1. Structural Outline

Toward a National Theater

Provide the missing information about the change undergone by the American theater.

2. Scanning

A Dozen Outstanding Plays of the Past Quarter Century

Describing American drama before the 1960s, Howard Stein says, "Those plays, for the most part, were devoted to social realism, to the family, to middle-class people talking in middle-class language about middle-class problems—problems that centered around marriage, raising children, extra-marital affairs, divorce, business and personal integrity."

Scan the survey of recent plays, and show how, in the choice of themes and main characters, these plays differ from the traditional pattern.

Before the 1960s

domination of the stage by few majorplaywrights

censorship inplaywriting by Broadway producers

similarity of Broadwayplays through middle-class orientation

Since the 1960s

decentralization and regionalization of theatrical activities toward a national theater

expansion of the theatrical scene by around 400 non-profit theaters

3. Comprehension

An Interview with Jack Nicholson

Which ways of completing the following sentences are correct? There may be more than one possibility.

1. After leaving school Jack Nicholson

1. went straight to college.

1. went to California to become a movie star.

2. became an office boy in a California film company.

2. Due to Jeff Corey's influence, Jack Nicholson

1. became interested in sports, girls and seeing films.

2. tried to live an intensive life.

3. learned that acting requires an intensive insight into life.

3. Already at the beginning of his career as an actor

1. money played such a crucial role that he almost gave up acting.

2. he strongly believed in acting as a literary art form.

3. he considered scriptwriters to be the greatest literary artists of the time.

4. Comparing film-acting and acting on the stage, Jack Nicholson

1. regarded the stage as the true medium for an actor.

2. believed that screen-acting was the higher art form.

3. thought that second-rate actors were to be found on the stage.

5. Jack Nicholson is of the opinion that criticism

1. from the theater audience helped him a lot.

2. after a theater performance was not always fair.

3. of acting is done best by the actor himself.

244 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

6. Jack Nicholson anticipated that Easy Rider was not going to be a failure because

1. the motorcycle film he had done before had been a success.

2. he had given up trying to reach a kind of literary quality with this film.

3. he was familiar with the basic ideas of this film.

7. The success of Easy Rider at the Cannes Film Festival

1. made Nicholson think of directing films himself for the first time.

2. showed Nicholson that he was at his best as an actor.

3. caused him to give up all plans of directing films.

8. When choosing a new project, Nicholson believes that

1. the script is the most important criterion.

2. the director is more important than the script.

3. only great directors guarantee the financial success of a film.

9. Jack Nicholson enjoys directing because he thinks

1. he can do it as well as Antonioni, Kubrick or Polanski.

2. there are always excellent scripts to rely on.

3. he has the special vision that is needed to produce the right images.

10. Jack Nicholson gave up writing because he

1. never really liked it.

2. felt that he was not effective enough as a writer.

3. thought he could contribute to a film more through acting than through writing.