English

Module 2: The Playwright and the Director

Chapter Questions

Read Chapter 4 (pages 55 to 79) and Chapter 6 (pages 134 to 178) in your textbook.

Choose only 5 of these questions to answer. Write your answers in your own words; if you choose to quote from the textbook, remember to identify the source.

Reminder for how to answer the questions:

Question 0 –
Give an example of one of the paradoxes of theatre.

 
Answer –
Despite many weeks of rehearsals, an actor is expected to “…‘live in the moment’ during…performance” (Cohen & Sherman, 2020, p. 5) as though this is the first time for the character to say these words and do these actions.

Question #

Chapter

Questions

1

4

Identify the playwright’s fundamental tools.

2

4

Identify the three major tasks of the playwriting process and the main challenge of each task faced by the playwright.

3

6

On the artistic level, what are the three fundamental responsibilities of the director?

4

6

Contrast the styles of realism and antirealism in terms of the role of the director.

5

6

Identify the four aspects of a director’s conceptualization and the question attached to each aspect.

6

6

Identify the three aspects of CORE CONCEPT that the director provides.

7

6

What is a DRAMATURG, and what does that professional provide during the preparation period of a production?

8

6

Identify the role of the director in staging, actor-coaching, pacing, and coordinating.

Name:

Module 1: What is theatre? What is a play?

Chapter Questions

Read the “Introduction” (pages 1 to 5), Chapter 1 “What Is Theatre” (pages 6 to 19), and Chapter 2 “What Is a Play” (pages 20 to 35) in your textbook.

Choose only 5 of these questions to answer. Write your answers in your own words; if you choose to quote from the textbook, remember to identify the source. Sample:

Question 0 –
Give an example of one of the paradoxes of theatre.

 
Answer –
Despite many weeks of rehearsals, an actor is expected to “…‘live in the moment’ during…performance” (Cohen & Sherman, 2020, p. 5) as though this is the first time for the character to say these words and do these actions.

Question #

Chapter

Questions

1

1

Provide evidence that theatre is difficult work.

2

1

Identify the two modes of performance and explain the differences.

3

1

Explain how theatre is “repetition with a difference.”

4

2

Explain the difference between plot and story.

5

2

Define CONVENTION as it applies to theatre, and give an example as provided in the textbook.

6

2

This is a two-part question:

Give an example of Pre-Play.

Name the two reasons for the use of a curtain call.

7

2

Define the four parts of a play.