THEA 1000: Final Exam
68 Cards in this Set
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What is realism?
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Everything on stage is made to resemble observable, everyday life
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What 2 things make up modern theater?
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1. Realism
2. Departures from realism
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What things on stage can be used to illustrate realism?
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How people speak
How people dress
How people behave
The kinds of rooms they live in
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What are departures from realism?
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Anything that does not correspond to our everyday experience
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What are examples of departures from realism?
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Poetry
Ghosts
Witches
Songs
Fantasies
Dream Sequences
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Why did playwrights turn to departures from realism?
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They found realism too limiting
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What is Henrik Ibsen known for and what are his 3 famous works?
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He was a Norwegian play
Considered the founder of realistic drama
Famous works are: A Doll's House, Ghosts and Hedda Gabler
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What did Henrik Ibsen want to convince audiences of?
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That the action in his dramas represented everyday life
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What topics did Henrik Ibsen feel that drama should tackle?
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Subjects that had been taboo onstage such as
Economic injustice
Sexual double standard
Unhappy marriages
Religious hypocrisy
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What roadblocks did Henrik Ibsen run into with his plays?
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He met a lot of opposition in the form of censorship
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What did August Strindberg do?
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Took realism a step further
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How did August Strindberg further realism?
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By personalizing and intensifying Henrik Ibsen's realism
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What did August Strindberg focus on instead of people in a social context?
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He focused on individuals at war with themselves and with each other
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How did August Strindberg want his plays? What characters did they have to achieve this?
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He wanted his plays to be as real as possible. To achieve this they had:
All real props (no flats)
No intermission
Interrupted and fragmented dialogue
Multidimensional characters with complex and contradictory features
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What 2 works are August Strindberg famous for?
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Miss Julie
The Father
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What 4 plays are Anton Chekhov famous for?
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The Sea Gull
Uncle Vanya
The Three Sisters
The Cherry Orchard
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What changes did Anton Chekhov add to Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg's methods of realism?
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Dealt with a full gallery of characters
Characters stories overlapped and echoed each other
Developed tragicomedy
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What developed alongside realism?
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Naturalism
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What is naturalism?
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An extreme form of realism
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Who was Emile Zola?
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The most famous naturalistic theorist and playwright
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What are the characteristics of naturalism?
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Most stringent than realism
Everything (including time) had to be a true slice of life
Naturalism as a movement was less influential because of it's extreme nature
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What is selective realism?
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A type of realism that heightens certain details of action, scenery and dialogue while omitting others
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After World War 2, who were 2 important American writers?
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Tennessee Williams
Arthur Miller
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What 3 works are Tenneessee Williams famous for?
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Streetcar named Desire
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
The Glass Menagerie
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What does Tennessee Williams combine in the Glass Menagerie?
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The theatrical device of a narrator with realistic scenes
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What 3 works are Arthur Miller famous for?
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Death of a Salesman
All my Sons
A view from the Bridge
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What does selective realism combine?
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Realistic and non-realistic techniques
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What inspired departures from realism?
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Political unrest
A desire to question political authority
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What is existentialism?
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Reacting (among other things) to World War 2
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What do existentialist believe?
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That existence has little meaning
That God does not exist
That humanity is alone in an irrational universe
The only significant thing that an individual can do is take responsibility for their own actions
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What is theater of the absurd?
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Combined existentialist philosophy with revolutionary avant-garde dramatic form
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How do absurdist playwrights present our existence?
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As futile and nonsensical
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Who are the 3 famous absurdist playwrights?
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Samuel Beckett
Eugene Ionesco
Harold Pinter
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What 2 outlooks do absurdist playwrights share?
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Much of what happens in life is ridiculous or absurd and cannot be explained logically
This ridiculousness or absurdity should be reflected in the dramatic action
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What are the dramatic techniques used in the theater of the absurd?
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Plots don't follow traditional climatic or episodic plot structure
The plot seems to move in a circle, ending the same way it began (seems like nothing is happening)
Unrealistic characters and strange, unrecognizable settings
Language is often telegraphic and sparse (characters fail to…
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What 3 works is Samuel Beckett famous for?
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Waiting for Godot
Endgame
Happy Days
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What happens in Waiting for Godot that is the perfect representation of the absurdist viewpoint?
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The characters are unable to take control over their destiny
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What is Beckett's view of the human condition?
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Tragicomic-human interaction is comical but has tragic consequences
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What is multimedia?
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The joining of theater with other arts (like dance, film and television)
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What is the idea behind multimedia?
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To fuse the art forms or to incorporate new technology into a theatrical event
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What is performance art?
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A current form of experimental theater that combines theater, dance and media
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Who was Josef Svoboda?
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A designer who experimented with the following elements in scenic design
Projections
Multimedia
Movable platforms
New materials (including plastics)
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What areas have computer technology been implemented into in theater?
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Modern theater buildings and lighting systems
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What is environmental theater?
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When the entire theater space is used as a performance area suggesting that any division between the performers and viewers is artificial
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What form of theater came into prominence in the United States after World War 2?
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Musical theater
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What is considered to be a landmark musical for musical theater and who wrote it?
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Show boat written by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern
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What were 3 characteristics of the musical 'Show Boat'?
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It was a thoroughly American story with serious and comic material
Songs were carefully integrated into the plot
The chorus line was eliminated
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Who did the musical theater play of 'Oklahoma' bring together?
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Rogers and Hammerstein
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Why was the musical theater play 'Oklahoma' significant?
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Because it seamlessly fit together using:
Story
Music
Lyrics
Dance
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Why were musical theater plays called Book Musicals?
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Because they are built around a story
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What were some of the other famous musical theater productions during this time period?
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South Pacific
The King and I
Annie Get Your Gun
Kiss me Kate
My Fair Lady
Fiddler on the Roof
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What happened to the musical scene after 1965?
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It became increasingly fragmented with fewer and fewer book musicals being written
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What does a concept musical do?
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Builds the production around an idea rather than a story
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Which playwright is known for concept musicals?
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Stephen Sondheim
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What are some of Stephen Sondheim's most famous concept musicals?
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Company
Follies
Into the Woods
Assassins
Sunday in the Park with George
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What did choreographer Michael Bennett develop?
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A chorus line
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What did Jerome Robbins direct/choreograph?
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West Side Story
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What did Bob Fosse direct/choreograph?
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Sweet Charity
Pippin
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What did Susan Stroman direct/choreograph?
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The Producers
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What 5 works is Andrew Lloyd Weber famous for?
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Jesus Christ Superstar
Evita
Cats
The Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
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What 2 famous musical theater works originated in Britain?
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Les Miserables
Miss Saigon
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What is regional theater?
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An important theater established outside of major cities
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What are the 3 other alternatives to commercial theater?
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Off Broadway
Off-off Broadway
Fringe theaters
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Characteristics of off broadway, off-off broadway and fringe theater
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These shows are less expensive
Offer more opportunity for producing experimental works
Have smaller houses and stages and are sometimes presented in found spaces
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Who are the 2 contemporary American playwrights whose work was first presented in small alternative theater?
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Sam Shepard
David Mamet
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Where did Sam Shepard first develop his play writing skills?
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Off-off broadway
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What plays are Sam Shepared famous for?
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Buried Child
True West
A Lie of the Mind
Fool for Love
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What 2 things do Sam Shepard's works fuse?
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Abstraction and Theatricality with recognizable characters and circumstances
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THEA 1000: FINAL EXAM