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Theatre Test #2
ch. 5,6,7,8,9,12
158
Film, Theatre & Television
Undergraduate 1
03/04/2009
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Term
Convergent Thinking
 Definition
Measured by IQ and involves well-defined rational problems that only have one correct answer.
Term
Divergent Thinking
 Definition
Involves fluency and the ability to generate a multitude of ideas from numerous perspectives.
Term
Creative Solutions
 Definition
Specify the problem, break the problem into manageable components, brainstorm possible solutions, test the solution to see if it works.
Term
Ensemble
 Definition
Consists of crews of technicians, dozens of assistants, and numerous artists including, actors, directors, speech coaches, playwrights, and designers who are using a wide variety of art forms including painting, drawing, writing, acting, as well as set, lighting, and costume design.
Term
Producers
 Definition
May be individuals who put up their own money or control an investor's money to finance a production, or an institution such as a university, church, organization, or theatre company that controls the business side of the production.
Term
Primary Artist
 Definition
Often times the playwright is called this for conceiving the original idea, creating the characters, and building the story.
Term
Interpretive Artists
 Definition
The rest of the creative team, including directors, actors, and designers are called this because they turn the playwright's thoughts into a play.
Term
Technical Director
 Definition
TD, stands above all the crew chiefs and answers only to the director, designers, and the budget office.
Term
Stage Manager
 Definition
Often with the help of several assistants, conducts rehersals, fills out rehersal reports, authorizes opening of the house to let the audience in, authorizes when an understudy goes on, times the length of the show, and calls for brush-up rehersals.
Term
Prompt Book
 Definition
The stage manager keeps this, in which all the play's sound and light cues, blocking, and other notes are recorded.
Term
Closed-Shop Union
 Definition
A union to which all employees must belong and which the employer formally recognizes as their sole collective bargaining agent.
Term
Writers Guild Of America (WGA)
 Definition
The closed-shop union of television and screen writers.
Term
Open-shop Union
 Definition
Membership is optional, so meaningful strikes are impossible.
Term
Dramatists Guild of America (DGA)
 Definition
The playwrights' union, can champion the rights of playwrights but it can do little to demand higher pay.
Term
Dialouge
 Definition
The spoken text of the play, the words the characters say.
Term
Stage Directions
 Definition
Notes that indicate the physical movements of the characters.
Term
Parentheticals
 Definition
Short descriptions such as (loving, terrified) to help the actor or the reader interpret a particular line of dialouge.
Term
Theme
 Definition
A statement about life, a central idea, or a moral.
Term
Action
 Definition
"A thing that is done." The character's deeds, their responses to circumstances, which in turn affect the course of the story.
Term
Subtext
 Definition
The hidden meaning behind the words, the real reason a character chooses to speak.
Term
Plot
 Definition
The casual and logical structure that connects events.
Term
Plot-structure
 Definition
The playwright's selection of events to create a logical sequence and as a result to distill meaning from the chaos of life.
Term
Genre
 Definition
A category of an artistic work that has a particular form, style, or subject matter.
Term
Exposition
 Definition
Or back story, lets the audience in on what happened to the characters before the play began and what happens between the scenes and offstage.
Term
Protagonist
 Definition
The central character who pushes forward the action of the play. Can be the hero or a severly flawed soul as long as the audience can identify with, care for, and even root for him or her.
Term
Antagonist
 Definition
"Opposer of action." The adversary who stands in the way of the protagonist's goals.
Term
Event
 Definition
An unusual incident, a special occasion, or a crisis in the characters' lives.
Term
Disturbance
 Definition
An inciting incident that upsets the balance and gets the action rolling by creating an opportunity for conflict between protagonists and antagonists.
Term
Point of Attack
 Definition
The moment where the disturbance causes the situation to deteriorate to the point where the protagonist must make a major decision that will result in conflict.
Term
Major Dramatic Question
 Definition
The hook that keeps people in the theatre for 2 hours because they want to know the answers. Causes curiosity and suspense.
Term
Rising Action
 Definition
Each conflict, crisis, and complication is more dramatic and more serious than the ones before.
Term
Dark Moment
 Definition
When the protagonist fails for internal or external reasons, the quest collapses, and the goal seems unattainable.
Term
Enlightenment
 Definition
Occurs when the protagonist comes to understand how to defeat the antagonist.
Term
Climax
 Definition
The point of the greatest dramatic tension in the play, the moment the antagonist is defeated.
Term
Denouement
 Definition
The final outcome of the play, a short final scene that allows the audience to appreciate that the protagonist, because of the preceding events, has learned some great or humble lesson.
Term
Techniques
 Definition
Procedures that have been proven to work repeatedly.
Term
Talent
 Definition
Natural ability.
Term
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
 Definition
A system for transcribing the sounds of speech; it is independent of any particular language but applicable to all languages. Used to learn an accent and to speak clearly.
Term
Stanislavsky system/ Method Acting
 Definition
An individualized, psychological, realistic approach to acting created by Konstantin Stanislavsky.
Term
Emotional Memory
 Definition
To think back over a certain incident and remember it well enough to relive the accompanying emotions.
Term
Technical Approach
 Definition
An actor working from the outside in, concentrating on physical details.
Term
Magic If
 Definition
A technique for developing empathy with a character. "What would I do if I were this character in these circumstances?" Allows actor to find similarities between themselves and a character.
Term
Empathy
 Definition
The ability to understand and identify with another's situation, feelings, and motives so completely that you feel you are experiencing that situation and those emotions.
Term
Substitution
 Definition
When actors have little or no emotional bond with a character, they replace the character's emotions with unrelated but personal emotions of their own.
Term
Given Circumstances
 Definition
Character analysis approach that begins with examining the characters' life circumstances: their situation, problems, and the limits life has placed on them.
Term
Superobjective
 Definition
The driving force that governs a character's actions throughout the play.
Term
Inner Conflict
 Definition
Some sort of unfinished business that is so compelling that it handicaps the character until it is confronted.
Term
Tragic Flaw/ Character Flaw/ Fatal Flaw
 Definition
An unchangeable trait in a character that brings about his own ruin.
Term
Actors' Equity Association
 Definition
The union that represents stage actors.
Term
Screen Actors Guild
 Definition
Represents movie and television actors.
Term
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
 Definition
Represents talk-show hosts, announcers, singers, disc jockeys, newscasters, sportscasters, and stuntpeople.
Term
Equity Waiver
 Definition
A loophole that allows its members to work for free in small productions.
Term
Synthespians
 Definition
Digital Actors.
Term
Cattle Call
 Definition
Audiion known as 'open call.' Actors are given one minute to show their stuff.
Term
Callback List
 Definition
During audiions, a list directors keep of actors they want to call back for subsequent auditions as they narrow the field of candidates.
Term
Cold Reading
 Definition
Audition in which actors read from a script without any preparation.
Term
Table work
 Definition
First step in rehersal process. The actors read through a play while seated around a table. Discuss characters, motivations, and meaning.
Term
Blocking Rehersals
 Definition
Series of rehersals during which the director and actors work out the basic movements, a process called 'blocking.'
Term
General working rehersals
 Definition
The director and actors work on individual scenes and concentrate on understanding the characters' motivation, emotions, and personality.
Term
Special rehersals
 Definition
If there are fight scenes, musical numbers, or dance numbers, or if the characters have dialects, the director can call special rehersals for each.
Term
Off-book rehersal
 Definition
The actors must have their lines memorized. Actors no longer have scripts on stage with them.
Term
Run-throughs
 Definition
The actors go through the entire play from beginning to end with as few intteruptions as possible. Gives a feel of how the play works as a whole.
Term
Tech rehersals
 Definition
Rehersals have been moved from rehersal hall to the stage. The lights, sounds, props, and set are added.
Term
Dress Rehersals
 Definition
Final rehersals, only a few days before the play opens, when the costumes and makeup are added.
Term
Final Dress rehersal
 Definition
The last rehersal before an audience is invited. The play is to run as if it were a real performance.
Term
Dark Nights
 Definition
Mondays, when the theatre is closed.
Term
Stage Door
 Definition
A back door located behind or to teh side of the theatre where the actors enter and exit.
Term
Green Room
 Definition
Where the actors wait to make their entrances. It is a small waiting room located just off the stage where the audience cannot overhear their chit-chat and last minute warmups.
Term
Creativity
 Definition
A moment of insight. The instant we create or transform something that already exists, adding value to our lives.
Term
Director
 Definition
Turns the printed script into a production. Must have the artistic vision and the talent to coordinate dozens or theatre artists, technicians, and others to work towards that vision.
Term
Didaskalos
 Definition
Greek word for Playwright-directors or "teachers". Not only directed the play but also instructed the performers and advised designers and technicians.
Term
Moscow Art Theatre
 Definition
A theatre company founded in the late nineteenth century by a group of Russian artists.
Term
Script Analysis
 Definition
The director's intensive study of a script and research of the history and criticism on the play in order to understand the scripts strengths and weaknesses and each characters' motivations.
Term
Dramaturg
 Definition
A literary advisor and theatre history expert.
Term
French Scene
 Definition
Begins whenever a character enters or exits and continues until the next entrance or exit.
Term
Beat
 Definition
A section of dialouge about a particular subject or idea; the smallest structural element of a script.
Term
Production concept
 Definition
The metaphor, thematic idea, or symbol that will be central to the whole production.
Term
Production Meetings
 Definition
Designers and the director discuss the production concept, the play's philosophy, interpretation, theme, physical demands, history, and style.
Term
Casting directors
 Definition
Specialize in finding the right actor to fit the part.
Term
Cast to type
 Definition
Hiring an actor who physically matches the role.
Term
Cast against type
 Definition
Deliberately cast actors who are very different from what is expected.
Term
Gender-neutral casting
 Definition
Casting without regard for the character's gender.
Term
Cross-gender casting
 Definition
Intentionally casting men to play womens roles or women to play mens roles in order to study societal perceptions of gender identity.
Term
Color-blind casting
 Definition
Choosing actors without regard for their race or ethnic background.
Term
Blocking
 Definition
The movement of the actors on stage.
Term
Sharing focus
 Definition
A position for 2 or more actors, each with a shoulder thrown back so that the audience can see them equally.
Term
Profile
 Definition
Standing half away from the audience.
Term
Upstaging/ stealing focus
 Definition
When actors take focus when they aren't supposed to.
Term
Stage areas
 Definition
9 sections of the stage labeled according to the actors' point of view. Such as downstage, center stage, upstage left.
Term
Triangulation
 Definition
When there are 3 actors or groups of actors on stage, whoever is at the upstage or downstage apex of the triangle generally takes focus.
Term
Picturization
 Definition
Composing pictures with the actors to reinforce an idea in the story.
Term
Assistant director
 Definition
A person who helps stage scenes and manage the production crew.
Term
Stage manager
 Definition
Responsible for running the show during te performance and helps director during rehersals by taking notes, recording blocking, scheduling rehersals, assisting during auditions, and enforcing safety rules.
Term
Assistant Stage manager
 Definition
Helps the stage manager run the show during performances and assist the director with the rehersal process.
Term
Movement coach
 Definition
Hired to work with the actors if production calls for a particular style of movement.
Term
Voice and dialect coach
 Definition
Help actors with speech clarity, volume, and accents.
Term
Fight director
 Definition
Help choreograph realistic looking but faked fistfights and swordplay.
Term
Musical director
 Definition
Specialist who works with the musicians and teaches the actors the songs for a musical.
Term
Choreographer
 Definition
Creates dance numbers for a play or musical and teaches the dance numbers to the actors.
Term
Interpretive Directors
 Definition
Attempt to translate the play from the page to the stage as accurately and faithfully as possible.
Term
Creative Directors
 Definition
Often add concepts, designs, or interpretations atop the playwright's words that were never intended by the playwright.
Term
Concept productions
 Definition
The director's artistic vision or concept dominates.
Term
Found/created spaces
 Definition
Theatre performed in parks, churches, townsquares, basements, gyms, subways.
Term
Proscenium arch
 Definition
More formal theatres because audience is seperated from actors.
Term
Lip/apron
 Definition
A part of the stage that extends into the audience's side of the 'picture frame'.
Term
Fly system
 Definition
Raises scenic peices out of the audience's sight.
Term
Wings
 Definition
Out of the audience's sight, the wings are areas from which actors make their entrances and where set peices can be stored or moved.
Term
Thrust stage
 Definition
Has a lip or apron that protrudes so far into the auditorium that the audience must sit on 3 sides of the stage.
Term
Vomitories
 Definition
Passageways or tunnels that run into and under the audience to allow actors quick access to the stage.
Term
Arena Theatres
 Definition
Less common. Stage in the center surrounded by audience on all sides.
Term
Black box theatre
 Definition
Seat fewer amount of people. Audience is closer to teh actors making these theatres ideal for small intimate plays.
Term
Realism
 Definition
Plays that are lifelike imitations of nature. Idea that plays could be a force for social and political change.
Term
Simplified/suggested realism
 Definition
A disign style that suggests rather than exactly duplicates the look of a period
Term
Selective realism
 Definition
A design style that mixes authenic looking elements with stylized ones.
Term
Expressionism
 Definition
A style that shows the audience the action of the play through the mind of one character. The audience sees the character's own emotions and point of view.
Term
Surrealism
 Definition
Genre of theatre that emphasizes the subconcious realities of the character; usually through design, and often includes random sets with dreamlike qualities.
Term
Symbolism
 Definition
Design style or theatre genre in which a certain peice of scenery, a costume, or light represent the essence of the entire enviornment.
Term
Computer-Aided Design
 Definition
Programs used by set designers to create blueprints of set designs.
Term
Floor plan
 Definition
View from above.
Term
Elevations
 Definition
Views from front and back.
Term
Lime light
 Definition
In mid-1800s, a gas powered spolight in which a jet of oxygen and hydrogen was ignited with small bits of lime. Now means the center of attention.
Term
Motivated light
 Definition
Comes from an identifiable source such as a candle, a table lamp, or the sun.
Term
Nonmotivated light
 Definition
Reinforces the mood of a scene but doesn't necessarily come from an identifiable or onstage source.
Term
Lighting plot
 Definition
Detailed drawing that shows the location of each lighting instrument on the hanging grid and where its light will be focused.
Term
Gels
 Definition
Sheets of colored plastic attatched to the front of a lighting instrument that create color.
Term
Gobos
 Definition
Metal cutouts placed in front of the light to create a pattern.
Term
Costume Plates
 Definition
Drawings that indicate how a costume is shaped, where seams and folds are, how the costume flows, and what fabrics are to be used.
Term
Dress Parade
 Definition
Actors try on their costumes and parade in front of the designer and director to see if there needs to be changes.
Term
Straight makeup
 Definition
Does not change the actors' looks but makes their faces look more 3D and more visible to the audience because the bright theatrical lights wash out their facial features.
Term
Character makeup
 Definition
An attempt to transform the way the actors look.
Term
Scene shop
 Definition
Theatre workshop with a variety of metal working and wood working tools.
Term
Costume shop
 Definition
The sewing machines, fabric sutting tables, fitting rooms, and laundry facilities needed to create and maintain the costumes.
Term
Electric shop
 Definition
Has equipment to maintain, repair, and hang lights.
Term
Paint shop
 Definition
Where paint is stored and mixed.
Term
Sound booth
 Definition
Where sound effects and music cues can be edited and prepared.
Term
Property shop
 Definition
Where props are designed, built, and stored.
Term
Set Props
 Definition
Anything that sits on the set including sofas, chairs, and beds.
Term
Hand props
 Definition
Any objects actors handle while on stage, such as pens, fans, cigars, money, and umbrellas.
Term
Flat
 Definition
Plain wall units as well as doors, windows, and fireplaces.
Term
Legs
 Definition
The curtains used on the sides
Term
Teasers
 Definition
Curtains that frame the top of the stage.
Term
Scrims
 Definition
Open-mesh gauze curtains, can be transparent or translucent depending on whether the light hits in front or behind.
Term
Cyclorama
 Definition
A large, stretched curtain suspended from a U-shaped rod to make background that can completely enclose the stage setting.
Term
Tropes
 Definition
Chanted or sung phrases incorporated into Mass as an embellishment or commentary on a religious lesson.
Term
Mansions
 Definition
Stations around a church where theatre was performed.
Term
Festival of Corpus Christi
 Definition
The first occasion for which the medieval church allowed a dramatic festival.
Term
Pageant Wagons
 Definition
Horse drawn wagons that were used to pulled up in front of the audience in the town square and used as the stage for performances of short religious plays.
Term
Mystery Plays
 Definition
Plays performed outdoors by workers' guilds during the middle ages.
Term
Mystery cycle
 Definition
A group of plays about biblical stories performed ourdoors by guilds during the middle ages in Europe.
Term
The Second Shepherd's Play
 Definition
A comic play about what the three shepherds were doing just before the angel arrived to announce the birth of Jesus.
Term
Miracle Plays
 Definition
Told stories about the lives of the saints.
Term
Morality Plays
 Definition
About how we should conduct our life.
Term
Allegory
 Definition
A dramatic device in which an actor represents or symbolizes an idea or a moral principle.
Term
Everyman
 Definition
The most famous morality play, contains many allegorical characters encountered by Everyman as he seeks a companion for his reckoning before God.
Term
Aristotelian Scholasticism
 Definition
Aristotle's philosophy and the Roman Catholic church that was widely taught in universities in the middle ages.
Term
Interludes
 Definition
Secular plays performed between other forms of enterainment at court in the late middle ages.
Term
Renaissance
 Definition
An extrordinary period in European history when wisdom of the ancient greeks and romans was rediscovered and the church was challenged. Flowering or arts and literature and the beginning of modern science.
Term
Humanists
 Definition
University students who rejected the traditional cirriculum of theology in favor of subjects studied in classical Greece. Ex. literary criticism, grammar, poetry, painting, music, architecture, and theatre.
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