realism

Front 12

Describe the magic "if."

Back 12

- developed by Constantin Stanslavski
- "What if I were in the same situation as the character right now?"
- approach to acting
- "the system"

Front 13

What are the actor's tools?

Back 13

- the body
- the voice
- rehearsals
- performance
- auditioning

Front 14

What is the function of the director?

Back 14

The director ensures the quality and completeness of theater production and leads the members of the creative team into realizing their artistic vision for it. The director therefore collaborates with a team of creative individuals and other staff.

Front 15

Define blocking.

Back 15

Movement given to an actor by a director.

Front 16

Define "places."

Back 16

a command used to tell actors that the show is about to start and they need to get where they need to be

Front 17

What does AEA stand for?

Back 17

Actor’s Equity Association

Front 18

What does SAG stand for?

Back 18

Screen Actor’s Guild

Front 19

What does AFTRA stand for?

Back 19

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

Front 20

What is the significance of Dionysia?

Back 20

It was a city in which celebrations were held celebrating theater and Dionysus (god of fertility and wine whose body was cut up in pieces). This is where the first comedy was performed (486 BCE) and satyrs were performed.

Front 21

What did Greek tragedy focus on?

Back 21

The downfall of a person of noble birth.

Front 22

In Greek theater, what is perpeteia?

Back 22

reversal

Front 23

In Greek theater, what is anagnorisis?

Back 23

recognition

Front 24

In Greek theater, what is catharsis?

Back 24

purging of emotions, pity, and fear

Front 25

According to Aristotle, what are the three unities of theater?

Back 25

unity of:
- time
- place
- action

Front 26

In Greek theater, what is the orchestra?

Back 26

where the chorus sings and dances

Front 27

In Greek theater, what is the theatron?

Back 27

the seeing place (audience)

Front 28

In Greek theater, what is the skene?

Back 28

the scene building

Front 29

In Greek theater, what is the proskenion?

Back 29

a raised stage where actors performed

Front 30

In Greek theater, what is the ekkyklema?

Back 30

a rolling platform

Front 31

In Greek theater, what is the mekane?

Back 31

the machine

Front 32

In Greek theater, what is the parados?

Back 32

the entrance for the chorus

Front 33

Who was Thespis?

Back 33

a Greek playwright; the first actor to step from the chorus individually

Front 34

Who was Aeschylus?

Back 34

a Greek playwright who introduced the second actor

Front 35

Who was Sophocles?

Back 35

a Greek playwright who added the third actor; wrote Oedipus

Front 36

Who was Euripedes?

Back 36

a Greek playwright who introduced women's roles

Front 37

Who was Plautus?

Back 37

a Roman dramatist focused on comedy; wrote Twin Menaechimi

PST

Front 38

Who was Seneca?

Back 38

a Roman dramatist who wrote closet dramas; influenced Shakespeare

PST

Front 39

Who was Terrance?

Back 39

a Roman dramatist possibly of African descent

PST

Front 40

What did Roman theater eliminate?

Back 40

the chorus

Front 41

In Medieval drama, what was a mansion?

Back 41

a large house/theater in which plays were performed

Front 42

What were pageant wagons?

Back 42

a cart on which medieval dramas were performed

Front 43

What were tropes?

Back 43

musical elaborations of a medieval church service
- earliest known was quam quaeritis = "whom seek ye?"

Front 44

What was liturgical drama?

Back 44

developed from tropes

Front 45

What was a morality play?

Back 45

used religious characters to teach a lesson (Everyman)

Front 46

What were miracle plays?

Back 46

In Medieval theater, they dramatized the miracles and were performed by the Saints. They eventually moved outside of the church.
Feast of Corpus Christi

Front 47

What were mystery plays?

Back 47

In Medieval theater, plays that dramatized the mystery of the passion of the Christ and other biblical stories. A popular mystery play was Second Shepherd's Pageant.

Front 48

Describe Italian drama.

Back 48

In the 14th and 15th century, Italian drama became more secular and was based off of Greek and Roman theater.

Front 49

What is commedia dell'arte?

Back 49

In Italian drama, this was the comedy of the professional player; it was highly valued because of the high level of performance. They used stock characters and improvisation.

Front 50

What are stock characters?

Back 50

In the Italian Renaissance, stock characters were characters with predictable behavior.
Pantalone was the miserly old man.
Arlecchino (Harlequin) was the cunning clown.
Punch and Judy were the lovers.
Columbina was the zany servant.

Front 51

What's the burla?

Back 51

the general plot in commedia dell'arte

Front 52

What are the lazzi?

Back 52

the comic routines of commedia dell'arte

Front 53

What was the lasting design that Italian theater brought to the stage?

Back 53

the proscenium arch -- a "frame" that surrounds the stage and separates the audience from the actors

Front 54

What kinds of drama did William Shakespeare write?

Back 54

tragedy, comedy, and romance

Front 55

Which Roman playwright heavily influenced William Shakespeare?

Back 55

Seneca

Front 56

How many plays did Shakespeare write? How did he get his start as a playwright?

Back 56

37 -- he started out as a poet

Front 57

What were Shakespeare's theater companies and when did they exist?

Back 57

- Lord Chamberlain’s Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth
- King’s Men during the reign of King James

Front 58

What was the Globe?

Back 58

a large open-air theater in which several of Shakespeare's plays were performed

Front 59

How was the text of Shakespeare's plays written?

Back 59

- in prose, which was generally used for people of lower status
- in verse
- in iambic pentameter: 10 beats per line, which was used for people of higher status and in high emotional moments

Front 60

What was the C. Jacobean court mask?

Back 60

performed by the court for the court

Front 61

What are three themes of Othello?

Back 61

jealousy, envy, and isolation

Front 62

What happened to theater under Puritan government? When did this happen?

Back 62

theaters closed for about 20 years, this happened in the late 17th and early 18th century

Front 63

What was neoclassicism?

Back 63

valued thought over feeling and strictly abided by Aristotelian unities of time, place, and action (1600s)

Front 64

What were the characteristics of the English Restoration of 1660?

Back 64

new theaters with indoor lighting, long and narrow spaces, painted backdrops, and actresses allowed on stage, breech roles, closet drama

Front 65

What were breech roles?

Back 65

Restoration of 1660:
- breech roles involved cross-dressing (men playing women, women playing men)

Front 66

What theatrical changes occurred in the 17th and 18th century theater?

Back 66

- indoor theaters with candle light open year round
- apron extends into audience

Front 67

What is a deus ex machina?

Back 67

"god from a machine;" an artificial plot device introduced late in a play to resolve difficulties

Front 68

What were comedies of manners?

Back 68

Introduced in the Restoration of the 17th century and influenced by Moliere, they made fun of the manners, fashion, and foibles of the upper class. They made fun of gossip, adultery, and sex and used stock characters whose names describe their personality.

Front 69

Name two actors of the 17th and 18th century theater.

Back 69

- Nell Gwynne
- David Garrick

Front 70

What type of theater characterized early and mid-20th century drama?

Back 70

realism
- social realism was aimed at a political conscience
- surrealism focused on dreams
- absurdity assumed the world is meaningless and humans must create significance

Front 71

What are three milestone musicals of the 20th century and who wrote them?

Back 71

- Showboat by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein (tells a realistic story)
- Shuffle Along by Blake and Sisle
- Oklahoma by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II (integrated story with music)

Front 72

Who was Ziegfeld?

Back 72

a big name in Broadway; wrote the Ziegfeld follies, which combined ethnic music, ethnic comedy routines, and beautiful girls

Front 73

What technical changes occurred in 1800?

Back 73

- gas jets for lighting
- lights could be dimmend
- light could be used to heighten emotional effect of plays
- actors moved deeper into set
- lighting was placed between scenery and behind proscenium arch
- scenery and machinery lifted actors from stage into fly space

Front 74

In 1840, the ________ began to accurately reflect the time period.

Back 74

costumes

Front 75

What three major forms of drama emerged in the 19th century?

Back 75

- romanticism
- melodrama
- the well-made play

Front 76

What's the difference between realism and naturalism?

Back 76

- realism focuses on ordinary people in ordinary situations and usually teaches a moral lesson
- naturalism features the stark truths of lower classes

Front 77

What was Tin Pan Alley?

Back 77

where Broadway songwriters sold their songs

Front 78

Who was Luis Valdez?

Back 78

a Latin-American playwright who wrote Zoot Suit, the first Mexican-American production on Broadway

Front 79

What three categories can Latino drama be placed into?

Back 79

- Chicano (southwest, west)
- Cuban American (Florida)
- Puerto Rican (New York)

Front 80

What was the first African-American theater company?

Back 80

The African Grove Theater (1820) in NYC

Front 81

Name four African-American actors.

Back 81

James Hewlett, Ira Aldridge (went to England), George Walker, Bert Williams (Ziegfeld productions)

Front 82

What was folk drama?

Back 82

African-American, non-commercial, rural theater based on folk traditions and local history

Front 83

Describe the Little Theater Movement.

Back 83

the movement of theater to more non-commercial, community-oriented productions based on vaudeville, Broadway, or literary dramas; women were leaders in the movement:
- Zora Neal Houston
- Angelina Weld Grimke
- Mary Burrill
- Georgia Douglass Johnson

Front 84

What characterized the theater of cruelty, who popularized it, and when?

Back 84

Antonin Artaud popularized this removal of the comforting distance between the actors and the audience in the early 20th century.

Front 85

What is experimental theater?

Back 85

mixes film, video, opera, rock and other music with live actors

Front 86

Describe applied theater.

Back 86

Applied theater is drama in a specific context and environment; it does not have to be in a conventional theater. The most vital aspect is what the audience brings to the performance and takes away from the performance. It can be used in prisons, museums, or other therapeutic settings.

Front 87

Name the playwright and describe the general plot of Rising of the Moon.

Back 87

Lady Gregory; good example of elements of drama -- plot, rising action, climax

Front 88

Name the playwright and describe the general plot of Oedipus.

Back 88

Sophocles; uses dramatic irony, best example of Greek tragedy, Oedipus discovers he killed his father and married his mother

Front 89

Name the playwright and describe the general plot of Everyman.

Back 89

anonymous; morality play that examines the question of Christian salvation by use of allegorical characters, and what Man must do to attain it. The premise is that the good and evil deeds of one's life will be tallied by God after death, as in a ledger book. The play is the allegorical accounting of the life of Everyman, who represents all mankind. In the course of the action, Everyman tries to convince other characters to accompany him in the hope of improving his account. All the characters are also allegorical, each personifying an abstract idea such as Fellowship, (material) Goods, and Knowledge. The conflict between good and evil is dramatized by the interactions between characters.

Front 90

Name the playwright and describe the general plot of A Doll House.

Back 90

Henrik Ibsen; a realistic drama that was shocking when it was first performed. One of the main themes was that it is a human’s job to find out who they really are and to become that person.