Complete Test Bank Ch.2 What Is a Play?

Theatre, Brief, 12e (Cohen)

Chapter 2 What Is a Play?

1) What is a play?

A) a story in dialogue form written in a book

B) a single oral performance of a story

C) an action framed and focused around a particular conflict, which gives the action significance

D) performance on a stage using live actors and musical accompaniment

2) The word "drama" comes from the Greek dran, which means

A) to make.

B) to play.

C) to do.

D) to dance.

3) In Greek tragedy, central characters

A) undergo a change that leads to their demise due to a tragic flaw in their character.

B) never interact with the lesser characters.

C) always descend from the gods.

D) always have the option of avoiding conflicts.

4) The purging or cleansing of the audience's pity and terror at the climax of a tragedy is called

A) hamartia.

B) exposition

C) containment

D) catharsis.

5) Which of the following is true about the differences between tragedy and comedy?

A) Tragedy typically deals with great people, whereas comedy deals with ordinary people.

B) Tragedy leads to the audience feeling disgusted about going to the theatre at all.

C) Tragedy is always about the Gods, whereas comedies are only about mortals.

D) Tragedy is about soap-opera types of conflict, whereas comedy is usually about a new major social and political awareness.

6) Which of the following is true of tragic heroes? (Select all that apply.)

A) Tragic heroes have superhuman powers.

B) Tragic heroes face huge odds.

C) Tragic heroes are always flawed in some way.

D) Tragic heroes are victims of their circumstances.

7) Why do comedies typically go out-of-date more quickly than tragedies?

A) Comedies were historically written on parchment, whereas tragedies were inscribed on stone.

B) Comedies used the common slang of the time, whereas tragedies are written in more refined language.

C) Comedies are more topical and deal with ordinary life at the time they are written.

D) Comedies utilize more stagecraft and precise timing than tragedies.

8) The play Notes from the Field can be classified as

A) a documentary drama.

B) a melodrama.

C) a history play.

D) a musical.

9) Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is different than its classically tragic ancestors because

A) it contains scenes of absurd humor.

B) it does not contain Gods, but rather contemporary forces.

C) Willy Loman was a rich bureaucrat.

D) it has more than one major tragic character.

10) The Greek term for the "carrier of the action" in a tragedy is

A) antagonist.

B) protagonist.

C) catharsis.

D) hamartia.

11) A play that dramatizes the key events in the life of a historical figure, such as George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, is called

A) a history play.

B) tragicomedy.

C) a farce.

D) a burlesque.

12) Ultimately, the practice of dividing plays into genre is

A) not helpful to an audience member in deciding which play to go see.

B) of no interest to the production team of actors, designers, and producers.

C) always subjective because each play is unique.

D) observed only for high scholarly writings to be analyzed.

13) Which dramatic genre purports to be serious but, in fact, deals with human issues on only the most superficial level, embellished with spectacular staging, flamboyant dialogue, and highly suspenseful and contrived plotting?

A) documentary drama

B) tragicomedy

C) melodrama

D) farce

14) Which dramatic genre offers a wild, hilarious treatment of a trivial theme, usually based on a stock component like identical twins, switched identities, lovers in closets, and might include full-stage chases, misheard instructions, various disrobings, discoveries, and disappearances?

A) dark comedy

B) melodrama

C) farce

D) tragicomedy

15) A play's components and its timeline are both elements of the play's

A) dramaturgy.

B) plot.

C) conventions.

D) action.

16) The six components of a play that Aristotle lists, in order of importance, are

A) script, stage, actor, playwright, choral leader, and government support.

B) plot, character, theme, diction, music, and spectacle.

C) irony, pastoral, idyll, satire, drama, and humor.

D) reversal, tragic flaw, recognition, catharsis, inciting incident, and subplots.

17) What is the difference between plot and story?

A) The terms are synonymous.

B) Plot refers to the structure of events; story refers to a narrative of what happens in a play.

C) A plot has a moral; a story has suspense.

D) A plot can be turned into a play, but a story is usually too private to be performed publicly.

18) Which element of drama refers not only to the pronunciation of spoken dialogue but also to the literary nature of the play's text, including its tone, imagery, articulation, and use of such literary forms as verse, rhyme, metaphor, jest, apostrophe, and epigram?

A) episodic discourse

B) theme

C) diction

D) alliteration

19) Which element describes the play's use of rhythm and sounds, either by way of instrumental composition or the orchestration of such noises as muffled drumbeats, gunshots, special effects, and vocal tones?

A) sound notes

B) syllabic counterpoint

C) music

D) orchestra

20) The visual aspect of the play, including the scenery, costumes, lighting, make-up, and the overall look of the stage, are included in the element known as

A) allusion.

B) intermezzo.

C) cortina magica.

D) spectacle.

21) The unspoken agreements between the audience and the actor, which includes a whole set of traditional understandings surrounding the theatrical event, is called

A) music.

B) convention.

C) theme.

D) denouement

22) Background information, presented within the play, that the audience must possess in order to understand the action of the play is called

A) recognition.

B) exposition.

C) denouement.

D) paraphrase.

23) Which of the following offers a way that the playwright can present a play's exposition?

A) director's notes

B) a spoken prologue that directly provides information right before the main action

C) a talk show during which the actor relays information to the viewing audience

D) post show gossip

24) In play construction, the single action that initiates the major conflict of the play is called the

A) exposition.

B) inciting incident.

C) characterization.

D) denouement.

25) A play's final scene, action, or lines that indicate the end of conflicts, and possibly even bring about resolution, is called the

A) pathos.

B) theme.

C) anagnorisis.

D) denouement.

26) Genre means category or kind.

27) The central character in any type of drama is always called the tragic hero.

28) A modern play that challenges Aristotle's definition of tragedy because the lead character is a "low man" is Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

29) Aristotle's list of six components of a drama is not really respected or used today.

30) In a Greek play, the lead character, the protagonist, moves the action forward and is opposed by a figure called the antagonist.

31) According to Aristotle, it is impossible to break down the elements that make tragedy effective.

32) When an actor turns to speak directly to the audience, unheard by the other characters, it is known as an "aside."

33) When actors "freeze" and the lighting dims, Western theatrical convention dictates that the audience understands time has stood still and the narrative has paused.

34) The theme of The Bourgeois Gentleman is the foolishness of pretense.

35) The audience is not a part of the definition of conventions of the theatre.

36) Apply Aristotle's elements of drama to a modern play with which you have read or seen. Do Aristotle's elements make any difference to the play you watched or read? If so, how? Which ones and why?

37) Define "convention" and explain how conventions function in a play or theatrical performance with which you are familiar. Consider what misunderstandings or confusions might arise in someone unfamiliar with such conventions.

38) Discuss pre-play activities that are relevant today. List and discuss the kinds of activities that you have engaged in and how social media might play into this convention.

39) Consider you are wanting to impress a friend with your knowledge of theatre. Your friend thinks going to see a tragedy is a waste of time. Explain to them what a tragedy is and the benefits for an audience member to attend a tragedy. Give examples from famous tragedies such as Oedipus.

40) The curtain call functions as an important convention in the drama. Explain its importance, especially in terms of the actor's paradox. What are your expectations of a curtain call? Do you have any memorable ones you can recount?