Theatre Midterm

Front 1

Aristotle's elements of drama

Back 1

As described in the "Poetics"
1. plot
2. character
3. thought
4. diction
5. music
6. spectacle

Front 2

exposition

Back 2

the details leading up to the climax, what audience needs to know to understand situation.

Has to answer or at least address "why"

playwright's job to present exposition in their own way

Front 3

conflict

Back 3

external (outside one's self) and internal (inside one's self) dealing with other people's actions and responding, the problem in the play

Front 4

climax

Back 4

point of highest tension

Front 5

denouement

Back 5

"unraveling" "untying" the final portion of the play, from the crisis until the end, meant to resolve or solidify

Front 6

dran

Back 6

drama - "to do"
Greek

Front 7

theatron

Back 7

theatre - "seeing place"
Greek

Front 8

mimesis

Back 8

Imitation of an action
Greek

Front 9

linear

Back 9

plots are usually climactic plays, action; a straight line of events throughout the play in chronological order

Front 10

non-linear

Back 10

plots flash forward/backward in time, wavelike feeling

Front 11

climactic

Back 11

arrangement of play's events where scenes build as a cause & effect relationship, from inciting incident to climax or resolution

late point of attack, no subplots to distract us, only a few characters, usually one location, action covering short span of time

Short resolutions - Greek tragedy

Front 12

episodic

Back 12

arrangement of play's events where scenes jump from one to the next, often separated by time or place, without necessarily a cause & effect relationship

Earlier point of attack, one or more subplots, lots of characters, many locations, action covering a longer period of time (Shakespeare)

Front 13

index

Back 13

character whose journey we follow through the play

Front 14

The Method

Back 14

When you become the character, using the character's way of life in your own life, rather than simply presenting the character, used very well in realistic dramas

objective
obstacle
given circumstances
"living in the moment"
emotion and sense memory
magic "if"

Front 15

objective

Back 15

the character's goal every single time he walks on stage

Front 16

obstacle

Back 16

counterpart to the objective, creates tension, keeps the play moving, external & internal (internal more interesting

Front 17

magic "if"

Back 17

actor must explore & develop an understanding of what would I do in this situation? Ability to take ownership of character's person, existence, way of thinking, reactions

Front 18

given circumstances

Back 18

applied to the total set of environmental and situational conditions which influence the actions that a character in a drama undertakes.

Front 19

"living in the moment"

Back 19

living truthfully under imaginary conditions

Front 20

emotional/sense memory

Back 20

promote your emotional side so that you can portray wider varieties of emotions through the character, attempt to make a serious and deep connection, must always be in control though

Front 21

didaskalos

Back 21

Greek word for teacher, person who taught on stage direction

Front 22

director's concept

Back 22

idea of play, way to make it visual

relatively new concept, seeing as mid 1900s, being the third eye for the play

Front 23

literal directing

Back 23

simply stages play, "page-to-stage" approach, as close to the playwright's intentions as possible

Front 24

translational directing

Back 24

may change setting, keep lines the same, captures spirit of the play

This is usually when a play is set in a different time period with same lines

Front 25

auteur directing

Back 25

does not care where it's set, big style choice, big changes

script is used as raw material to be reshaped to director's preferences

Front 26

blocking

Back 26

moving and positioning actors on stage

Front 27

staging

Back 27

Refers to everything on stage, not just the actors, and their positions and timing

Front 28

stage manager

Back 28

Helps director throughout rehearsal process

The individual responsible for running the show during performances, making sure that everything functions as intended.

Front 29

Stage Directions: upstage, downstage, stage right, stage left

Back 29

"down" means closest to audience, "up" is further away from audience, it is the point of view of the actor!!

Front 30

thrust

Back 30

o Stage thrusts into audience
o Actors enter from wings upstage of thrust and sometimes through voms (aisles in audience)
o Stage on ground level, audience raked
o Can’t have anything restrict sightlines of audience
o Intimate relation with audience, audience involvement important (can see fellow members of audience)
o Allows flooding of stage quickly
o Actors need to turn a lot, speak loudly – can’t neglect a section of the audience

A type of theatre with audience seating arranged around three, or occasionally two, sides of a raised platform. Sometimes called an open stage.

Front 31

proscenium arch

Back 31

frames proscenium stage and separates actors from audience

Front 32

proscenium stage

Back 32

audience directly faces the stage
o Audience in darkness
o Actors enter from wings backstage
o Proscenium arch frames stage and separates actors from audience
o Allowed scene painters to be way more complex using perspective scenery
o Does not create intimacy with audience
o Displayed like a picture
o Popular in Renaissance, lit by candles
o Best for realistic dramas

A type of theatre using an architectural arch to frame a raised stage.

Front 33

arena

Back 33

o Audience completely surrounds the stage
o Actors enter through voms
o Scene design options limited by sight-line problelms
o Can put scenery in voms
o Floor of the stage is the most important part of scenery
o Very difficult, very actor driven
o Costuming becomes increasingly important
o Make-up design with lighting (shadows)
o Backstage area underneath audience
o Fully aware of audience

Type of theatre with audience seating on all sides of a performing space; also known as theatre–in–the–round.

Front 34

black box

Back 34

o A simple space to adapt to a variety of staging styles
o “Experimental” atmosphere
o can move audience around, several different settings possible
o most flexible space
o Ligthing can be difficult, usually no fly space
o Size of audience small, about 100-150
o New plays
o Controversial
o Experimental
o Don’t expect huge crowds

Front 35

basic design tools

Back 35

color, texture, line/shape

Front 36

gel

Back 36

transparent filters slid in front of lights to color the lights

Front 37

gobo

Back 37

A thin template made of metal (generally aluminum) or glass into which a pattern (for example, a tree) is generally cut that, when inserted directly in front of a lighting instrument, projects a pattern of shadows by obstructing some portion(s) of the light.

Front 38

house

Back 38

the part of a theatre where people sit/the people in the audience

Front 39

wings

Back 39

sides of the stage which cannot be seen by the audience

Front 40

apron

Back 40

part of the stage extending in front of the curtain

Front 41

fly space

Back 41

empty space above the stage to suspend scenery so that it may be lowered, used for lights too

Front 42

voms

Back 42

aisles in the audience leading to and from seating

Front 43

Aristotle

Back 43

came up with 6 parts of play:
plot
character/characterization
thought
diction
music
spectacle

Front 44

Susan Glaspell

Back 44

Wrote "Trifles" and the Provincetown Players, one of the most important collaboratives in the development of modern drama in the United States, she was one of the founders of this theatre...an experimental form of drama, often controversial plays

Front 45

Konstantin Stanislavsky, Moscow Art Theatre

Back 45

a Russian actor and theatre director. His system of acting (THE METHOD) has developed an international reach.

Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity. Throughout his life, he subjected his own acting to a process of rigorous artistic self-analysis and reflection. His development of a theorized praxis – in which practice is used as a mode of inquiry and theory as a catalyst for creative development – identifies him as the first great theatre practitioner.

Front 46

Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Back 46

o Had an acting company, wanted everybody engaged in acting of play whether lead role or “3rd spear carrier”
o United acting company greatly
o Very good at producing crowd scenes
o First job of the director done by him: created UNITY OF VISION

Front 47

Laurence Olivier

Back 47

One of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He is an actor who many consider to be the greatest in the English-speaking world during the twentieth century. Though Sir Laurence Olivier was based mostly in England, he made a significant number of Hollywood films. He was nominated for Academy Awards as either an actor, producer or director twelve times, winning twice, while also being honored with two special Oscars

We watched his Hamlet soliloquoy Melodrama
a. On a cliff, cloudy day, stormy
b. Lazy movements, Renaissance setting
c. Melancholy – dame, contemplative and thoughtful, but very sad

Front 48

Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler

Back 48

The fundamental difference between Strasberg and Adler is in how each approaches the problem of accessing emotion. Strasberg was always a strong advocate of emotional memory, i.e. using the five senses to evoke a past private emotion, whereas Adler thought, as Stanivslaski, with whom she studied did, that if you studied the text and truly believed in the imaginary circumstances all the emotions in the script would surface organically.