Q: Broadway theatre, commonly known as Broadway, refers to the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City. According to The Broadway League, for the 20162017 season (which ended May 21, 2017), total attendance was 13,270,343 and Broadway shows had US$1,449,399,149 in grosses, with attendance down 0.4%, grosses up 5.5%, and playing weeks down 4.1%.

The great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. Historian Martin Shefter argues, "'Broadway musicals,' culminating in the productions of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, became enormously influential forms of American popular culture" and helped make New York City the cultural capital of the nation.

New York did not have a significant theatre presence until about 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street, which held about 280 people. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as "The Beggar's Opera". In 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with "The Merchant of Venice" and "The Anatomist". The company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like "Damon and Phillida". The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the year the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street (now called Park Row). The Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, and especially so with the arrival of the Virginia Minstrels in the 1840s.

Answer the following questions:
1. How many theatres are on Broadway?
2. How many seats do they have?
3. What city are they in?
4. in what Burrough?
5. Is it a popular place?
6. What was the attendance in 2016-2017?
7. What did it gross?
8. Was attendance up?
9. Down by how much?
10. Was the gross down too?
11. up by what?
12. Were the playing weeks up?
13. Down by what?
14. What makes up the majority of the shows?
15. Who is one of the influential producers?
16. and another?
17. What city is the cultural capital?
18. What was created on Nassau Street?
19. How many did it hold?
20. what happened in 1752?
A: 1. 41
2. 500 or more seats
3. in New York City.
4. Manhattan
5. yes
6. 13,270,343
7. $1,449,399,149
8. no
9. 0.4%
10. no
11. 5.5%
12. no
13. 4.1%.
14. musicals
15. Richard Rodgers
16. Oscar Hammerstein
17. New York City
18. a resident theatre company
19. about 280 people.
20. William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies
Q: In a modern sense, comedy (from the , "komoidia") refers to any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, television, film, and stand-up comedy. The origins of the term are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to take recourse in ruses which engender very dramatic irony which provokes laughter.

Satire and political satire use comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating their audience from the object of their humour. Parody subverts popular genres and forms, critiquing those forms without necessarily condemning them.

Answer the following questions:
1. In modern terms what does comedy refer to?
2. How can Greek comedy bed described?
3. how did Northrop Frye characterize these two opposing sides?
4. How does satire and political satire use comedy?
5. Where is comedy especially used?
6. How is youth understood in the portrayal of greek comedy?
7. Where are the origins of the term comedy found?
8. How was the public opinioin of voters influnced in Athenian democracy?
9. How does parody function?
10. How does a revised view characterized the essential agon of comedy?
A: 1. any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or amusing
2. a dramatic performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict.
3. a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old"
4. to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating their audience from the object of their humour.
5. in theatre, television, film, and stand-up comedy
6. the youth is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority
7. in Ancient Greece.
8. by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters.
9. Parody subverts popular genres and forms, critiquing those forms without necessarily condemning them.
10. as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes
Q: Palestine, officially the State of Palestine is a "de jure" sovereign state in the Middle East claiming the West Bank (bordering Israel and Jordan) and Gaza Strip (bordering Israel and Egypt) with East Jerusalem as the designated capital although its administrative center is located in Ramallah. Most of the areas claimed by the State of Palestine have been occupied by Israel since 1967 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. The population is 4,550,368 as of 2014, ranked 123rd in the world.

After World War II, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. After the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel on 14 May 1948, neighboring Arab armies invaded the former British mandate on the next day and fought the Israeli forces. Later, the All-Palestine Government was established by the Arab League on 22 September 1948 to govern the Egyptian-controlled enclave in Gaza. It was soon recognized by all Arab League members except Transjordan. Though jurisdiction of the Government was declared to cover the whole of the former Mandatory Palestine, its effective jurisdiction was limited to the Gaza Strip. Israel later captured the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria in June 1967 following the Six-Day War.

Answer the following questions:
1. What state is this passage about?
2. What kind of a state is it?
3. Who has occupied most of its areas?
4. Since when?
5. After what war?
6. Where is its center located?
7. What is its population?
8. as of what year?
9. which is worldwide ranked what?
10. What war occurred in 1947?
A:
1. Palestine
2. a "de jure" sovereign state
3. Israel
4. 1967
5. the Six-Day War
6. Ramallah
7. 4,550,368
8. 2014
9. 123rd
10. none