ASSIGNMENT

Story

  1. What does the word theater mean?
  2. What is the first labor of making art? Why is this sometimes dangerous?
  3. What function do stories serve in our lives?
  4. Please describe the three-story elements you researched on the Periodic Table of Storytelling and a little about what you learned?
  5. Using the three elements you researched, please give an example of how each of these elements relates to some of your favorite stories?
  6. What is the difference between theater with “t” and Theater with a “T” ?

Performance

  1. Using the definitions from the lecture and the book, define make believe and make belief. Give an example of both.
  2. Describe four of the seven functions of performance as we discussed in class.
  3. What is restored behavior? Why is this important regarding the study of performance?
  4. How can maps be described as performance? Give an example.
  5. There were eight kinds of performance we discussed at the beginning of Chapter Two. Name four of them. Now, list the primary and secondary functions for those performances?

Greek Theater and Mardi Gras

  1. Where did the Greeks perform their plays? Why?
  2. Was music an important part of ancient Greek society? Why?
  3. According to most scholars today, how many muses do we recognize from ancient Greece?
  4. What is the origin of the word music?
  5. Do you feel theater is as important today as it was in ancient Greece? Why?
  6. What is the festival of Dionysus? Be specific.
  7. When we’re festivals held in ancient Greece? Why?
  8. Who is Thespis? What was his significance in the theater?
  9. Describe the role of the choregos? Who was allowed to be a part of it?
  10. Name at least three things that Greek Theater and Mardi Gras have in common?

Performance Spaces

  1. What is a proscenium theater?
  2. What is a thrust theater?
  3. What is theater in the round?
  4. What is site responsive or site-specific theater?
  5. What is the difference between a space and a place? Please give an example.