C. to persuade.
It is trying to persuade you to choose one topic over the other by providing facts and/or opinions to the reader.
The balloon popped is the sentence therefore C is correct
1. Were performed by men wearing masks - expressionism.
2. Allegories representing vices and virtues - morality plays.
3. Based on the life of one of the saints - miracle plays.
4. Early secular plays - Greek plays.
5. Presented stories from the Bible - mystery plays.
6. Presenting life as the playwright saw it, rather than as he would like it to be - realism.
7. Using concrete things to represent abstract ideas - symbolism.
8. Led to the use of scrims and whirling stage platforms. - Roman plays.
9. Commercial theater presenting short-run, low-budget plays. - Legitimate theater.
10. A group of actors presenting a variety of plays - repertory plays.
