Name:
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Theatre Fundamentals, Acting I, Acting II, Advance Drama I, Advance Drama II
Mid-term Exam
Study Guide
Part 1
You will need to know and understand how to apply each of the following terms. Provide the theatrical definition for
each below. I suggest making flash cards to help you study.
1.) Cheat out/Open up2.) Fourth wall/Proscenium wall-
3.) Projection-
4.) Apron5.) Wings-
6.) Cross-
8.______________
7._____
9.______
10.___________
11.______________
12._____________
13.__________________
14.) Straight Role-
15.) Character Role-
16.) Objective-
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17.)Obstacle-
18.) Focus-
19.) Stealing the Scene-
20.) If you’re going to make a _______________, make it a _________ one! There is a lot of space to fill between you, the actor, and your
audience. Every movement, line, and emotional response must be _______________________ if you are to communicate it.
21.) Building a Scene-
22.) Characterization-
23.) Cue-
24.) Dialogue-
25.) Giving the scene-
26.) Illusion of the first time-
27.) Stretching a Character:
28.) The Consistent Inconsistency:
29.) Playing the Obstacles:
30.) Stage business-
31.) Script scoring
32.) Secondary sources-
Name:
33.) Primary source-
34.) Read-through-
35.) Off book-
36.) On book-
37.) Cold reading-
38.) Prepared audition-
39.) Open audition-
40.) Aside:
41.) Hamartia
42.) Hubris:
43.) Master gesture:
44.) Tableau:
45.) Troubadour:
46.) Tragedy:
47.) Stock character:
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Name:
48.) Melodrama:
49.) Saint Plays-
50.) Mystery Play-
51.) Passion Play-
52.) Mansion-
53.) Pageant Wagons-
54.) Folk Dramas-
55.) Morality Plays-
56.) Ad-lib:
57.) Type casting:
58.) Sensory memory:
59.) Internalization:
60.) Externalization:
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Name:
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Theatre Fundamentals
Mid-term Exam
Study Guide
Part II
The Structure of Drama:
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Who was Aristotle, and why is he important to the study of drama?
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Aristotle stresses that drama is an ________________of life; that we learn through _____________, and that
learning something is the greatest pleasure in life.
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Identify and define Aristotle’s four narrative essentials:
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According to Aristotle, _____________is the most important element of a play.
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Identify and define Aristotle’s “key elements of a play.”
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According to Aristotle, The resolution of the action in a ____________ should purge the emotions of the
audience through pity and fear and reveal a ________________ about life.
The most important part of the exposition is the ___________________, sometimes called the _____________
action.
Playwrights use various devices to handle the explanation of the preliminary situation. The most common
technique is to have ____________ characters bring the audience up to date.
Identify the six elements of plot structure:
Define preliminary action.
Another term for the resolution of a play is ________________. The French for “______________________,” it
addressed the untangling of complications in a play and the resolution of these complications.
The characters in a play should be people who can hold the _______________ interest throughout the play.
In writing the dialogue, the dramatist/ playwright must make a character speak as the audience would expect
the women and men in the character’s _______________, _____________, _______________________, and
_______________ to speak.
At times playwrights will/have used soliloquies to reveal character. define soliloquy.
The most important phase of characterization is understanding your character’s _______________.
The ________ of the play is the specific idea about life that gives unity and purpose to everything that happens.
Do not confuse _______________ with ______________: a _______________ is a lesson or a principle
contained within a play or taught by a play.
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The History and Origin of Western Drama:
1.) Pantomime is one of the earliest forms of drama. What does the term pantomime mean?
2.) While what is considered to be western drama began to develop in the 6th century B.C., The earliest record of
an organized theatrical performance comes from_____________.
3.) Greek theatre originated from ceremonies honoring the Greek god _____________.
4.) In early Greek drama the chorus was referred to as _________________________________________
because_____________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________.
5.) Who was considered the first actor and why?
6.) What is a trilogy?
7.) When would the satyr play being presented and why?
8.) Describe the construction of the early Greek theatre.
9.) Where would early Greek actors change masks and costumes?
10.) The term “deus ex machina” refers to…?
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Renaissance and Elizabethan Drama:
Renaissance, ______________________________, is the term commonly used to describe the transition from the
medieval to the modern world in Western Europe. Beginning in Italy in the _____________ century, the Renaissance
eventually reached all of Europe and England. This rebirth of interest in the classics, and belief in the potential for
human perfection touched almost every aspect of life. Painting, sculpture, and architecture flourished, but drama did
not, at least for many years.
Although advances in drama were few, theatre architecture, specialized stage equipment, as well as colored
lighting was introduced in Italy during the Renaissance. Another contribution from Italy was the ______________, an
attempt to revive the simplicity and humanism of ancient _________________ drama. Originally, opera was an attempt
by a group of scholars in Florence to imagine how the music of ancient Greek drama sounded. By the 17th century, this
form of Italian drama was being imitated in England and France.
Commedia dell’arte: (“______________________________”)
Commedia dell’arte was performed by professional troupes specializing in comic _________________________.
Commedia dell’arte troupes had mastered the art of playing out comic scenarios, only plot outlines were posted
backstage before each performance. There were no fully composed play scripts. Instead, the scenarios were detailed
plot outlines that included __________________ which were special humorous bits of stage business. Troupes learned
stock jokes, proverbs, songs, speeches etc. Most plots were based on comic intrigue involving fathers who put obstacles
in the way of their children’s romances. __________________________ were especially important characters, often
completing the matchmaking.
All the characters in commedia dell’arte were stock types representing the two social
classes_________________________ and the _____________________ class. Characters were identified by their
__________________ and generally, by their ___________________. Many stock characters have evolved into
characters we recognize today. Pulcinella, for instance was a sometimes foolish, sometimes malicious character with a
hooked nose and a high peaked hat. Still another of the male servants was Pedrolino, who later became known as
Pierrot, the moonstruck eternal lover. Later a sincerely devoted sweetheart, Pierrette, was paired with him, and they
became eternal lovers.
The climax of Renaissance drama came during the ______________________ Age in England. This was a period in
which drama was the expression of the soul of a nation, and theatre became a vital force in the lives of the people.
Elizabethan Dramatists:
Towering above all the brilliant actor/playwrights responsible for the glory of the Elizabethan period, three produced
plays that have never lost their appeal:
Christopher Marlowe introduced the first important use of __________________; combining an extraordinary use of
language and the excitement of melodramatic plots as in The Jew of Malta, and Edward II. These plays present the glory
and the horror of an age. Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, the story of a man who sells his soul, brilliantly bridges the gap
between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
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Ben Jonson was a master of English ______________________; his greatest works being Volpone, The Alchemist, and
Every Man in His Humour. To the Elizabethans the word _____________________ (or humour as the British spell it)
referred not to an attitude of amusement, but to a _____________________ trait. The renaissance was a period in
which anatomical study, as well as the arts was developing. Scholars believed that all matter was made of four
elements, __________________________________________________________________- and that the human body
was composed of those same four elements, each having its own effect on the personality. The balance of the four in
each person's body decided his or her personality type.
The humor of most interest in the Elizabethan plays is that of black bile, represented by earth and the
____________________personality. The melancholy character fell into three main types: the lover, the malcontent,
and the intellectual. Hamlet is an excellent example of the intellectual melancholy humor. Although most stage figured
has a predominating humor, a balanced personality was the most desired.
Jonson widened the scope of the humors to include any strong personality trait, especially a weakness, a foible, or a folly
that could make a character laughable.
William Shakespeare is considered by many to be not only the greatest Elizabethan dramatist, but perhaps the greatest
dramatist of all time. The ideal way to become acquainted with Shakespeare is to see his plays, not merely read them, or
read about them. Shakespeare intended for his plays to be seen, not read, by a loud, boisterous audience accustomed
to shouting its approval or hissing its displeasure. A play had to be exciting, moving , and violent, filled with fury,
humor, and truth in order to keep such an audience interested. The _____________________ form the center of
interest in Shakespeare's plays. Note exactly how each is introduced and how well defined the personality
immediately becomes. Because in his day theatergoers did not receive programs to provide explanations, Shakespeare
used the _________________________________ and accurate descriptions from other characters to delineate his
characters. A soliloquy is a speech delivered by an actor alone on stage that reveals the character's innermost thoughts.