Theme: XX century american drama

10. 
    Theme: XX CENTURY AMERICAN DRAMA
    

Task 1. Choose an answer

1. In which of the following media is drama NOT performed?

1. 
   Theatre
   
2. 
   Television
   
3. 
   Books
   
4. 
   Radio
   

2. 
   Which of the following is a characteristic of classical drama?
   

1. 
   Teaches morals
   
2. 
   Highly symbolic
   
3. 
   Allegorical
   
4. 
   Religious
   

3. 
   How is drama different from poetry and prose?
   

1. 
   It isn't written down.
   
2. 
   It uses verse.
   
3. 
   It's meant to be performed.
   
4. 
   It's more enjoyable.
   

4. 
   Eugene O'Neill suffered from all of the following illnesses, EXCEPT:
   

1. 
   Morphine addiction
   
2. 
   Alcoholism
   
3. 
   Tuberculosis
   
4. 
   Malaria
   

5. 
   Why was All God's Chillun Got Wings a controversial play?
   

1. 
   Characters in the play advocated for communism
   
2. 
   There was an interracial couple in the play.
   
3. 
   Characters in the play criticized the president
   
4. 
   The play had an all-female cast.
   

6. 
   What is Tennessee Williams best known for?
   

1. 
   Plays
   
2. 
   Poems
   
3. 
   Novels
   
4. 
   Short fiction
   

7. 
   Why did Tennessee Williams' father pull him out of school to work in a shoe factory?
   

1. 
   He failed military training
   
2. 
   He was failing his classes.
   
3. 
   He got into a fight with the school bullies.
   
4. 
   He was ill.
   

8. 
   What was Tennessee Williams first major hit?
   

1. 
   The Glass Menagerie
   
2. 
   Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
   
3. 
   A Streetcar Named Desire
   
4. 
   The Rose Tattoo
   

9. 
   What is the title of Arthur Miller's play All My Sons referencing?
   

1. 
   doomed pilots flying defective planes
   
2. 
   the children born during the Great Depression
   
3. 
   marines killed at sea
   
4. 
   people who died in an earthquake
   

10. What is the subject of Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize winning play Death of a Salesman?

1. 
   the hardships that come with trying to meet social expectations in America
   
2. 
   a young man dealing with drug addiction in America
   
3. 
   a mystery crime story about a salesman's murder and subsequent cover-up by the city's mayor
   
4. 
   a doomed pilot in WWII who flies a plane with a defective engine
   

11. 
    How did Miller criticize and show his contempt for the McCarthy hearings and the associated mass fear of communism in the 1950's?
    

1. 
   through his adaptation of a play by Ibsen, An Enemy of the People, and by writing The Crucible which has clear parallels to the hearings
   
2. 
   by encouraging his son Robert to produce new versions of his classics Death of a Salesman and The Story of G.I. Joe.
   
3. 
   by casting only actors who had been the subject of questioning during the hearings in his plays
   
4. 
   by publishing No Villain in attempt to change the focus to more pressing topics like the state of the American worker
   

Task 2. Check your recollection of the different characters and themes in playwrights’ many plays
To pass these assessments, students will need to know about the followings:

• 
  Strange Interlude
  
• 
  Anna Christie
  
• 
  The Emperor Jones
  
• 
  Beyond the Horizon
  
• 
  The Hairy Ape
  
• 
  Long Day's Journey Into Night
  
• 
  The Iceman Cometh
  
• 
  Where dramas can be performed
  
• 
  Characteristics of classical drama
  
• 
  How drama differs from poetry and prose
  
• 
  Why Shakespeare sometimes used prose
  
• 
  Recall where Tennessee Williams spent his early childhood
  
• 
  Remember his closest friend growing up
  
• 
  Recollect Williams' first major hit
  
• 
  Identify major themes of Southern Gothic literature
  
• 
  Analyze Hart Crane's poem, 'The Broken Tower'
  
• 
  The subject of Miller's play All My Sons
  
• 
  Theme of Miller's play Death of a Salesman
  
• 
  How one of Miller's plays was related to the McCarthy hearings
  
• 
  Miller's writing influences
  
• 
  The recurring theme in Miller's work
  

Task 3. Skills Practiced

• 
  Reading comprehension - ensure that you draw the most important information from the related lesson on the life and works of the writer
  
• 
  Distinguishing differences - compare and contrast famous plays
  
• 
  Information recall - access the knowledge you've gained regarding the writer’s life