RememberRemember• Theater is the foundation art of all drama• Theater creates a relationship between performer and audience

• Live• Personal• Immediate (unmediated)

• Theater teaches “timeless observations about the human condition”• Commonalities & Differences

•Theatre approximates experiential knowledge to elicit empathy.•Elements of Theater: Audience, Dramatic Action Embodied in a Script, Performers, Director, Theater Space, & Design Elements.

Theatre is collaborative

Theatre’s OriginsTheatre’s OriginsChildren’s PlayChildren’s Play

Storytelling

Ritual

Ancient Greece – 5Ancient Greece – 5thth Century BCE Century BCE

PolytheisticPolytheistic ArtisticArtistic Increasingly Increasingly

commercial & literatecommercial & literate DemocraticDemocratic

– DemesDemes– TribesTribes

MisogynyMisogyny

City DionysiaCity Dionysia Celebration of DionysusCelebration of Dionysus Three Trilogies produced, each with a Satyr Three Trilogies produced, each with a Satyr

play afterwardplay afterward

TheatronSkeneParadosOrchestraMechaneEkkyklema

City DionysiaCity Dionysia

Actors wore masks – played several partsActors wore masks – played several parts Chorus (audience’s representative on stage) Chorus (audience’s representative on stage)

danced in orchestradanced in orchestra Aulis was a double reeded flute that was Aulis was a double reeded flute that was

playedplayed Audience knew storiesAudience knew stories

Know the difference between Story and Plot

City DionysiaCity Dionysia

3 main tragedians – Aeschylus, Sophocles, 3 main tragedians – Aeschylus, Sophocles, EuripidesEuripides

Comedy came laterComedy came later Old Comedy was satirical in nature – Old Comedy was satirical in nature –

Aristophanes - added parabasisAristophanes - added parabasis New Comedy romantic and domestic farceNew Comedy romantic and domestic farce Aristotle’s poetics 335 BCE - 6 elementsAristotle’s poetics 335 BCE - 6 elements

– Plot, Character, Theme, Language, Music, Plot, Character, Theme, Language, Music, SpectacleSpectacle