STUDY GUIDE
SUMMER 2000 - EXAM II
FINE ARTS THEATER

READ YOUR TEXTBOOK!!!

There are 60 Multiple choice questions worth 1pt each, and, 40pts worth of short answer questions.

Bring a #2 pencil.

NOTE: NO MUSICAL THEATRE ON THIS EXAM

The Playwright:

The word playwright is like wheelwright, why?

Independent artist - why

Are we playwrights? - why - our dreams introduce to the subconscious 

How playwrights get produced?

Organizations that produce new playwrights

Sources for producing: Dramatists Sourcebook

Play as "blueprint" for a production

Play is Action - core of theatre

Tools of Playwright:
    dialogue
    physical action

Qualities of a fine play
    Credibility and Intrigue
    Speakability, stageability and flow
    Richness
    Gravity and Pertinence
    Compression, Economy and Intensity
    Celebration

The Playwright's process
    dialogue
    conflict
    structure

Plot Structures:
    Linear and non-linear - differences?

Playwrights: Sam Shepard, Neil Simon, Edward Albee, August Wilson

Design and Technology:

Aristotle's Spectacle

Collaboration

Historical Theatre Structures:
    Greek, Roman, Elizabethan, Renaissance

Theatre Architecture: permanent areas - stage area, back stage area, the house, the box office, lobby, dressing rooms, control booths, etc.

Staging Formats: what is the design and how does it effect actor and/or scenery.
    Proscenium
    Thrust
    Arena
    Black Box

Modern Scenery:
    Abstract and realistic

Theatre of the fourth wall

Designer's Media:
    Platforms - levels, raked stage
    Flats- canvas stretched or wooden
    Drapes - Legs, Borders, Show Curtain,
         Cyclorama, Scrim

Stage Machinery - turntables, hoists, fly space

Light Design

    Concerns of lighting designer:
        Visibility
        Focus
        Realism
        Atmosphere

Designers (all three) at Work

Readings, research, drawings, ground plans, Drafting to shops, etc.

Lighting Designer at Work:
    Reading, Light Plot, Cue Sheet, etc.

Costume Designer at Work:
    Read, meetings to collaborate, sketches with
    swatches, rendering, make patterns, purchase
    fabric, building the costume, etc.

Computers - helped technical theatre in tremendous ways over the last 30 years

Other theatre technicians:
    Production/Stage Manager
    Technical Director
    Carpenters, stage hands
    Electricians
    Wig makers
    Etc.

Stage Makeup: 
    Ceremonial and Illustrative

Technical Rehearsals: the process of putting all design and technical elements into the play.

Theatre tour: Apron, house, Proscenium Arch, Lip Pit, Orchestra, Balcony, Stage Rt. and Left, upstage, downstage, backstage, fly loft, wings, control booth, Cyc, Raked stage, Green room, dressing rooms.

The Director:

Art of directing, exercise in Leadership, control and imagination.

2 levels of skill: Technical and Artistic

Historical Perspective
    18th and 19th cent. emphasis on accuracy influenced development of director
    Duke Saxe-Meiningen first director

Phases:
    Prep Phase -4 stages
        Play Selection
        Conceptualization - Idea to focus interpretation
        Design meetings: collaboration
        Casting

    Implement Phase - 5 stages
        Staging: Pre-blocking, organic blocking
            Define Blocking - large scale movement
                Business - small scale movement
        Coaching - spends most of his/her time and most important
        Pacing - rhythm of the play
        Coordinating - Technical rehearsals
        Presenting- performing

Training

True West: 
    Themes and symbols of the themes
    Title
    Characters
    Sam Shepard