-
Who is credited with the invention of tragedy, and being the first playwright as well as the first actor?
Thespis
-
An ecstatic hymn sung and danced around a phallic symbol
Dithyramb
-
What work cites origins and describes the nature of drama?
Aristotle’s Poetics
-
Which Greek Playwright added the second actor, reduced size of the chorus, and interested in the relationship of man with the gods?
Aeschylus
-
What is the name of the only extant Trilogy from Greek dramatic history?
Oresteia
-
What is the part of the structure of a Greek tragedy in which the chorus enters provides exposition and establishes mood?
Parados
-
What is the name of the part of the structure of a Greek tragedy that is comprised of scenes between named characters which develop them main action of the play?
Episodes
-
What is the name of the part of the structure of a Greek tragedy that is comprised of choral scenes, provides commentary on the action, etc, and is thought to have been chanted or sung?
Choral Odes
-
Which Greek playwright added a third actor, setting the size of the chorus at fifteen, placed emphasis on individual characters, and created complex and psychologically motivated protagonists who suffer a crisis which leads to suffering and self-understanding?
Sophocles
-
Which Greek playwright’s plays questioned traditional values, utilized subjects not suited to the stage, created characters which motivated by real psychological motivations, and exhibited a tendency towards melodrama/tragicomedy?
Euripides
-
Which Greek dramatic literary form was a burlesque treatment of a myth, often ridiculing gods or heroes, included boisterous action, rural setting, indecent language and gestures, rigorous dancing, and served as an afterpiece to the tragedies, providing comic relief?
Satyr Play
-
Who is the author of all the extant Greek comedies?
Aristophanes
-
What is the name of the far-fetched idea around with the play’s plot is centered?
Happy Idea
-
What is the name of the component of Greek comedy in which there is direct address to the audience by the chorus, dividing the play into 2 parts, discussing some social or political problem and advocating action or to praise the author, or solicit the audience’s favor?
Parabasis
-
What is the name of the component of Greek comedy in which the chorus enters and a debate ensues over the merits of the Happy Idea?
Agon
-
What type of Greek comedy is comprised of commentary on contemporary society, containing fantastic exaggerations of real life situations, usually farcical situations, with an emphasis on eating, drinking, sex, wealth, leisure, and contains some of the most obscene passages in Greek Theatre?
Old Comedy
-
What type of Greek comedy is comprised of domestic, middle class comedy, concern for love, family concerns, familial or societal relationships, and uses technical devices such as concealed identity, coincidence, and recognition?
New Comedy
-
What is the name of the major festival dedicated
to Dionysus?
City Dionysia
-
What is the name of the circular area where most of the action of a Greek play took place, also called the “Dancing Place?
Orchestra
-
Name of the scene house behind the orchestra used for costume changes in Greek theatre?
Skene
-
What is the name of the scenery used in Greek Theatre, similar to a modern-day flat, which could be mounted between the columns of the skene and painted to represent some scene or location?
Pinakes
-
What is the name of the three-sided device mounted on a central pivot, with a design painted on each side which could be rotated to reveal a new scene?
Periaktoi
-
What is the name for the wagon like device used for revealing tableaux-scenes of violence, otherwise not shown on stage?
Ekkyklema
-
What is the name of the seating area in a Greek theatre, which means the “seeing place”?
Theatron
-
What form, using stock characters, with character specific costumes and masks performing short improvised stories based on domestic situations or burlesque of myth, and may have been related to Greek Mime?
Atellan Farce
-
What was the name of the oldest religious festivals where state sponsored theatrical performances were given, presenting comedy and tragedy by 240 BCE?
Ludi Romani
-
What was the name of the guild for writers which was established following the deaths of the first two known/founding Roman dramatists, Livius Andronicus and Gnaeus Naevius?
Collegium Poetarium
-
Who is the Roman comic playwright who was admired for his Latin dialogue, varied poetic meter and witty jokes, was best known for his farce, and for whom twenty plays survive, including The Menaechmi, Pseudolus, and The Haunted House, among others?
Plautus
-
Who is the Roman comic playwright, born in Carthage, brought to Rome as a slave, educated and freed, who wrote 6 plays – all of which survive, whose plots are more complex than his counterpart (the other known/extant Roman comic playwright)?
Terence
-
What is the Roman name for the form of comedy based on Greek subjects?
Fabula Palliata
-
What is the Roman name for the form of comedy based on Roman subjects?
Fabula Togata
-
Who is the Greek playwright most often being adapted in all of the extant Roman Comedies?
Menander
-
What is the name for Roman Tragedies based on Greek originals, which comprise the majority of Roman tragedies?
Fabula Crepidata
-
What is the name for Roman Tragedies based on Roman subjects?
Fabula Praetexta
-
Who is the Roman author who wrote De Architectura (c. 15 CE), which detailed Theatre Architecture of Rome, and described three types of sets for each form of drama?
Vitruvius
-
What is the term now applied to Roman Tragedy that was written but not intended for performance?
Closet Tragedies
-
Plays divided into five episodes, divided by choral interludes, use of technical devices such as soliloquies, asides and confidantes, and characters dominated by a single obsessive passion driving them to doom are characteristics of whose writing?
Seneca
-
Brief moral conclusions within the body of late Roman Tragedy are known as what “technical” (writing) device?
Sententiae
-
What minor Roman form is characterized by short, comic or serious scenes usually dealing with everyday life from a comic or satiric viewpoint, elaborate in use of spectacle and large casts, were violent and obscene, containing numerous beatings, fights and deaths, and violence included in them, and in which Christians rites and beliefs were often ridiculed, using no masks making facial expression important, along with largely improvised dialogue, requiring skill in dialogue, business and movement, where actors were selected for physical beauty or comic ugliness?
Roman Mime/Fabula Riciniata
-
What minor Roman form is characterized by story-telling solo dance, performed by actors noted for handsomeness and athletic qualities and their subtlety and complexity of their characterizations, accompanied by a chorus who sang a text, and by an orchestra of flutes, pipes and cymbals with plots usually taken from mythology or history, whose serious form eventually replaced tragedy on the stage, and was the forerunner of modern ballet?
Pantomime/Fabula Saltica
-
What was the name of the auditorium of a Roman theatre?
Cavea
-
What is the name of the covered entrances between cavea and scaena, in place of Greek Paradoi, leading to orchestra and auditorium in Roman theatre?
Vomitoria
-
What is the name of the 3-stories tall rear façade of the Roman stage which had niches, porticos, and statues, and was often painted and gilded, providing the basic scenic background?
Scaenae frons
-
What was the Roman term for actors?
Histriones
-
What play, by Medwall, was the first Humanist drama in England, written in 1497 (and is also the oldest extant interlude)?
Fulgens and Lucrece
-
Name of person who wrote Regularis Concordia between 965 and 973.
Bishop Ethewold
-
Name of extant cycle play made of 24 plays, the fewest number of any of the cycle plays
Chester
-
Name for the groups of plays covering events from the creation of the world to the end of it, which were a result of the Feast of Corpus Christi
Cycle Plays
-
The name for the entrance to hell, often portrayed as a fortified city, made to look as terrifying as possible, often shaped like the head of a monster, which belched fire, smoke, noise and screams
Hell Mouth
-
Author of oldest extant interlude, written in 1497
Henry Medwall
-
The first female dramatist and first named/known western dramatist following the classical era who wrote six plays modeled on Terence, that tell stories about the chastity of Christian virgins
Hrosvitha of Gandersheim
-
Divisions in the presentation of cycle plays separated by this, from one hour to 24 hours
Interludes
-
Type of drama that was first to appear after the fall of Rome and was widespread by the end of the 10th century
Liturgical Drama
-
Name of small scenic structures which served to locate the scene, house properties, and aid in reveals for early medieval plays. Sedes, loci or domi are other names for these small scenic structures used to locate the scene in medieval plays
Mansions
-
French farce (c. 1470) that is considered to be a minor
masterpiece.
Master Peter Patelin
-
Type of medieval plays based on lives of saints
Miracle plays
-
Type of medieval plays based on stories from the Bible
Mystery Plays
-
Secular form closest in tone to the cycle plays, which were didactic, first appearing in the 14th century as religious plays, using characters whose names embodied their characteristics.
Morality Plays
-
Name of the cycle play that is a collection of fragments from other cycles and contains 42 plays
N-Town
-
Individuals hired to supply everything needed for the staging of cycle plays except the wagon and the costumes, who functioned as a stage manager and director rolled into one
Pageant Master
-
Name of the generalized acting area in front of/adjacent to the Mansions
Platea
-
Latin Name of the oldest extant trope, dating from c. 925 CE
Quem Quaeritis Trope
-
Earliest extant pyalet is found in what collection/rule book?
Regularis Concordia
-
Lengthened Musical passages originally on the last syllable of Alleluia, with one syllable for each note to aid in their memorization when those extended melodies become so complex that words were added.
Trope
-
Name of extant cycle play made of 48 plays, the largest number of any of the cycle plays
York
-
Extant cycle play that is said to have been written by a “master” writer, and contains 32 plays
Wakefield
-
Type of characters whose names embodied their characteristics.
Allegorical
-
Concern for the worth of humanity and earthly life, not just preparation for eternity, an emphasis on
justice, courtesy, magnanimity, integrity, loyalty, courage, duty to self and others, including developing one’s potential to the fullest, are examples of what post-medieval shift in thought?
-Humanism
Humanism
-
In England, farce did not emerge as an independent form until the 16th century and is aided in it’s establishment through the writings of this English Writer, who was Oxford trained and wrote the first non-didactic interludes in England?
John Heywood
-
What play, derived from legendary English history, is considered the first English tragedy and established the tradition of modeling plays on Seneca and was presented at The Inner Temple in 1561?
Gorboduc
-
Who is the author of The Spanish Tragedy, the most popular play of the 16th century which established a vogue for revenge tragedy (Hamlet as an example), was written with Pseudo-Senecan development – all important events on stage, action ranges through time and place, using soliloquies, confidants, and division into acts?
Thomas Kyd
-
What Elizabethan playwright wrote pastoral and romantic comedies for adult companies in the form of stories of love and adventure mingled with historical materials, using charming and resourceful heroines who undergo temptation and are then rewarded for their constancy?
Robert Greene
-
What playwright was one of the most influential of the Elizabethan era, who is important for the development of the chronicle play, and whose plays are noted for protagonists whose motivations are illuminated by an episodic story?
Christopher Marlowe
-
What is the name given to the group of playwrights who bridged the gap between the educated and the popular audiences and established the tradition upon which Shakespeare built?
The University Wits
-
What acting company was established in London in 1583, when the Master of Revels was ordered to form an all-star company to perform for the Queen and to create a monopoly over theatre in London, resulting in the largest company in London and starting a vogue for large cast plays, and consequently raised the standards for acting in England?
The Queen's Men
-
What acting company was led by Edward (Ned) Alleyn, and backed by Philip Henslowe, who left a diary with detailed information about theatre of this era
The Admiral's Men
-
What acting company was formed by the Burbage family and a group of actors, including Shakespeare, and was renamed the King’s Men in 1603, when James I comes to power?
The Chamberlain's Men
-
What is the name of the playhouse built by Philip Henslowe as the first home of the Admiral’s Men, whose foundations were discovered in 1988-89?
The Rose
-
What were the places for law studies, but which included training in “graces” which were practiced in part through the presentation of plays, where graduates of Oxford and Cambridge continued studies for law?
Inns of Court
-
What is the name ascribed to the type of play written by Ben Jonson, which was concerned with reforming human behavior?
Comedy of Humours
-
What Elizabethan genre created a wide range of character types based on a scheme of bodily fluids as determinants of basic temperaments/behavior?
Corrective Comedy
-
What is the name of the dramatic form seen at royal courts, usually presented to honor a noble or royal, which used an allegorical story that suggested parallels between the person being honored and some mythological personage or event, in which the story and its symbolism were conveyed primarily through visual means, and scenery, props, costumes, pantomime and dance were primary elements?
Masques
-
Who was the Elizabethan playwright considered as the finest playwright of the day, who concentrated on the foibles of contemporary types, wrote according to a set of rules, wrote politically satiric comedies, followed
neoclassical precepts and tempered the excesses of playwrights of his day, and was the first poet laureate of England?
Ben Jonson
-
Who was the first important English scene designer, responsible for bringing the Italianate style to England and who was the most influential English artist of his day and exerted an enormous influence before and after his death?
Inigo Jones
-
Elizabethan and later playwrights were sometimes paid a fee for the 2nd or 3rd performance of their plays, based on receipts, and once paid, the play belonged to the company, and not the playwright marked the beginnings of what system that will remain prevalent to
the middle of the 19th century?
Benefit system
-
What actor was the leading man for Shakespeare’s company who created the roles of Richard III, Hamlet, Lear, Othello, and was acknowledged as the greatest actor of his day?
Richard Burbage
-
What type of play rearranges diverse historical events into coherent story, creating a causal relationship, and paved the way for Shakespeare's history plays?
Chronicle play
-
Who was one of the most successful dramatists of his day, commonly linked with the above playwright, who replaced Shakespeare as principal dramatist for his company, knew how to shape every element for dramatic effect, and whose plays were more frequently performed during the Restoration than Shakespeare?
John Fletcher
-
Who is the playwright whose plays exemplify the decadence typical of Caroline drama, as exemplified in his play, is Pity She’s a Whore, 1629-33, demonstrating an ability to illuminate evil by associating it with ordinary human beings?
John Ford
-
What is the name of the playhouse built by James Burbage in 1576 with the backing of Brayne, whose timbers were used to build The Globe in 1599?
The Theatre
-
Who was the Elizabethan actor often considered the first great tragic actor in England, creating the roles of Marlowe’s Faustus and Tamburlaine?
Edward Alleyn
-
What is the distinct Spanish form of religious play which told allegorical stories, some having no human characters in them, and some of the earliest were merely nativity plays?
Autos Sacramentales
-
What is the name of the highly ornate 2-story wagons made of wooden frames with painted canvas and a façade of the upper story often hinged to reveal something, which were used to perform autos in Spanish Theatre?
Carros
-
Who is the playwright who wrote and acted in “eclogues” after studying with Spanish humanist Nebrija and is often called the founder of Spanish drama?
Juan del Encina
-
What is the name for the form of Spanish secular plays which were the first Spanish secular dramas to be performed?
Eclogues
-
What is the name of the playwright considered to be the first important figure of Spanish professional theatre, the founder of Spanish professional theatre, and also the first successful writer of plays for the popular audience? He is also best known for
his paso, The Mask and The Olives, in which the plots serve as an excuse for earthly humor and picturesque dialogue, and fools and simpletons, roles played the playwright, were the most developed characters?
Lope de Rueda
-
Who is the Spanish playwright who wrote about 30 plays, some of which are semi-autobiographical, and with Cueva, provided a link between academic and professional drama?
Cervantes
-
What is the term applied to any full-length play, serious or
comic, most of which were divided into three acts?
Comedia
-
What is the name of the short topical sketches (interludes) performed between acts of plays, some of which were sung, some spoken, some both in Spanish Theatre?
Entremeses
-
What is the term for the prologue, delivered either as a dialogue or monologue, referred to as the “compliment”, designed to gain good will of
the audience usually preceded by singing and dancing in Spanish Theatre?
Loa
-
What is the name for the short farces performed by professional companies in Spanish Theatre?
Pasos
-
Who is the first Spanish dramatist to make a living as a
playwright, was also the most prolific Spanish playwright writing between 800 and 1800 plays, 331 of which have survived, who also wrote on dramatic
criticism in The New Art of Writing Plays for Our Times, in which he rejects neoclassic theories of
France and Italy?
Lope de Vega
-
What is the name of the Spanish simpleton character?
Gracioso
-
Who is the Spanish Playwright who wrote in primarily two types, Cape and Sword plays and Honor plays, and is said to have perfected the auto form, in which he embodied Catholic dogma in symbolic stories with beautiful lyrical dialogue?
Pedro Calderon de la Barca
-
What is the name for the type of musical play which become of the most popular Spanish forms, which is short, light, based on classical myths or pastoral subjects, with choral passages and much of the dialogue set to music, most of which were performed at the royal hunting lodge for which the form was
and still is named?
La Zarzuela
-
What is the term for sharing troupes in Spanish Theatre?
Companias de Partes
-
What is the Spanish term for companies of the road, which actors not contracted to licensed companies would join?
Companies de Legua
-
What is the name of the guild actors were allowed to form in 1631, which still exists today and is open to all theatrical personnel?
Confradia de la Novena
-
Spanish term for Theatre
Corral
-
What is the name of roofed theatre structure built for court, but open to the public in Spanish Theatre?
Coliseo
-
What is the name for the stage at one end of the yard in Spanish Golden Age theatres?
Encenario
-
What is the name for the tiring house behind the stage in Spanish Golden Age theatres?
Vestuario
-
What is the name for the large central courtyard occupied by standing spectators stage in Spanish Golden Age theatres?
Patios
-
What is the name for the bleacher style seating located along each side of the patio in Spanish Golden Age theatres?
Gradas
-
What is the name for the windows in the adjoining houses which
served as a box seat for performances in Spanish Golden Age theatres?
-
What was the name of the gallery above the refreshment booth
reserved for unaccompanied women in Spanish Golden Age theatres?
-
What was the name of the ballad, with music, singing, and dancing
which was the common beginning of a typical play in the Spanish public theatres
of the Golden Age?
-
What is the earliest known tragedy uniting classical form and subject and written by Antonio
Laschi?
-
Which of the servant characters in Italian theatre is by far the most popular,
displaying a mixture of cunning and stupidity, is usually an accomplished
acrobat and dancer, was usually at the center of any intrigue, and was usually
costumed in stylized red, blue, and green diamond-shaped patches?
-
What writer, whose work in farce is cited as a possible forerunner
of Commedia dell’arte, took inspiration from everyday life and ordinary speech
of northern Italy, and wrote plays which center around the peasant character
Ruzzante, a role he played?
-
Who is the most frequent companion of Harlequin, and is a libidinous, cynically witty servant?
Brighella
-
What Renaissance play, by Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena,
blends traditional and contemporary elements, and became a model for others?
La Calandria
-
What commedia character is a braggart and coward who boasts his
prowess in love and war, usually discredited in both, and is frequently an
unwelcome suitor of the inamorata, ccostumed in a sword, cape, and feathered
headdress?
-
By 1508 a new vernacular drama was launched with what play by
Ariosto, with a Roman plot and a contemporary Italian setting?
-
What system of scene changing was developed by Giacomo Torelli and
constituted the next significant step in scene shifting after book flats?
-
What playwright, whose later plays are more like melodramas, moved
to serious plays with happy endings, finding that audiences preferred this kind
of plot, and whom no other serious dramatist rivaled in popularity?
-
What was the first full-length work produced by the Camerata of Florence
and, consequently, the first opera?
-
What commedia character usually holds an established place in
society, is an “educated” man (pedant), who loves to show off his learning,
speaking a Bolognese dialect with Latin words and phrases stuck in, but is usually tricked by others, and is
usually doctor or lawyer, costumed in the academic cap and gown and is usually
a jealous, but often cuckolded husband?
-
What is the earliest tragedy of the Renaissance, written by Albert
Mussato, which used a modified Senecan form and drew its subject matter from
Christian doctrine?
-
The oldest 50 Commedia scenarios, refined over time and passed
from one troupe to another, were published in 1611 by whom?
-
What renaissance form is descended from mascherata of carnival time and court entertainments, and was often
used to pay elaborate compliments to those being honored, drawing parallels
between mythological figures and contemporary persons, and whose appeal was in
their spectacle – scenery, costumes, music, dance, etc, using dialogue only
when plots needed explanation?
-
What were the specific comic bits which were common and expected
in any given Commedia scenario?
Lazzi
-
What form grew out of attempts by the Camerata of Florence to
recreate Greek tragedy in the late 16th century and grew into one of
the major art forms of the baroque era, and, in Italy, came to displace
interest in spoken drama, and is one of the only Renaissance forms that exists
today?
Opera
-
What commedia character is a middle-aged or elderly merchant who
speaks in a Venetian dialect and is fond of proverbs, and who, despite his age,
often poses as a young man, usually costumed in a tight-fitting red vest, red
breeches and stockings, soft slippers, an ankle-length black coat, and a soft
brimless cap, with a gray beard, and a large hooked nose?
-
What dramatic form, probably developed out of interest in Satyr plays,
thrived in Renaissance Italy through plots based on the idyllic world of
shepherds and nymphs, in which the principal subject was love triumphing over
obstacles first appearing in 1471 and peaking in the late 16th
century?
-
What is the title of the oldest known Renaissance comedy, a satire
on student life, by Pier Paolo Vergerio?
-
What commedia character is a mixture of shrewdness and
foolishness, wit and dullness, villainy and love, whose function in the
scenarios varied, being sometimes a servant or host of an inn, or a merchant,
but is always a Neapolitan?
-
What are the three basic premises of the Neoclassic Ideal?
Purity of Form, Purposeful, Verisimilitude
-
What is the name of the group of writers established to develop
the French Language, seeking to make French the medium for literature based on
classical works, and who formulated rules of grammar, added new words, and
wrote new works?
-
What is the name of the play written by Etienne Jodelle for the above “French Language group” which was the 1st tragedy in French?
Cléopâtre Captive
-
What is the name of the most characteristic entertainment of the
early period of French drama which were primarily evolved court festivals whose
creators soughtto unite plot, song,dance, and spectacle, and is essentially the
French equivalent of Intermezzi
-
What is the name of the French “guild” which held a monopoly on
theatrical production in Paris since 1402, having been organized to present
religious drama, performing in a large hall at the Hopital de la Trinite, prior
to building their own Theatre?
-
What is the theatre, built in 1548 by the above guild, originally
to house their own religious dramas, which was probably the first permanent
public theatre to be built in Europe since Roman times?
-
What was the most famous of the Commedia Troupes which played
Paris sporadically between 1571 and 1588 and returned after 1599?
-
Who was France’s first professional dramatist who began writing
around 1597, writing an exceptional number of plays, of which only 34 are
extant, who wrote for the popular audience and adapted his plays to their
taste?
-
Who was the first important French actor manager, whose company
toured the provinces for six years before coming to Paris, calling themselves
the King’s Company?
-
Who was the actor from the “King’s Company” who stayed behind in
Paris and formed his own company, joined by another two former company members?
-
Who is the dramatist most often linked to the success of
Neoclassic ideal in France, and is said to have set French comedy on a new path
as well as having precipitated a battle between old and new styles?
-
What play by Corneille is considered the finest French
comedy prior to Moliere?
The Liar
-
What is the name of the converted tennis court in Paris in which a
new company settled in 1634 and became the first serious rival to the Hotel
Bourgogne?
-
Who is sometimes called the first great French actor, having come
to Paris in 1629 with Corneille’s Melitte, but suffered Paralysis in 1637?
-
What was the name of the two court theatres?
The Petit Bourbon, The Palais Royal
-
What is the original name of the Theatre Richelieu had constructed
in his palace in 1640 with a permanent proscenium and a stage capable of
accommodating flat wings?
-
What is the name Richelieu’s Theatre was changed to upon his
death?
-
What was the name of the theatre that was built when the Petit
Bourbon was torn down, which was enormously deep to accommodate the growing
size of spectacle?
-
What Playwright came to epitomize comedy, and raised it to a level
equal to tragedy?
-
What company, in 1665, was given a royal subsidy and achieved a
position of pre-eminence in Comedy equal to that of tragedy at Bourgogne, whose
reputation derived primarily from Moliere’s plays?
Comedie Francaises
-
What theatre did both the Marais Company and Moliere’s wind up
with when it was vacated by Lully, and Louis XIV closed the Marais and combined
the two companies?
-
What is the name for members of the Comedy Francaise who were
shareholders?
Societaires
-
What is the name for members of the above company who worked for
the company on a salary basis?
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