Intro to Theatre Midterm questions | Online Assignment Help

1 The Greek philospher Aristotle pointed out that a tragedy needed to observe three unities:

• protagonist, antagonist, agon (argument)
• conflict, enactment, and financial gain
• time, place, and action

2 The performance contract:

• is unspoken
• is destroyed by pretense
• cannot be broken by either party

3 Conflict is:

• heightened interaction
• never present in character to character interactions
• never internal

4 The following are aspects of actor-audience interaction:

• whether or not the actors like each other offstage
• reviews online by a theatre critic
• the social prestige of attending an opening night performance

5 Films and theatre are different in that films do not:

• have character-character interactions
• have actor-actor interactions
• have immediate actor-audience interaction

6 The major characteristic of a proscenium theatre is:

• clear separation of the space between actors and audience on either side of a “fourth wall”
• audience surrounding three sides of the performance space
• the orientation of all audience seats around the stage

7 Directors may encourage spontaneity in a scene through:

• encouraging talks and lectures
• asking the playwright to rewrite a scene
• improvisations

8 If the audience responds enthusiastically to a play which the critic believes is of very poor quality, s/he should:

• blast the audience
• stand by his or her opinions, but note that others did like the play correct
• rethink his or her responses and possibly change them

9 The use of the suffix -wright suggests that the playwright should be:

• someone who writes plays
• a crafter or builder of plays
• always correct

10 Stage directions are always given:

• from the point of view of a director watching the play from the audience
• from the point of view of an actor standing on stage and facing the audience
• from the point of view of an actor standing on stage facing away from the audience

11 The overall function of the critic is:

• to make the audience more critical of what they see in the theatre
• to improve playwriting
• to enrich the theatre experience for the audience

12 Empathy is important in audience response because:

• the purgation of pity and terror is an important goal of comedy
• the capacity to identify with other people is required in many plays
• only empathy can force the “unwilling suspension of disbelief”

13 The influence of the audience is felt in multiple ways in the theatre:

• indirectly as the production company anticipates their reaction
• both answers are correct
• directly during the performance of the play

14 A playwright may begin by trying to understand and describe the characters that s/he will create and use. A typical way of beginning work on character is to:

• search for good names online
• use only members of one’s own family
• create profiles on each one as if the playwright were a detective searching for a missing person

15 A tetralogy is:

• a tragedy, a comedy, and a satyr play
• a trilogy and a satyr play
• an outdoor theatre festival

16 Because theatre is such a social art:

• tickets must be provided when audience members have forgotten theirs
• audience crowding is to be avoided at all costs
• the seating density of an audience is important

17 The costume designer has the power to communicate character through:

• individual touches like wear patterns and accessories
• both answers are correct
• choice of color and fabric

18 The lighting designer uses gels to create a range of colors to achieve one of her/his primary goals of:

• mood
• focus
• intensity

19 The Festival of Dionysus awarded the best playwright with:

• a gold trophy
• a feast in his honor
• a goat

20 Actor-actor interaction is similar to actor-audience interaction in that:

• both need a script
• both participants must pretend to believe
• both depend upon the inspired soul of the actor

21 It is important for audiences to be demonstrative because:

• appropriate audience response is an expected part of the actor-actor interaction
• feedback is essential for the actor-audience interaction
• disruptive behavior gives the actors more of a challenge

22 Identify the character who says:

• Listen to me. You mock my blindness, do you?
• But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind.
• Creon
• Teiresias
• Oedipus

23 Which of the following was NOT one of Stanislavski’s five questions?

• Who am I?
• What do I want?
• Who is my most important relationship?

24 Identify the character who says:

• I pitied the baby, my King,
• And I thought that this man would take him far away
• To his own country.
• Shepherd
• Creon
• Teiresias

25 Identify the character who says:

• The full horror of what happened you can not know.
• For you did not see it; but I, who did, will tell you
• As clearly as I can how she met her death.
• Iocaste
• Second Messenger
• Oedipus

26 Stanislavsky developed a technique to connect actors to the emotional life of their characters.

• True
• False

27 Empathy is the unfortunate condition of some people who cannot relate to the feelings of others.

• True
• False

28 One major function of the director is to stand in for the audience in rehearsal.

• True
• False

29 “Blocking” occurs when one actor stands in front of another, obstructing the audience’s view.

• True
• False

30 A scenic designer creates the environment(s) of a play and shares his/her ideas with the director using elevations, ground plans, and scale models.

• True
• False

31 The “willing suspension of disbelief” refers to the readiness of the audience to suspend its usually skeptical attitude.

• True
• False

32 Retrospective exposition is a way of letting the audience know what has happened in the backstory before the point of attack.

• True
• False

33 An actor cannot be expected to communicate with his or her body.

• True
• False

34 The crucial element which films do not have in common with theatre is the performance contract.

• True
• False

35 A representational play openly acknowledges the presence of the audience.

• True
• False

36 An element of a theatre experience which appeals to many people is the absolute predictability of the experience.

• True
• False

37 Only the rich male Athenian citizens attended the plays at the Festival of Dionysus.

• True
• False

38 Stanislavski dismissed the idea of inspiration.

• True
• False

39 Scripts are essential for theatre.

• True
• False

40 Jerzy Grotowski wrote Towards a Poor Theatre.

• True
• False

41 Apparently hidden action may be detected in the subtext.

• True
• False

42 It is unusual nowadays for a professional playwright to be a full-time member of a production company.

• True
• False

43 Stichomythia are highly emotional speeches by the protagonist dealing with inner conflict or torment.

• True
• False

44 Thespis is considered the first actor as he was said to step out of the chorus and impersonate a character.

• True
• False

45 Dithyrambs were the prizes awarded to the best actors at the Festival of Dionysus.

• True
• False

46 The stasis occurs both at the beginning and again at the ending of the play.

• True
• False

47 The primary function of Greek tragedy was religious observance and devotion.

• True
• False

48 H2O is considered a connotative symbol.

• True
• False

49 Peter Shaffer was inspired to write Equus because of an experience he had with horses as a boy.

• True
• False

50 Oedipus is an example of an early point of attack.

• True
• False