A playwright sets a cautious brother beside a reckless hero so that the hero's recklessness stands out. What is the cautious brother?Wikipedia, Foil (narrative) (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0002
An actor says "You came back" three times: with the pitch rising at the end, then falling, then flat. The line means something different each time. Which aural element did she change?Wikipedia, Intonation (linguistics) (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0001
The Group Theatre was formed in New York City in 1931 by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg. Which idea of collaboration gave the company its name?Wikipedia, Group Theatre (New York City) (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0003
In a verse tragedy two characters quarrel in single lines, each answering the other line for line. What is this technique of dramatic language called?Wikipedia, Stichomythia (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0002
In the Poetics, what does Aristotle call "a change by which the action veers round to its opposite"?Wikipedia, Peripeteia (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0002
Show all 44 questions (39 more)
Basic vocabulary of drama and theatre, continued
The lighting designer has drawn the plot. Who is responsible for carrying it out: overseeing the preparation, hanging, connection and focusing of the instruments?Wikipedia, Master electrician (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0003
Which acting technique, conceived by David Mamet and William H. Macy, puts script analysis and physical action ahead of emotional recall?Wikipedia, Practical Aesthetics (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0003
Which French term, in English "placing on stage", names the stage design and the arrangement of actors in the scenes of a production?Wikipedia, Mise-en-scène (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0001
Which genre of performance tells its story primarily through the performers' bodily movement, relying on motion more than on text?Wikipedia, Physical theatre (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0001
Theatrical process, performance and production 15
A costume designer researching the 1850s wants the stiff or structured petticoat that held a skirt out in the fashionable silhouette of that decade. What is it called?Wikipedia, Crinoline (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0006
A designer adds side light so that a sculpted set piece, flat under front light, shows its depth. Which function of stage lighting is this?Wikipedia, Stage lighting (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0006
A designer builds a street whose far doorways are smaller than the near ones, so that a shallow stage looks deep. Which technique is this?Wikipedia, Forced perspective (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0006
A play includes a staged sword fight. Before every performance the actors mark through the fight in a brief rehearsal. What is this safety practice called?Wikipedia, Stage combat (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0007
A school auditorium uses audio amplification for its plays. Under the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, what must such an assembly area provide?U.S. Department of Justice, 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, section 219 (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0007
After three school plays, a student keeps being cast as the comic sidekick because audiences now identify him with that kind of role. What is this called?Wikipedia, Typecasting (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0008
At which Chicago settlement house did Viola Spolin, a noted teacher of improvisation, teach classes and develop her techniques?Wikipedia, Hull House (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0004
Groups of students read a poem aloud, giving parts to each group member and trying out voice, sound, gesture and movement. Which drama teaching technique is this?Wikipedia, Drama teaching techniques (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0004
In a theatre with seating on several sides, actors enter through passages that run below or behind the banks of seats. What is such a passage called?Wikipedia, Vomitorium (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0007
In which form of improvisational theatre do audience members tell stories from their own lives and then watch them enacted on the spot?Wikipedia, Playback Theatre (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0004
The stage manager gathers the designers and crew heads to review every cue and check that all are written down in order, with no set and no actors. What is this rehearsal called?Wikipedia, Technical rehearsal (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0008
What are the loudspeakers called that face the performers, so that singers and musicians on stage can hear themselves and one another?Wikipedia, Stage monitor system (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0005
Which attachment, fitted to the front of a Fresnel lantern, has four leaves that shape the beam of light?Wikipedia, Stage lighting accessories (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0005
Which rehearsal, often the last before the premiere, runs every detail of the performance with the cast in costume and with all props and set pieces?Wikipedia, Dress rehearsal (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0008
Which scene-changing device is a revolving three-sided prism with a different scene painted on each face?Wikipedia, Periaktos (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0005
History and literature of theatre 9
The Adding Machine (1923) and Machinal (1928) use exaggeration and distortion in scenery and stage elements to deliver strong feelings. Which movement do these American plays belong to?Wikipedia, Expressionism (theatre) (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0011
At the Athenian festival of Dionysus, which kind of play did a tragedian present after a group of three tragedies?Wikipedia, Satyr play (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0010
The grave-digger scene in Hamlet sets joking in the middle of a tragedy. Which literary device is it a standard example of?Wikipedia, Comic relief (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0009
The School for Scandal uses wit and sharp dialogue to satirize the social behavior and strict codes of its own society. Which genre is it?Wikipedia, Comedy of manners (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0009
The Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, the final design of Andrea Palladio, still holds the scenery installed for its first performance in 1585. What distinction does that scenery hold?Wikipedia, Teatro Olimpico (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0010
Which Chicano theatre company was founded in 1965 in Delano, California, as the cultural arm of the United Farm Workers?Wikipedia, El Teatro Campesino (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0011
Which improvisational comedy theatre made its debut in Chicago in 1959 and is the oldest improvisational troupe continuously based in that city?Wikipedia, The Second City (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0011
Which Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts, attributed to the sage Bharata, covers dramatic composition, the construction of a stage, acting, makeup and costumes?Wikipedia, Natya Shastra (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0010
Whose essays on the plays of the Hamburg National Theatre, written between 1767 and 1769, defined the new field of dramaturgy and introduced the term?Wikipedia, Hamburg Dramaturgy (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0009
Drama, theatre and fine arts education 11
A drama teacher who wants conferences and a journal on design, production and technology for the stage looks for a membership organization. Which one fits?Wikipedia, United States Institute for Theatre Technology (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0015
A fifth-grade class shows what it knows about the water cycle by devising and performing a scene, and the lesson has goals in both science and theatre. Which approach is this?Wikipedia, Arts integration (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0012
A student who loves rigging and running crew asks which labor union represents technicians, artisans and craftspersons in live theatre. Which is it?Wikipedia, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0013
After a scene showing, students score one another's work against the benchmarks their teacher has set. What is this practice called?Wikipedia, Peer assessment (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0014
At a school play, a narrator heard through headsets describes the costumes and the action during pauses in the dialogue. Which access service is this, and whom is it for?Wikipedia, Audio description (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0013
Each student keeps a website of design sketches, rehearsal photos, journal entries and video clips, added to all year, as evidence of what he or she can do. What is this assessment tool called?Wikipedia, Electronic portfolio (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0014
Federal education law, at 20 U.S.C. 7801, lists the arts and music among the subjects of which defined term?20 U.S.C. 7801(52), Legal Information Institute copy (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0012
The Illinois Arts Learning Standards for theatre give a column of standards for each grade through 8th. How do they name the three high school levels?Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Arts Learning Standards: Theatre (approved 2016) (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0013
The Illinois Theatre Association presents the annual Illinois High School Theatre Festival. What did the teachers who created it want the statewide event to be?Illinois Theatre Association, About the Illinois High School Theatre Festival (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0015
Richard Wagner used which term, meaning "total work of art", for a work that makes use of all or many art forms?Wikipedia, Gesamtkunstwerk (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0012
Students first act a story out with their bodies, then draw it, and at last write it down. In Jerome Bruner's three modes of representation, which mode is the acting out?Wikipedia, Jerome Bruner (read 2026-10-16). Outline: ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test framework, objective 0013
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test design and framework of Illinois Licensure Testing System (ILTS) field 210, Drama/Theatre Arts, as the ILTS site prints them (https://www.il.nesinc.com/Content/STUDYGUIDE/IL_SG_OBJ_210.htm and the test page https://www.il.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/IL210_TestPage.html, read 2026-10-16): Basic Vocabulary of Drama/Theatre, 20%; Theatrical Process, Performance, and Production, 34%; History and Literature of Theatre, 20%; Drama/Theatre and Fine Arts Education, 26%; 100 multiple-choice questions (80 scorable), 3 hours 15 minutes of testing time, passing score 240. This bank holds 44 questions, spread 9, 15, 9, 11 over those subareas. Every fact was read on 2026-10-16 in the public page named under its question: the Illinois Arts Learning Standards for theatre, approved by the Illinois State Board of Education in 2016 (https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Theatre-Standards.pdf), the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design on ada.gov, 20 U.S.C. 7801 in the Legal Information Institute copy, the Illinois Theatre Association's page on the Illinois High School Theatre Festival, and the Wikipedia article named for each remaining question. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This ILTS Drama Theatre Arts practice test puts 44 questions of our own on field 210, Drama/Theatre Arts, against the clock or not. It is unofficial; the site is not affiliated with the Illinois State Board of Education or Pearson.
Read the full guide
How field 210 is weighted
The framework on the ILTS site, read October 16, 2026, gives the basic vocabulary of drama and theatre 20%; theatrical process, performance and production 34%; the history and literature of theatre 20%; and drama, theatre and fine arts education 26%. This bank holds 9, 15, 9 and 11, and a timed round is 40 questions in 78 minutes.
Illinois in the answers
Four questions are set in the state: Hull House and The Second City in Chicago, the high school levels of the Illinois Arts Learning Standards, and the Illinois High School Theatre Festival.
Objectives 0010 and 0011 cover world cultures, so the bank visits the Natya Shastra and El Teatro Campesino as well as Athens.
Questions and answers
Is this ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts practice test free?
It is free and needs no account. The 44 questions were written for this page from the fifteen objectives of the Illinois framework, and every answer points to the public page that confirms it.
What does the ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts test cover?
Fifteen objectives: the sensory elements and organizing principles of theatre; acting, directing, playwriting and improvisation; technical theatre and design; managing a theatre safely and legally; dramatic literature; theatre history across world cultures; and teaching and assessing drama.
How long is the ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts (210) test?
The appointment lasts 3 hours 30 minutes, and 3 hours 15 minutes of it is testing time for 100 multiple-choice questions on a computer. Eighty of the hundred count toward the score.
What score do you need to pass ILTS Drama/Theatre Arts?
A scaled 240. Scores are reported from 100 to 300, every multiple-choice question counts the same, and nothing is lost for a wrong answer, by the ILTS score report explanation.