Chapter 5- Designers and Technicians

The order and process of developing a design for a play could be summarized by the following steps:

reading the play, researching, imagining, creating a physical presentation, collaborating, approving for the budget, ensuring viability, implementing.

Realistic costuming took over when which of the following became a major guiding principle in drama?

historical accuracy

All of the following are elements the scenic designer might take into consideration when creating the visual presentation of the staging EXCEPT

underscoring

All of the following take part in the design of the staging EXCEPT

the house manager

The picture frame stage reached its highest realization in the

baroque period.

Which of the following types of stage is completely surrounded by audience?

arena

During performances, the person fully in charge of overseeing the execution of the show is the

production stage manager.

Which kind of stage consists of a bare room able to adapt to a variety of staging possibilities?

black box

The development of _____ fostered the great period of scenery design.

the artificially illuminated indoor theatre

What kind of scenery attempts to depict, in great detail, a specific time and place in the observable world where the play’s events are presumed to take place?

realistic

What kind of scenery uses evocative visual images to make a visual statement about the production’s intended mood or theme?

metaphorical

Makeup can serve all the functions EXCEPT which of the following?

Makeup may be used to help improve the actor’s diction.

Which is an example of stereophonically located sound design?

an airplane flying overhead from left to right

Consider the staging for the Classic Stage Company’s production of Waiting for Godot (1998): a backdrop depicting an abstract moon and stars, a bare floor, low lighting, and dark costumes. This staging would most likely invoke a feeling of

bleakness

The type of set that fostered a uniquely architectural theory of theatre was

the theatre of the fourth wall removed.

What is NOT an example of projection design as it existed before its contemporary usage?

Shakespeare’s plays using shadows in front of lanterns to stimulate monsters.

Which of the following is NOT a postmodern design element?

furniture taken directly from people’s homes

In describing dramatic space as "psycho-plastic," which "scenographer" (Europe’s most celebrated in the 20th century) said "The goal of a designer can no longer be a description of a copy of actuality, but the creation of its multidimensional model?"

Joseph Svoboda

What is the name for curved scenic backdrop at the rear of the stage often representing the sky, or skyline?

cyclorama

Which person is responsible for the building and operation of stage machinery and scenery; scheduling lighting and industrial crews; moving scenery in and out of the theatre; and establishing policies and directives for scene shifting?

technical director

Turntables, elevators, hoists, cranes, rolling carts, and wagons, which are all used as scenic elements to accompany and support the dramatic action, are collectively called

stage machinery.

Makeup, like costuming, is

both ceremonial and illustrative.

Which invention brought lighting to the stage in its modern form and made lighting a more controlled part of the drama?

the gaslight

The theatricalist use of lighting in Brecht’s didactic theatre calls for

the lighting instruments being exposed and placed in full view of the audience.

A plan or series of plans showing the placement of each lighting instrument—its type, wattage, size, wiring and connection to a dimmer, and color is called

a light plot.

Which of the following is true of the history of lighting in scene design?

Even before the advent of electricity, designers attempted to manipulate lighting with candles, oil lamps, and reflective surfaces.

The ancient and original use of costume was to

separate the actor from the audience.

The production stage manager presides over the working and timing of lighting cues, ensuring that the lights support the play’s action and aesthetic.

False

The use of makeup signals to the audience that the actor is a performer.

True

In ancient Greek drama, rotating prisms, rolling platforms and painted panels probably had no representational significance.

True

The movement toward seeing abstraction began with the theoretical and occasionally practical works of Adolphe Appia.

True

The most exciting new development in lighting design is LED technology.

True

The name given to the boards that elevate the actors above the level of the audience is a flat.

False

Platforms, flats, and drapery are the traditional building blocks of fixed stage scenery.

True

A loosely woven fabric that looks opaque when lit from one side and transparent when lit from the other side is called a cyclorama.

False

Common goals of lighting design are verisimilitude and atmosphere.

True

A list of occasions referred to by number, keyed to the script of the play to indicate changes in intensity or use, is called a light plot.

False