Theater 2
Terms
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-  Tragicomedy
- mixture of serious and comic
-  Comedy
- follies and excesses of human behavior that make us laugh. Writers include Aristophanes.
-  Characteristics of Comedy
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a) Suspension of Natural Laws – Suspension of probability, cause and effect, and logic. Actions do not have the consequences they do in real life.
b) Contrast between the Social Order and the Individual - Comedy develops when these two elements, the basic assumption about society and the events of the play cut against each other like a pair of scissors.
c) The Comic Premise – Suspension of natural laws makes this possible, it’s an idea which turns the accepted notion of things upside down and makes the upended notion the basis of the play. -  Techniques of Comedy
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a) Verbal Humor – Can be anything from a pun to the most sophisticated discourse.
b) Comedy of Character – The way characters see themselves or pretend to be opposed to the way they actually are.
c) Plot Complications – Coincidences and mistaken identity. - a) Farces
- Plot complications that thrive on exaggeration – not only plot complications but also broad physical humor and stereotyped characters.
-  Comedies of Menace
- A phrase suggesting the idea of a theater simultaneously terrifying and entertaining.
-  Theater if the Absurd
- Convey humanities sense of alienation and its loss of bearings in an illogical, unjust, and ridiculous world.
-  Imitation
- One person mimics or copies someone else’s vocal patterns, gestures, facial expressions, posture, and the like.
-  Role Playing
- People whose lives, or “roles,†serve as models or guides for others. Two different types.
- a) Social Roles
- General roles recognized by society: father, mother, child, police officer, etc
- b) Burlesque
- – Also relies on knockabout physical humor, as well as gross exaggerations and occasionally, vulgarity.
- c) Satire
- Form related to traditional burlesque, but with more intellectual and moral content.
- d) Domestic Comedy
- The comic equivalent of domestic or bourgeois drama.
- e) Comedy of Manners
- – Pointing up the foibles and peculiarities of the upper classes.
- f) Comedy of Ideas
- Using comic techniques to debate intellectual propositions and to further your own moral and social point of view.
- b) Personal Roles
- Roles we develop with our family and friends: braggarts, martyrs, conspirators, etc.
-  Integration
- – Inner emotions and feelings and outer characteristics along with vocal characteristics become one.
-  Director
- The person who rehearses the performers and coordinates their work with that of others, such as the designers, to make certain that the event is performed appropriately, intelligently, and in an exciting manner.
-  Style
- The way the play is presented.
-  Naturalism
- A kind if super realism, exact replica of life on stage.
-  Heightened Realism
- Selective, but still resembles life
-  Allegory
- – Representation of an abstract theme or subject through symbolic characters, actions, or other elements of a production, such as scenery.
-  Expressionism
- – Gives outward expression to inner feelings.
-  Directorial Concept
- A way for the director to embody the spine in a production deriving from a controlling idea, vision, or point of view.
-  Dramaturg
- A literary manager.
-  Casting
- Fitting performers into roles, obviously derived from the phrase “casting a mold.â€
-  Typecasting
- Deliberately puting someone in a role that does not seem to fit.
-  Blocking
- means deciding when and where performers move and position themselves on the stage.
-  Technical Rehearsal
- Run through of the play with lights and everything.
-  Dress Rehearsal
- Full run through of the play.
-  Previews
- Also called tryouts.
-  Producer
- the scenes counterpart of the director.
-  Designer
- Person who creates and organizes one of the visual aspects or aural effects in a theater production.
-  Periaktoi
- Vertical three sided column which could be rotated to present three different scenic pictures.
-  Design Concept
- Unifying idea carried out visually.
-  Elements of Design
- – Lines, shapes, and colors.
-  Turntable
- – Circle set into the floor which can turn electronically.
-  Wagons
- Low platforms on wheels.
-  Downstage
- Part of the stage nearest the audience.
-  Flat
- Used as a wall on stage
-  Scrim
- A gauze or cloth screen which can be painted with thin paint or dye.
-  Cutouts
- small pieces made like flats.
-  Screen Projection
- – A picture or drawing is projected on a screen, either from in front, as in an ordinary movie theater, or from behind.
-  Special Effects
- Scenery, Lighting, and Props.
-  Pulling
- A term used when costumes are rented and the designer goes to a costume house or storeroom and selects outfits that are appropriate for production.
-  Built
- Created in a costume shop
-  Objectives of Lighting Design
- Provide visibility, reveal shapes and forms, provide a focus onstage and create visual compositions, assist in creating mood and reinforcing style, help to establish time and place, establish a rhythm of visual movement, and reinforce a central visual image.
-  Properties of Stage Lighting
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a) Intensity
b) Color
c) Direction
d) Movement -  Sound Reproduction
- of motivated or environmental sounds
-  Motivated Sounds
- – Example would be noise of car.
-  Postmodernism
- Recent developments in performance art and culturally diverse theaters.
-  Melodrama
- Music accompanies action on stage.
-  Opera
- Drama set entirely to music.
-  Operetta
- entirely set to music, portions are spoken by the performers.
-  Musical Comedy
- Musical entertainment which emerged in the United States in the 1920s and which features a light, comic story interspersed with popular music.