Unit Two Study Guide Fall

Demonstrate an appreciation for the aesthetic principles that guide or govern the whitetail arts through using oral, written, or visual means to communicate an informed personal reaction to works of theatre. (Communication Skills) 4. Show social responsibility through intercultural study and discovery of regional, national and/or global artistic traditions In theatre. (Social Responsibility) The Actor 1. What does Thespian mean? Thespian means Actor. 2. Describe the acting profession as stated in your book? Most bewildering profession. Can be extraordinarily rewarding but also most tough and demanding.
Takes incredible sacrifices from every area of life: Financial, virtual, mental, and physical. 3. Define representation training/acting. Acting emanates from somewhere INSIDE the actor. Studies the role closely, uses imagination, lives the life of the character. 4. Define presentational training/acting. Actor presents something to the audience. 5. What Is The Method? 7 Elements: Cadenza, Public solitude, Subtext of meaning, Artistic communion, Emotional memory, Physical actions, Hard work 6. What school was founded by Elli Kane and who was this school’s most influential teacher?
Actor”s Studio: Lee Strangers 7. What two features are required to make a good actor? Acting from the Inside and Acting from the Outside. Actor’s instrument, Actor’s method of approaching a role 8. What are the three parts to the actor’s instrument/self? Body, Voice, Imagination 9. Inhalation, practically understood as an element of voice, is sometimes seen to be mystically equivalent to what? Inspiration 10. What are the elements of voice? Breathing, Phonated, Resonance 11. What are the elements of speech? Articulation, Pronunciation, Phrasing 12.

What is projection? 13. What is resonance? The sympathetic vibration, “Resounding” of the voice, as it is heard in the throat, the chest, and the head 14. What is the major psychological component of the actor’s instrument? Imagination 15. What is cadenza? The Character’s Problem 16. What are the three stages of the actor’s routine? Audition, Rehearsal, and Performance 17. What is an audition? Primary process in which acting roles are awarded. Actor has opportunity to demonstrate to the director how well he or she can fulfill a role. 18. What is blocking?
Stage movements 19. What is stage business? Stage actions – scripted or seemingly unconscious physical behaviors 20. What is subtext? The unspoken and underscored character goals hidden beneath the lines. The Playwright 1. What is the most important trait of the playwright? Independence. 2. Why is every person a playwright? Because we dream. 3. What is the core of every play? Action 4. What are the playwright’s two tools? Dialogue and Physical Action. 5. Explain the concept of continuous and linear in a play. Means Continuous in Structure and Linear in chronology.
Point to point, cause and effect storytelling. Remains basic architecture to most popular and serious plays. 6. Explain the statement “Intrigue draws us into the world of the play; credibility keeps us there. ” Intrigue demanding surprise, credibility demanding consistency. They generate a kind of believable wonder; Credibility alone will not suffice to make a play interesting, and intrigue alone cannot make a incredible play palatable. 7. What is “richness” in playwright? Leaves a sense of satisfaction; Richness of detail and richness or dimension 8. Explain “depth of character. Requires that every character possess an independence of intention, expression, and motivation. 9. What is gravity in a play? The central theme is one of serious and lasting significance in humanists spiritual, oral, or intellectual life. 10. Who is David Mate? Successful Playwright 1 . Name and understand the four major staging formats. Proscenium, Arena, Thrust, Black Box 2. What is another name for the picture frame stage? Proscenium 3. What is a scenery centered staging format? 4. What are the actor centered rather than scenery centered type staging formats? Thrust, Arena, and Black Box 5.
What type of stage dispenses with all scenery except floor treatment, furniture, and out of the way staging or hanging pieces to focus attention on the actors? Arena 6. Describe a black box stage area. Simple space able to adapt to a variety of staging styles. “Experimental Atmosphere” 7. What is realistic scenery? Attempts to depict, often in great detail, a specific time and place in the real world where the plays events are presumed to take place. 8. What is metaphorical scenery? Favors visual images that seek to evoke the production’s intended theme, mood, or social/political implications 9.
What is a flat? Portable framed wall sections, usually represent walls and occasionally the ceilings of a real room 10. What is a cyclorama? Hanging fabric stretched between upper/lower pipes and curved to cover back and sides of the stage. Colored with lights 11. What is a scrim? Can make things appear and disappear; Loosely woven gauzy fabric, lit from the front, solid, lit from the back, see through 12. What is stage machinery? Give examples. Anything that moves; Fly systems, wagons, elevators, wagons 13. When was electricity introduced into American theatres for lighting? 1879 14.
What are the primary considerations of lighting design? Visibility and Focus 15. What were the first theatrical costumes? Ceremonial vestments 6. What was the ancient and original use of costume? Separate Actor from Audience 17. What are the four primary functions of modern costume design? Ceremonial Magic, Social and Cultural values of the world being portrayed, individuality of each character, wearable clothing for the actor 18. What function does makeup serve? Evoke or highlight psychological traits, illustrate character, simplify and embolden actor’s features 19. In regards to makeup, what is the face considered?
Canvas The Director 1. What are the tasks of the director? What are the three eras of the director? Teacher, Realism, Anti-Realism 3. What are Andre Antoine and Constantine Statisticians primarily known as and what was their primary focus in the theatre? Naturalists. Sought to make the theatre a powerful social and artistic instrument for the expression of truth 4. Who is generally regarded as the first modern director? Saxes Engineer 5. What are styling directors? Unrestrained by rigid formulas w/ respect to verisimilitude or realistic behavior 6. Who founded the Theatre d’art in Paris in 1890?
Paul Fort 7. Who evolved his theatre of biomedical constructivism in Moscow? Absolved Empowered 8. What is the director’s primary responsibility? To envision the main lines of the production and to provide the artistic leadership to realize that vision 9. What are the roles of the producer? Finance the production, create and manage the budget, choosing and acquiring the theatre facility, establishing the plays rehearsal and performance dates, handle legal and business aspects, and oversee publicity, casting, ticketing, etc. 10. What is the criterion for play selection?