AMERICAN THEATER

I. A) Read the text about American theater and write out the genres of performances popular with Americans and the titles of the plays.

B) Insert the names of performances which definitions are given below:

1. _________________ – a play about sufferings and death of Christ;

2. _________________ – a play that highlights song and dance;

3. _________________ – a puppet show for children in which the main character Punch fights humorously with his wife Judy;

4. _________________ – a form of theatrical entertainment in which white males with their faces and hands blackened imitated the singing and dancing of plantation slaves, basing their performances on the songs, humour, pathos, superstitions and folk customs of the American Negro.

C) Draw a line to connect the title of the play with the name of its author:

II. Read the text again and find the answers to the questions you may been asked at the Best Theater-Lover Contest:

1. Could your give examples of the so-called “folk drama” still shown in the USA?

2. When did the American theater have a remarkable upsurge of creativeness?

3. What genre was originated in the US?

4. What are the most successful American musical comedies?

5. What is the center of the US theatrical world?

6. What kinds of legitimate theaters are there in the US?

7. How are plays classified in the US?

8. What is off-Broadway (off-off-Broadway) theatre?

9. How are theater tickets bought?

10. What do you have to know when going to the theater?

ІІІ. Mark the following statements as T (for True) or F (for False):

1.The most successful theatre companies in New York are state-supported.

2.The musical as theater genre was developed in the USA.

3.There are a lot of theaters on Broadway.

4.It’s up to the spectator to define the ticket price for an off-off-Broadway performance.

5.My Fair Lady is a musical version of B.Shaw’s Pygmalion.

6.People have to book tickets for “off-Broadway” plays.

7.Off-off-Broadway theaters put on classical performances.

8.Professional regional theater has developed in every area of the USA.

9.New York’s audience decides the fate of a play.

10.American theater was influenced by Indian traditions.

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 1544