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Intro Test 3

Terms in this set (54)

divergent thinking

involves fluency and the ability to generate a multitude of ideas from numerous perspectives

can be a flash of enlightenment but it almost always follows years of hard work, research, and thinking

a natural ability

the 10,000 rule

In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell suggests that all masters of creativity -- from Bill Gates to Michael Jordan -- spent a minimum of 10,000 hours practicing before they rose to significant and consistent success

convergent thinking

measured by IQ and involves well defined rational problems that have only one correct answer

performance art

performances that mix theatre, visual arts, music, dance, gesture, and ritual

high comedy (high brow comedy)

includes any play that depends on sophisticated humor, wit, political satire, or social commentary
Ex. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

depends on gags, clowning, puns, and slapstick
Ex. Tartuffe by Moliere

traps the characters in a fast paced situation with wild complications, mistaken identities, and incredible coincidences

gloomy, sinister
tragic side of comedy
negative
Ex. The Beauty of Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonough

sentimental/domestic comedies

type of High comedy
take an entertaining look at the problems and complications of common every day people
Ex. The Man Who Cam to Dinner or Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

comedy of manners

type of high comedy
plays are set during the age of aristocrats and kings and poke fun at the bedroom escapades, marital infidelities, and hypocrisies of the upper class
Ex. The Beaux Stratagem

comedy of ideas

type of high comedy
re cerebral, socially relevant plays that force audiences to reassess their culture, community, and values
Ex. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

romantic comedy

type of high comedy
funny side to falling in love, ends with wedded
Ex. Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare

takes a serious look at life
catharsis
tragic hero
character flaw/tragic flaw
hamartia and hubris

audience experiences an intense twofold feeling of pity and fear

character flaw/tragic flaw

personal failing that leads to his or her downfall

"falling short"
Greek for character flaw
falling short before hitting the target

tragedies of the common

no noble birth
ex. Death of a Salesman

asking us to examine the way of the world. Sometimes presents a bleak view of the world
why is the world the way it is?

An extreme form of realism, an accurate "slice of life" look at existence
Ex. The Russian playwright Maxim Gorky whose play The Lower Depth took a stark look at people living in the cellar of a Moscow flophouse

(blend of melody and drama) have formulaic plots filled with oversimplified moral dilemmas and support the values of love, marriage, God and country.

Was a reaction to the Enlightenment (1650-1800), a period of great philosophical, scientific, technological, political, and religious revolutions that changed human thought forever
Where is the love? Where does poetry, faith, passion, and romance fit?
Ex. Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerae

Real concepts made unrealistic and exaggerated with lighting, shapes, patterns, etc.
The Scream painting
was created in response to Realism and Naturalism, which film was better at depicting.
Early 1900s movies affecting theatre
Artist imposes own internal state of mind onto the outside world, a subjective account of a subjective perception

any work that is experimental

expressionism themes

conflict between life and art, truth and illusion, reality and appearance

Story, play or poem that covers a long period and includes a large number of sometimes unrelated incidents. Often less structured, less focused, and more like real life.
Ex. Angels in America and Mother Courage and Her Children

background of epic theatre

Existed for hundreds of years- pageant plays
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
Alienation Effect

alienation effect

Happens when a dramatist and a director tried to distance or estrange the audience so that they can consciously think about the themes of the play

theatre of the absurd

The background of Absurdism-- Response to WW2
Born in an era of despair and doubt
Nietzsche "God is Dead"
Artists began to think that life was not governed by meaningless rational principles but was unjust and meaningless

plays without music

created by lighting two-dimensional figures and casting their shadows on a screen
the audience watches the silhouettes while a narrator tells a story

includes fatalist, existentialist, and hilarious values
intentionally ridiculous or bizarre

comes during the parades (entrance)
tells the audience who they are in the play and provides background information

called this because the characters for "song" (ka), "dance" (bu), and "skill" (ki)
Part of Japanese theatre

drama set entirely to music, all the lines are sung

light opera, comic theme, some spoken dialogue, a melodramatic story and little dancing

light-hearted, fast-moving comic story, whose dialogue is interspersed with popular music, Guys and Dolls

straight musical

serious plot and theme, West Side Story, Hamilton, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hanson

unrelated singing, dancing, and comedy numbers

what vaudeville descends from, bawdy song, dancing women, and striptease. Parody of opera in the 1840s

writes the book

jukebox musical

feature a particular band's song (Mamma Mia! Abba)

well developed story and characters (Fiddler on the Roof)

feature the work of a director -choreographer (Fosse and Jerome Robbins)

operatic musicals

mostly singing and less spoken dialogue (Les Mis, Evita)

a medley of the show's songs plays as a preview (1975 Chorus Line cut this, optional ever since)

a repetition of the song, sometimes new lyrics, sometimes not, but with new meaning, or subtext to make a dramatic point

1880s -1940s comedy routines, song/dance numbers, magic, juggling, what variety shows and revues descend from

revues/musical revues

Sketches, singing, dancing, songs pulled from previous sources

writes the music

writes the lyrics

usually a slow love song

Originated in Italy in the 1500s, during the Italian Renaissance
Reached its peak in the 19th century with composers like Wagner, Mozart, Puccini, Rossini, and Handel
No spoken dialogue, everything is sung
First opera houses build in Venice in 1673
Wagner, Puccini, Mozart, Rossini, Handel

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