Review
Chapter 1
The word "theatre"
comes from this Greek
word which means
seeing place. . .
What is theatron?
This is the name for a
long standing theatre
company or group of
theatre practicioners.
What is troupe?
In this theatrical craft or job,
technicians execute in proper
sequence, and with carefully
rehearsed timing, the light and
sound cues, the shifting of
scenery, the placement of
properties, etc.
What is crewing?
The task of handling all
necessary personnel,
financing; promotion and
legal efforts is the
responsibility of this person.
What is the producer?
The responsibilities for
admitting, seating, and
providing for the general
comfort of the audience
falls to this person.
What is the
house
manager?
The person who controls
and develops the artistic
product and provides it
with a unified vision.
What is the director?
This theatrical craft
is usually executed
away from the
theatre building.
What is the
playwriting?
This distinctive feature
of theatre, separates it
from other arts and
started what we know
as acting.
What is the
impersonation?
He created the “paradox of
the actor” that onstage the
actor disappears or seems
lifeless while the simulated
character seems to live.
Who is Denis Diderot?
The English word for
person comes from
this Latin word
for mask.
What is persona?
This mode of
performance is less
theatrical and more
realistic.
What is
representational?
This mode of performance
acknowledges the
audience— the performer
jokes, and responds overtly
to the audience.
What is
presentational?
The mode of performance
in which the audience
watches interactions that
are staged as if no audience
were present at all.
What is
representational?
an action focused
around a particular
conflict, which gives
the action significance
What is
a play?
The purging or
cleansing of pity and
terror, which the
audience develops
during the climax of a
tragedy
What is
catharsis?
Oedipus'
adoptive parents
Who are Polybus and
Merope?
wrote Oedipus the
King
Who is Sophocles?
Wrote the Poetics and
is considered the first
dramaturg.
Who is Aristotle?
The final scene, action, or
lines in a play devoted to
bringing the play to a new
level of harmony,
understanding, or
resolution after the climax
denouement
The historical length of
most plays
What is two to three
hours?
The number of acts in
traditional full length
plays
What is three?
The minimal
requirement for a
theatre “building
What is a place to act
and a place to watch?
In play construction,
the single action that
initiates the major
conflict of the play
What is the inciting
incident?
Oedipus’ wife and
mother
Who is Jocasta?
The blind prophet who
tells Oedipus that he is
the killer of Laius.
Who is Tiresias?
Jocasta’s brother;
Oedipus accuses him of
trying to take over the
throne
Who is Creon?
This is where Oedipus
learned that his destiny
was to kill his father
and marry his mother
What is the oracle of
Delphi?
Oedipus used these to
stab out his eyes
A public meeting in
ancient Greek times
where the playwright
and actors would
publicize the play
What is a proagon?
Like when a circus
comes to town, ancient
greek plays often
started with this.
What is a procession or
parade?
In Elizabethan times,
this would be flown
above the playhouse to
advertise the play
What is a flag?
Aristotle’s 6 elements
(plot, character, thought,
diction, music, spectacle)
comprise this axis of play
structure.
What is vertical?
Aristotle’s element
that describes the
play's use of rhythm
and sounds
What is music?
Aristotle’s element
that includes words,
epigrams, imagery
and other literary
devices. . .
What is diction?
The temporal events of
the play; how the play
is experienced in time
is the ________ axis.
What is horizontal?
Aristotle’s element
that includes all
visual aspects of the
play (lighting,
costumes, scenery, etc)
What is spectacle?
Aristotle’s element
that involves making
an audience care.
What is character?
The abstracted
intellectual content
of the play.
What is theme?
dramatic genre purports to be
serious but, in fact, deals with
human issues on only the most
superficial level, embellished with
spectacular staging, sensational
dialogue, and highly suspenseful
and contrived plotting
What is melodrama?
Shakespeare often used
this opening speech to
give exposition to the
audience.
What is prologue?
A play that dramatizes
the key events in the
life of a king or head
of state, such as
Shakespeare's Henry IV
What is a history play?