Test Bank Answers Ch6 The Director

Theatre, Brief, 12e (Cohen)

Chapter 6 The Director

1) Which of the following tasks belong to the director?

A) arranging the financial backing to perform the play

B) arranging for the style of the scenery and props

C) hiring the producer

D) conceptualizing the play and giving it vision and purpose

2) Which of the following is true of the history of the director's role?

A) Directing has always been a specifically defined role within the theatre company.

B) Directing is an innovation in drama that accompanied the proscenium stage.

C) The idea of an independent director did not exist until the nineteenth century.

D) Directing was done by a triumvirate of elders in ancient Greece.

3) The ancient Greek word for director is

A) didaskalos, meaning "teacher."

B) himation, meaning "holy one."

C) spargasmos, meaning "dividing into parts."

D) tyrannos, meaning "leader."

4) Which of the following is NOT a possible role undertaken by a professional dramaturg?

A) personally coaching the actors in how to speak really difficult-to-memorize speeches

B) providing historical context for the play

C) writing program notes

D) cutting, trimming, or adapting a script to fit the director's concept

5) André Antoine is primarily known as a(n) ________ director.

A) symbolist

B) absurdist

C) naturalist and idealist

D) expressionist

6) Which of the following was one of the first directors to study the conventions of realism in an attempt to make their play productions even more lifelike?

A) Arthur Miller

B) Clive Barnes

C) George II, Duke of Saxe–Meiningen

D) Paul Fort

7) Which of the following directors founded the Théâtre d'Art in Paris in 1890 as a direct assault upon the realist principles espoused by André Antoine?

A) David Belasco

B) Otto Brahm

C) Paul Fort

D) Christopher Lee

8) Which of the following is true of directors of antirealism?

A) They are led by the goals of realism taken to an extreme.

B) They are unrestrained by rigid formulas with respect to verisimilitude or realistic behavior.

C) They insist upon a proper education in classicism in order to direct.

D) They apply the ritual and forms of the Catholic church to formal staged drama.

9) Which person is responsible for the financial support of the production and, working closely with the director, also contributes to many "directorial" decisions in the production process?

A) producer

B) director

C) technical stage manager

D) stage manager

10) What is meant by the "concept" of a play?

A) the central idea in the writer's mind

B) the point of view of the popular audience

C) the director's central idea that focuses the interpretation

D) the general critical interpretation

11) Which of the following is NOT included in the conceptualization of a play?

A) a social or philosophical statement about meaning

B) a specific interpretation

C) a basic tone or texture

D) the social history of the playwright

12) The initial shows where a director can evaluate the production in terms of audience response and institute new changes are known as

A) earlies.

B) trailers.

C) previews.

D) design-throughs.

13) What does a director NOT seek in a designer-director collaboration?

A) personal compatibility

B) a synchrony of artistic and intellectual vision

C) mutual respect

D) financial independence

14) Which of the following is NOT one of the goals of staging?

A) to create focus for the play's theme

B) to generate interest in the play's actions

C) to allow the actors and director to show off

D) to lend credibility to the play's characters

15) The timing and placement of a character's entrances, exits, crosses, embraces, and other major movements is called

A) blocking.

B) staging.

C) technical managing.

D) directing.

16) Small-scale movement on the stage, which an actor performs within the larger pattern of entrances and exits, is called

A) blocking.

B) business.

C) producing.

D) managing.

17) Directors spend most of their time doing which of the following tasks?

A) selecting the play

B) working long hours with the dramaturg

C) coaching the actors

D) working with designers

18) The rhythm of a production, sometimes confused with the speed of the actor's delivery, is called

A) style.

B) mode.

C) pace.

D) verisimilitude.

19) Which type of rehearsal occurs near the end of the rehearsal process, as the play comes closer to production time but before the actors apply makeup?

A) audition

B) technical

C) pacing

D) blocking

20) What is one factor that can determine the pace of a play?

A) the number of lines or pages in the script

B) the speed of the actor's delivery in "real life"

C) the genre of the play, as with farce needing to be fast

D) whether or not the play is being filmed

21) Which of the following INCORRECTLY pairs a director with his profession before becoming a director?

A) Elia Kazan: actor

B) Harold Prince: producer

C) Kwame Kwei-Armah: playwright

D) Mike Nichols: lighting designer

22) What is the director's primary responsibility?

A) to envision the main lines of the production and provide the artistic leadership to realize that vision

B) to find the funding to support the concept

C) to start with a concept and then find the play, the funding, the producer, and the staging to accommodate it

D) to transmit the concept to the producer, who, in turn, will transmit the concept to the designers and the actors

23) Which statement best describes the end of the director's involvement with the play?

A) Directors attend every performance and have rehearsals each week of a run.

B) Directors do not see any performances of the play, leaving after the final rehearsal.

C) The director may still change aspects of the play during previews or the run, but primarily has given over responsibility to the audience and might feel a twinge of isolation.

D) The artistic involvement ends after casting; the technical involvement ends when the play's run is finished.

24) The "core concept" is

A) the director's determination of the most important of the many images, ideas, and emotions that will give the production meaning.

B) the designers' conception of the look and sound of the play from which the director draws ideas in order to shape the meaning of the play.

C) the producer's determination of the selection of a time period that will establish the costuming and staging budgets.

D) the audience's shared imagination that will fill in the blanks that might be left by the director.

25) A director should possess all of the following EXCEPT

A) mastery of staging, actor-coaching, pacing, and production coordinating.

B) a strong literary imagination and ability to conceptualize intellectually and visually.

C) a capable voice and an athletic physique, both of which comprise the actor's instrument.

D) sound working knowledge of the history of theatre.

26) The role of teacher–director reached its historical pinnacle of influence, albeit anonymously, during the Renaissance and early Restoration periods.

27) George II, Duke of Saxe–Meiningen, is generally regarded as the first modern director.

28) As a response against Stanislavsky's realism, the director Vsevolod Meyerhold evolved a theatre of "biomechanical constructivism" in Moscow.

29) The paradox of directors implies that their touch is everywhere and nowhere; they are invisible yet connected to all aspects of the play.

30) A dramaturg is not necessary to a play, but may significantly change the overall quality of the production.

31) The director's work with the designers is generally suggestive and corrective, rather than overtly controlling.

32) A director's responsibility is to assemble an artistic team that will follow the director's concept and collaborate.

33) The directing process encompasses the distinct periods of preparation and implementation.

34) The interest of the director and intended audience, along with the capability of the director and producer to conceptualize and produce the play, are all criteria for play selection.

35) A great directorial concept has the qualities of being generalized, well-established by tradition, intellectually relaxing, and readily apparent without much imagination.

36) Since working with actors is one of the main responsibilities of a director, how would you communicate with them before, during, and after rehearsals? What is your style? Consider time and space availability. Please indicate how you would work with a difficult scene or actor.

37) Trace the role/duties of directors as they work with a scene from the beginning of the play to the final production. Which period of the process is the most interesting to you? Why?

38) Imagine that you are a director planning a production, and you have to decide on a play to produce. Pick a play you would like to direct and explain 1) why you chose that play (considering your own taste and a potential audience) and 2) the core concept that you would use to organize the production. How would that concept make itself felt through stage design, costuming, and casting? Use metaphors!

39) Briefly relay the history of the director's role. What are the different historical eras of directing? Explain each era and discuss the major contributions of separate directors in each period.

40) Put yourself in the shoes of a graduating theatre major who is looking for a dynamic graduate program to learn to become a director. List at least ten questions you would ask the university theatre department's graduate recruiter to insure that you are attending a strong program for directing.