GRE Reading Comprehension

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Source: CHP

Innovative as it is, Luis Valdez' acto owes much of the theater traditions or other periods and regions. Like early Spanish American religious dramas, secular folk dramas, and the Mexican carpas of a somewhat later period, actos are usually performed outdoors by traveling groups of players or by local theater groups. The improvised comic satire of the actos is often attributed to Valdez' study of the Italian commedia dell' arte of the sixteenth century, although some critics see it as a direct reflection of the comic and improvisational qualities of the more contemporary and local carpas of Mexican theater. The Italian influence is likely, whatever Valdez‘ immediate source: the Mexican carpas themselves are said to have originated from the theater pieces of a sixteenth-century Spanish writer inspired by encounters with Italian commedia dell'arte troupes on tour in Spain.

Question List: 1 2

Which of the following best describes the author's evaluation of the views of the critics?

  • A Their views, if correct, do not preclude the existence of an Italian influence on the acto.
  • B Their views are unlikely to be correct, given the differences existing between Mexican and Mexican American theater.
  • C Their views concerning the Mexican carpa are essentially correct, but they lack familiarity with the acto.
  • D Their views are probably more correct than the views of those who have attributed the comic and improvisational elements of the acto to earlier sources.
  • E Their views betray a lack of familiarity with the commedia dell'arte.

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