Humble Beginnings
A ritual is...
the acting out of an established, prescribed procedure.
The Ancient Greek word for "actor" was
hypokrite
Why did theatre begin to decline near the end of the Roman empire?
Christianity
The ___________ stage was developed in Japan.
revolving
The center or society after the fall of the Roman empire was
the Roman Catholic Church
Acting, following scripts, and having design elements
are the ties that bind ritual and ceremony to theatre
The three best-known writers of Greek tragedy in this period were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and ____________.
Euripides
Romans did not construct a permanent theatre until 55 B.C.E. because
officials thought theatres might pose a danger to public morals.
Which type of plays became adapted as kabuki plays (with actors becoming famous for playing parts that puppets originally played)?
Bunraku
The earliest-known female dramatist is
Hrotsvitha
To understand audiences in theatre history, scholars ask questions about gender, __________, and __________.
race, class
A long hymn, sung and danced by a group of fifty men is called
A dithyramb
What was one way the orchestra in Roman theatres differed from Greek theatre?
- semicircular rather than circular
- used to seat government officials
- used for sea battles
Early theatre in India, China, and Japan reached a high point of artistic excellence
when religion and philosophy were central in each culture
The introduction of professional actors to perform morality plays suggests what?
morality plays were part of the transition from religious to secular theatre
True or False:
Scholars ask questions about the structure, topic, and representation practices in historic theatre texts.
true
Why did Greek tragedies need exposition?
the plays began in the midst of the crisis
Roman festivals were under the jurisdiction of who?
local government officials
Why were Sanskrit dramas not popular among the general public?
the general public didn't know Sanskrit
What are the two kinds of religious vernacular drama?
mystery (or cycle plays) and morality plays
Why is it difficult to determine what constitutes significance in theatre history?
what is valued now may not match was valued in a tradition's own time.
What are Aristotle's six elements of theatre according to The Poetics?
plot, character, thought, language, music, spectacle
What form of theatre or popular entertainement did women perform in in Rome?
Mime
Which type of theatre includes alternate sections of chanting with a kind of heightened speech?
nō
Someone who organized and oversaw cycle plays, also taking on the role of director and/or producer is called a
Pageant Master