TH 1001
Intro to Theatre
Mid-term Study Questions

Theater the Lively Art, Seventh Edition
Chapters 1- 10 (pp 5-215)

1. What did the following guest speakers talk about when they visited our class?

Gracie Anderson
Corey Boe
Nina Escobedo
Kelly Grussendorf
Katy Helbacka
Tom Isbell
Derick Iverson
Evan Kelly
Bill Payne
Curtis Phillips
Karissa Toutloff

2. Describe what it means to be a good critic. (p. 45)

3. What is the role of a technical director? (p. 178)

4. What on-campus group produced The Clean House ?

5. Who was Constantine Stanislovsky, and how did he influence contemporary acting? (p. 109)

6. What are the objectives of the scenic designer (p. 166)

7. What is casting? (p. 129)

8. How is the design of the main stage of the Marshall Performing Arts Center unique?

9. How were the two separate scenic locations handled in The Clean House ?

10. What technical support areas does the Marshall Performing Arts Center have to help produce theatre at UMD?

11. What was the unusual directorial approach used by UMD Theatre to the Greek classic play The Baachae?

12. Who was the costume designer for South Pacific?

13. How is single camera acting different from multiple camera acting?

14. What did Michael Caine mean when he described theatre acting as surgery with a scalpel and film acting as surgery with a laser?

15. How did scenic designer Curtis Phillips visualize her scenic design for South Pacific?

16. Why is a live audience such a key ingredient to a successful theatre experience? (p. 12)

17. How does a playwright use crises and climaxes in a play? (p. 65)

18. What four major cities did the producers of Miss Saigon visit to audition women to play the role of Kim? What was special about the relationship between Lea Salonga and her understudy, Monica Wilson?

19. What playwright was Constantine Stanislovsky responding to as he developed his work? (p. 112)

20. What is the difference between a plotline and a storyline? ( p. 60)

21. What is the technique actors used called "centering"? ( p. 118)

22. How can lighting be used to inform the audience of a play's timeline? (p. 202)

23. What's the difference between environmental sounds and motivated sounds? (p.211)

24. What is the spine of a play? (p. 129)

25. What are the lightweight walls used in scenic design called? (p. 175)

26. How can make-up and hairstyle be important to a theatre production? (p. 193)

27. What is blocking? (p. 132)

28. What is a scenic rendering? (p. 177)

29. What is a stage wagon? ( p. 173)

30. How do directors find actors for a play? (p. 129)

31. What is a scrim? (p. 175)

32. What do costume designers mean when they refer to a built costume? (p. 186)

33. What are costume accessories? (p. 191)

34. What does it mean to dress a set? (p. 179)

35. What is the most important characteristic of a black box theatre? (p. 161)

36. According to the textbook, what is the main advantage of a writer becoming a playwright rather than a screenwriter? ( p. 59)

37. Why is the silhouette of a costume important? (p. 189-190)

38. What does it mean to pull a costume? (p. 184, 186)

39. How can color be important in a costume? (p. 190)

40. What is a turntable? (p. 173-174)

41. What is the primary advantage of proscenium stages as compared to thrust or arena stage configurations? ( p. 147)

42. What does it mean to run a show? (p. 157)

43. What is the primary advantage of an arena stage configuration as compared to a thrust or proscenium arrangement? (p. 155)

44. What is stage business? ( p. 132)

45. What is the difference between a dress rehearsal and a preview performance? ( p. 133)

46. What is special about the hydraulic lifts in the Marshall Performing Arts Center?

47. What happens in the theatre "front of house"? (p. 139, 141)

48. Define "stage right" and "stage left". (p. 172)

49. How does the lighting designer help create visual composition? (p. 203)

50. What is the difference between a stock character and a quintessential character? (p. 74-75)

51. What is the difference between a climatic play structure and an episodic play structure? (p. 71)

52. What is the role of the producer for a play? (p. 137-38)

53. Define the following playwrighting terms:

Exposition (p. 66)

Complication (p. 64)

Conflict (p. 61)

54. Explain aesthetic distance. (p. 40)

55. What is voice projection? (p. 107)

56. How did James Earl Jones get his first role with the New York Shakespeare Festival? (p. 104)

57. How did graduate school help Cherry Jones's acting career? (p. 111)

58. What is sound reinforcement? (p. 212)

59. What is a body mike? (p. 212)

60. When did theatre first start being performed indoors? (p. 146)

61. What are the elements of stage lighting? (p. 204)

62. What are the two definitions of the word "theater"? (p. 6)

63. What are the differences between traditional tragedy and modern tragedy? (p. 85 - 86)

64. What are the differences between the following types of comedy?

Farce (p. 89)

Burlesque (p. 89)

Satire (p. 89)

Comedy of Manners (p. 90)