The Theatre Experience 13Th Edition By Edwin Wilson – Test Bank

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The Theatre Experience 13Th Edition By Edwin Wilson – Test Bank

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Chapter 02

The Background and Expectations of the Audience

 

 

Multiple Choice Questions

1. A question that is NOT one of the criteria by which to judge a play and a production is
   A.”What is being attempted?”
   B. “Have the intentions been achieved?”
   C. “Were the intentions appreciated by the audience?”
   D. “Was the attempt worthwhile?”

 

2. A critic might offer background information about the
   A.playwright.
   B. subject matter of the play.
   C. style of the production.
   D. All of these answers are correct.

 

3. A critic usually has more ________ than a reviewer.
   A.time
   B. space
   C. knowledge
   D. All of these answers are correct.

 

4. Which of the following usually works for a television station, a newspaper, or a magazine and reports on what has occurred at the theatre?
   A.reviewer
   B. critic
   C. both reviewer and critic
   D. neither reviewer nor critic

 

 

5. Which of the following attempts to go into greater detail in describing or analyzing a theatre event?
   A.reviewer
   B. critic
   C. both reviewer and critic
   D. neither reviewer nor critic

 

6. Which of the following will often try to explain how the theatre event fits into a category or genre, or into the body of the playwright’s work?
   A.reviewer
   B. critic
   C. both reviewer and critic
   D. neither reviewer nor critic

 

7. Which of the following is usually restricted by time, space, or both?
   A.reviewer
   B. critic
   C. both reviewer and critic
   D. neither reviewer nor critic

 

8. Which of the following is frequently limited in terms of experience and theatrical background?
   A.reviewer
   B. critic
   C. both reviewer and critic
   D. neither reviewer nor critic

 

9. Which of the following attempts to analyze a theatre event very closely?
   A.reviewer
   B. critic
   C. both reviewer and critic
   D. neither reviewer nor critic

 

 

10. Which of the following might offer an opinion about whether or not the event is worth seeing?
    A.reviewer
    B. critic
    C. both reviewer and critic
    D. neither reviewer nor critic

 

11. Which of the following attempts to put the theatre event into a larger context?
    A.reviewer
    B. critic
    C. both reviewer and critic
    D. neither reviewer nor critic

 

12. Which of the following is NOT a responsibility of a dramaturg?
    A.researching criticism of past productions of plays their theatre is doing
    B. writing research notes or small articles most often used in the programs for the audience’s benefit
    C. production research to determine the style of the play that the director will employ
    D. identifying older yet meaningful plays that may have been overlooked in planning a theatre season

 

 

True / False Questions

13. Because a “collective mind” is created when a large number of people are gathered into a group, the background of the individual spectator has little to do with the theatre experience.
    FALSE

 

14. Women comprised the largest part of the audience in ancient Greece.
    FALSE

 

 

15. Because artists are often accused of being “antisocial,” “subversive,” or “enemies of the state,” and are thus outsiders, the art that they produce is often unrelated to the society in which it is produced.
    FALSE

 

16. Art may question society’s views or reaffirm them, but it cannot escape them; the two are indissolubly linked.
    TRUE

 

17. While the latter part of the fifth century B.C.E. in Greece is considered to be a golden age for politics, philosophy, art, and architecture, for the theatre is was a time of decline.
    FALSE

 

18. During the Elizabethan era, women were barred from performing on the legitimate stage.
    TRUE

 

19. The bringing together of cultures by population shifts and swift global communication, and the challenges to long-held beliefs characterized by the writings of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Albert Einstein, are reflected in the eclecticism and fragmentation of an inclusive, contemporary theatre.
    TRUE

 

20. Although their societies were vastly different, both the Greek and Elizabethan theatres shared a strong connection between the type of theatre they presented and the times and social conditions they lived in.
    TRUE

 

 

21. While Broadway theatres are all within the district near Times Square in New York City, the styles of their architecture and types of their stages vary considerably.
    FALSE

 

22. To perform in repertory means to present a series of plays over a given span of time.
    TRUE

 

23. Until the early 1950s, most new plays written in the United States originated in regional theatres.
    FALSE

 

24. Off-Broadway theatre began in the 1950s as an alternative to Broadway and is located in smaller theatres outside the Times Square district.
    TRUE

 

25. While the trend toward diversity in the American theatre has given birth to many multiethnic, multicultural, and gender-based theatre companies representing groups with special interests, plays produced by these theatres rarely enter the mainstream of American theatre.
    FALSE

 

26. Off-Broadway shows are usually produced wherever inexpensive space is available—churches, lofts, warehouses, large basements—and are characterized by low-priced productions and a wide variety of offerings.
    TRUE

 

 

27. Live theatre is actually flourishing throughout the United States; even in areas where professional theatre may not be present, there are typically active college and university theatre programs in addition to numerous amateur community theatre groups.
    TRUE

 

28. When a person watches a play, it is expected that they will ignore their own individual memories, emotional scars, and private fantasies.
    FALSE

 

29. Women played an important role in the creation of Greek theatre during the classical period.
    FALSE

 

30. If a reviewer dislikes a particular production, it is probably best to avoid it.
    FALSE

 

31. A critic should treat a play as an aesthetic object separate from its social, political, or cultural context.
    FALSE

 

32. Because the reviewer should represent the tastes of the general public, it is not important that he or she have a thorough background in theatre.
    FALSE

 

33. No matter how knowledgeable a critic is about theatre, much of what he or she writes is simply opinion.
    TRUE

 

 

34. One unique aspect of Maria Irene Fornés’s play Fefu and Her Friends, described in the text, is that during one part of the play the audience is divided into four groups and taken to different locations to view scenes.
    TRUE

 

35. In their work for most regional professional theatres, the dramaturgs are responsible for examining new plays, researching plays the theatre is producing, and possibly working with playwrights on developing new scripts.
    TRUE

 

 

Essay Questions

36. Discuss a work of art that has had a particularly strong effect on you because of a personal experience that was reflected in it. How did your experience influence your response? Have other students had similar experiences?

Answers will vary

 

37. Analyze the culture of a particular society at a time when theatre thrived—Greece in the fifth century B.C.E., Europe in the middle ages, Elizabethan England, France in the seventeenth century—and discuss the basic assumptions of that society. Read and discuss a play which reflects the assumptions of the society.

Answers will vary

 

38. Assume that you are going to the theatre. Choose a specific play, perhaps one you are asked to attend for class assignment, and list the preconceptions you might take with you (regarding subject matter, author, the play itself, the historical period in which it was written, and personal factors). Where do your preconceptions come from and why?

Answers will vary

 

 

39. Discuss Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, written in 1959, in the context of the kind of issues that were at the center of the civil rights marches of the 1960s. Discuss As Is by William Hoffmann or The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer (both produced in 1985) in the context of the treatment and understanding of gays at the height of the AIDS crisis.

Answers will vary

 

40. The text notes that sometimes artists are accused of being antisocial, subversive, or enemies of the state or of common morality. Can you think of any contemporary artists that are sometimes described in these pejorative terms and why? What do people object to in their art? Do the stories we tell and the images we share affect the people who see them? In what way? Should our society be concerned about the stories and images that are being produced? To what extent should those images be controlled in the best interests of the society?

Answers will vary

 

41. There is great disagreement over the issue of whether art can create changes in a society or whether it merely reflects what is already happening. How do you feel about this? How does your opinion relate to the issue of censorship? Should art that many people believe goes against societal values be suppressed? Why or why not?

Answers will vary

 

42. For many years, women were not allowed to perform on the stage. How might this fact have affected plays written during that time? How might it have affected the way women were portrayed? How might contemporary drama, film, and television change if women were not allowed to act, direct, write or produce? How might they change if men were not allowed to act, direct, write or produce?

Answers will vary

 

 

43. Theatre productions have a variety of purposes: to entertain, to offer escape, to provoke thought or political action, to educate, etc. Discuss your favorite television shows in terms of these purposes. Which purpose or purposes mentioned above do they have?

Answers will vary

 

44. As the text indicates, many theatres are devoted to the experiences and interests of specific groups of people. Discuss why such theatres might be valuable to members of those groups. What might be the effect on people if the stories and images they encounter did not include people and experiences that reflected their own? If the representation of these experiences is separated from the experiences of other groups, does this weaken the connections between groups of people? If you are not a member of a particular group, would you be inclined to go to such a theatre? Why or why not?

Answers will vary

 

45. Describe the ideal qualifications for (a) a daily newspaper reviewer; (b) a television reviewer; (c) a magazine critic; (d) the author of a lengthy theatre article for a scholarly journal.

Answers will vary

 

46. The two essential elements of theatre are a performance and an audience. Since the critic is not one of the essential elements, do we really need a critic at all?

Answers will vary

 

47. What are the advantages of reading reviews and criticisms before going to a performance? What are the advantages of waiting until after a performance to read or hear criticism?

Answers will vary

 

 

48. Looking at most newspaper, television or blog reviews, would you say there is much difference between these accounts of a theatre event and consumer reports on a given product? Explain your answer.

Answers will vary

 

49. Read professional critics’ reviews of three current Broadway plays. Find three different reviews for each play—one that is positive, one that is negative, and one that is mixed. Identify quotes from each review that prompted you to feel this way. (Broadwayworld.com provides links to professional reviews as does Playbill.com. This is an excellent way to examine students’ critical reading skills and gives you an idea about their basic writing skills as well. Use the assignment fairly early in the semester.)

Answers will vary

 

50. Discuss the relationship between the importance of reviews and the price of tickets to an event. When ticket prices are high, will people tend to rely more on reviews in making a decision about whether to attend an event?

Answers will vary

 

51. In the English theatre of the seventeenth century, spectators at plays were allowed to watch the first act of a production without paying for a ticket. After the first act was over, they had to either buy a ticket or leave the theatre. What effect might this have on the role of the reviewer? Of the critic?

Answers will vary

 

52. Discuss which is more important in making a decision as to whether to attend an event: reviews, or the advice of a friend? Why?

Answers will vary

 

 

53. What is the relationship of awards such as the Tony Awards or the Academy Awards to reviews? Are they themselves reviews? Are they influenced by reviews? Are they influenced by box office revenue?

Answers will vary

 

54. Discuss how important it is to be able to talk after the performance about a play or movie. Do people tend to go beyond “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” to discuss why they felt that way, or what the event was about?

Answers will vary

 

Chapter 04

Acting

 

 

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following is NOT one of the responsibilities of a performer in the theatre?
   A.to create and project the inner life of the character
   B. to move onstage with ease and authority
   C. to interact with other performers onstage
   D. to create an attractive stage picture through movement and gesture

 

2. Acquiring the special physical and vocal skills that stage performance demands is an ________ aspect of acting.
   A.internal
   B. external

 

3. Learning how to make the feelings and emotions of the characters portrayed believable is an ________ aspect of acting.
   A.internal
   B. external

 

4. In order to throw the voice into the audience so that it penetrates to the uttermost reaches of the theatre, the performer must
   A.develop a strong through line.
   B. utilize the “magic if.”
   C. project.
   D. face forward at all times.

 

 

5. ________ devised a system that could be taught to others for achieving the kind of believability demanded by the new realistic drama being written in the late nineteenth century.
   A.David Garrick
   B. Konstantin Stanislavsky
   C. François Delsarte
   D. Henrik Ibsen

 

6. In America, the interpretation of Stanislavsky’s ideas by Lee Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio has caused controversy, because many people feel that he emphasized
   A.projection to the exclusion of inner truth.
   B. gesture as a means of discovering character.
   C. rhetorical delivery of the lines of the play.
   D. he emotional side of Stanislavsky’s technique.

 

7. When the performers combine the inner and the outer aspects of acting in a forceful and convincing way, they have used a process known as
   A.integration.
   B. the “magic if.”
   C. circle of attention.
   D. through line.

 

8. Regardless of the level of intellectual study and training, it is important for actors to prepare before taking the stage often through various exercises such as
   A.physical tension and relaxation exercises.
   B. simple movement exercises.
   C. various vocal exercises.
   D. All of these answers are correct.

 

 

9. Which of the following should an actor try to avoid if he or she is trying to connect meaningfully with the audience?
   A.an intensity of both focus and physical action
   B. to appear fully absorbed in the life of the character
   C. create a performance based on honest/believable human reactions
   D. make certain that all character actions and vocal work are exaggerated

 

10. Which one of the following is NOT one of Stanislavsky’s four broad aims of actor training?
    A.to make outward behavior (gestures, voice, and rhythm) natural and convincing
    B. to have the actors convey the inner needs of a character
    C. to make the life of the character on stage not only dynamic but continuous as well
    D. to make certain that an actor focuses on the character’s inner life by excluding focus on anything else while on stage

 

11. When one person mimics or copies another’s vocal patterns, gestures, facial expressions, posture, and the like, this is called
    A.willing suspension of disbelief.
    B. an anachronism.
    C. role playing.
    D. imitation.

 

12. General roles recognized by society, such as father, mother, child, police officer, store clerk, teacher, student, business executive, and so on are called
    A.stereotypes.
    B. social roles.
    C. personal roles.
    D. psychological masks.

 

13. When children use imitation, it is often a way of
    A.learning.
    B. misbehaving.
    C. dominating.
    D. None of these answers is correct.

 

 

14. Roles that we assume with our family and friends, such as being a braggart, a martyr, a conspirator, and so on, are called
    A.stereotypes.
    B. social roles.
    C. personal roles.
    D. psychological masks.

 

15. One of the differences between acting in daily life and acting in theatre is that actors and actresses are always being
    A.observed.
    B. corrected.
    C. distracted.
    D. criticized.

 

16. When a performer is required to play several roles in the same play, this is called
    A.duplication.
    B. masking.
    C. doubling.
    D. impersonation.

 

17. Performers would often speak toward the audience during this period, rather than to the character they were addressing on stage, since the theatres were lit as well as the stage and the actors wanted hold on to the audience’s attention.
    A.Greek theatre
    B. Asian theatre
    C. Renaissance theatre
    D. seventeenth-century French theatre
    E. eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English theatre

 

 

18. Acting alternated between exaggerated and more natural styles in
    A.Greek theatre.
    B. Asian theatre.
    C. Renaissance theatre.
    D. seventeenth-century French theatre.
    E. eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English theatre.

 

19. ________ had a chorus that sang and danced odes.
    A.Greek theatre
    B. Asian theatre
    C. Renaissance theatre
    D. Seventeenth-century French theatre
    E. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English theatre

 

20. Performers wore heavy make-up, elaborate costumes and employed stylized movement in which period?
    A.Greek theatre
    B. Asian theatre
    C. Renaissance theatre
    D. seventeenth-century French theatre
    E. eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English theatre

 

21. What does Shakespeare’s Hamlet mean when he says the following? “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines.”
    A.”I want you players to speak loudly and clearly and overemphasize your words just like a town crier.”
    B. “I want you to pronounce your words just like a town crier would pronounce these words.”
    C. “I would rather have you speak honestly and believably than just shouting the lines out loud.”
    D. None of these answers is correct.

 

 

22. What does Shakespeare’s Hamlet mean when he says the following? “Be not too tame neither, but let your discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature.”
    A.”When you gesture and speak, please try to match the emotion of the words with your gesture.”
    B. “Don’t hold yourselves completely still as you talk, but try to gesture naturally as you speak.”
    C. “We want our audience to believe in these characters as if they were real people.”
    D. All of these answers are correct.

 

23. These puppets are silhouette figures—often made of leather—and are highlighted on a screen that is lit from behind.
    A.marionettes
    B. shadow puppets
    C. bunraku
    D. hand puppets

 

24. Roughly two-thirds life-size, this puppet requires three performers to operate it.
    A.marionettes
    B. shadow puppets
    C. bunraku
    D. hand puppets

 

 

True / False Questions

25. In order to prepare a role properly, the actor or actress should always begin with an outer aspect—a walk, a posture, a peculiar vocal delivery—and then develop the inner life of the character.
    FALSE

 

 

26. Even more contemporary actor training methods based on the books/teachings of Uta Hagen, Robert Cohen, Robert Benedetti, Sanford Meisner, and Stella Adler, to name a few, are still based on essential training methods introduced by Stanislavsky around the turn of the twentieth century.
    TRUE

 

27. Great actors are often set apart by less tangible qualities such as a personal charisma or charm, or star quality, or a personal presence that captures an audience’s attention and allows an actor to communicate directly or even kinetically with an audience.
    TRUE

 

28. Although it may be fun and exciting, circus training and clowning or juggling are not valuable forms of training for actors to use in their theatre work.
    FALSE

 

29. Training in tai chi chuan can be valuable for an actor, as it serves as an excellent focused exercise for an actor’s body awareness and, due to the graceful nature of the core regimen of movement, it also serves as a form of meditation to help the actor prepare.
    TRUE

 

30. Asian theatre training and the type of actor training that is common in the U.S. are virtually the same kind of training, focusing on the same kind of movement and vocal performance styles.
    FALSE

 

31. Lee Strasberg, who headed the Actor’s Studio training in New York City for many years, established a style of training known as emotional recall that particularly emphasized a technique for prompting actor emotions that was almost identical to the method that Stanislavsky used later in his career.
    FALSE

 

 

32. Although every actor needs to work on both inner and outer aspects of acting, it is best to develop all of the inner aspects of character development first that will allow the actor to more easily develop the physical movement and vocal aspects of the character.
    FALSE

 

33. Each of us fills only one social role.
    FALSE

 

34. Once a society determines the characteristics of a social role, these characteristics cannot be changed.
    FALSE

 

35. Throughout theatre history, regardless of the predominant acting style of the day, the actors that were singled out as being the greatest of their generation were always those actors who made certain to overemphasize their emotions with excessive physical movement.
    FALSE

 

 

Fill in the Blank Questions

36. The remembering of a past emotional experience in the performer’s life that is similar to the emotion he or she must attain in the play is called ________.
    emotional recall

 

37. Concentration on some object, person, or event while onstage is called ________.
    circle of attention

 

38. The internal or subjective world of the characters is the ________.
    inner truth

 

 

39. The elimination of unwanted tension is called ________.
    relaxation

 

40. What the character wants above all else during the course of the play is the ________.
    super-objective

 

41. ________ is especially important in plays where interaction between characters is crucial.
    Ensemble playing

 

42. Imagining how the performer would feel in a particular situation is called the “________.”
    magic if

 

43. Stanislavsky believed in the ________; he placed emphasis on concrete details in a performance.
    importance of specifics

 

44. The units of action into which each scene is divided are sometimes called ________.
    beats

 

45. Purposeful action performed as a result of given circumstances that leads to an emotion is called ________.
    psychophysical action

 

46. The actor’s process of combining the inner approach to acting, truthfulness and believability, with physical training into a single whole is called _____________________.
    synthesis

 

 

47. This type of puppet figure is the most familiar and popular to Western audiences.
    hand puppets

 

48. Stanislavski developed this technique of purposeful acting in which action is the key to the most direct route to the emotions.
    psychophysical action

 

 

Essay Questions

49. List examples of imitation, mimicry, and role-playing found in personal experience.

Answers will vary

 

50. In the United States, sports figures are seen as role models for young people and are expected to maintain certain standards of behavior—in some instances, perhaps higher standards than those expected of other people. Does this mean that sports figures are in some sense actors and actresses? Discuss.

Answers will vary

 

51. While acting is prevalent in real life, there are times when such role-playing is not acceptable. Discuss such instances. Is it possible to not play roles? How?

Answers will vary

 

52. Throughout history, performers have been revered and reviled. What is the contemporary attitude toward them? Are they seen as different from other people? In what way?

Answers will vary

 

 

53. If children use imitation and role-playing as a way of learning, what effect does what they see in popular entertainment have on their development? At what point, if any, do these effects diminish? In a society such as ours, which is flooded with images from popular entertainment, how can children be shielded from negative ideas? Should they be shielded?

Answers will vary

 

54. The Greek word for actor is “hypokrite,” the source of the English word “hypocrite.” Look the term up in the dictionary. Is role-playing in real life hypocritical? Are actors not to be trusted because they are capable of mimicking emotions at will?

Answers will vary

 

55. Carefully examine a role in a play or film, following it from beginning to end. Note the special requirements the performance of this role demands.

Answers will vary

 

56. Analyze in detail a three-dimensional character from a play by one of the following dramatists: lbsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Williams, or O’Neill. What does the character want? How does the character try to get what he or she wants? What social roles does this character play? Personal roles? What aspects of personality help the character in attaining goals? What aspects hinder the attainment of goals?

Answers will vary

 

57. An example of the need to integrate the inner and the outer aspects of acting is what occurs during a stage fight. Discuss the control that is necessary in order to make certain that the performers are not injured, while at the same time experiencing the emotions of the character.

Answers will vary

 

 

58. Discuss “believability.” What are its characteristics? Does believability depend upon the circumstances and style of a production as a whole? Discuss different levels of “exaggeration” in contemporary television shows and films. How does exaggeration relate to believability? For instance, examine Ian McKellen’s interpretation of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. Is he believable as a character? Is he realistic?

Answers will vary

 

59. In some types of theatre, the characters onstage are aware of the audience’s presence and speak directly to the audience in soliloquies and asides. Does this affect their believability? Why or why not?

Answers will vary

 

60. The work of Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio emphasized the emotional side of acting over the physical and vocal. Many of his most famous pupils were film and television stars. Discuss why his approach to Stanislavsky’s ideas may have been beneficial for film and television.

Answers will vary

 

61. A long and rich history of puppet forms and theatrical traditions have emerged independently of each other in various cultures around the world. Although quite different, discuss those qualities that are shared among bunraku puppet, shadow puppets and hand puppets.

Answers will vary