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Theatre nowadays is known as a distinct art form but has evolved from dancing and singing,  performed not for the entertainment of the community but were performed by man to honor his gods in Ancient Greece. They performed in honor of the god Dionysus, the god of wine and creation.
The celebrations started as songs about Dionysian legends, then slowly became reenactments of greek god legends and the times they interacted with man.
What is known as Classical Greek drama is actually Athenian drama. In sixth century was when theatre really spread throughout many city-states. History has dated records back to Thespis, the legendary first actor. He won an award in Athens around 534 B.C. for his performance of a tragedy. Theatre became the center of culture in fifth century Athens under leadership of Pericles.
Performances were held outside in an open space for the majority of the community to be able to come and watch.
On an everyday basis society seemed to consider it natural to act dramatic, so they loved seeing an even more dramatized version experienced in the theatre.
Sometimes festivals occurred for about three weeks long. The first and principal festival occurred in March and was identified as the Great City Dionysia. People fled from their homes no matter where they lived to take part in such an important festival. The second festival is the Lenaea. It takes place in late January and early February attracted less of an audience (more of a local audience). The third and final festival, the Rural Dionysia, occured and different times outside of the city. These festivals sponsored competitions for tragedy and comedy and inspired continued improvement of a quickly growing art form.

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Masks are used by mortals to appear as their character and not as mortals. They also wanted to hide their faces from the gods as he impersonated them. The mask completed the "extra" act they had to perform. It also acted as a megaphone with its large aperture for the mouth and helped distinguish your role. The mask could tell the audience if your a villain or not solely by the look of your mask. It showed age, gender, mood, and rank meaning higher, lower, or middle class. The mask was made traditionally made of bark, cork, leather, or linen. Tragic masks and comedic masks were two completely different things. Tragic masks are normally very beautiful, where as crazy and weird masks depicting animals or creatures is classified as comedy. It also is easy to change roles because all you have to do it change masks. The Greek word for the masks they acted with as known as personas.

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Participating in Greek drama was considered to be a citizen's civic duty, which means that it was something your supposed to do, kind of like obeying laws or paying taxes. Technically, everybody who participated in Greek drama was an actor but you didn't officially earn the title until you were experienced or trained in oratory, a small chapel for private worship. The Greek actor regardless of who you were was highly respected in society so the actor was usually excused from military duty.
Women were not allowed to act. They also weren't allowed to be part of the audience and if they were they could only sit in the upper rows.
The person acting out a god needed to be super "extra" or over the top. They needed to stand out as someone of great importance and needed to portray a grander status than the mortals. Usually he wore a big costume so he can be seen even by the folks in the last few rows.
The actor wore a long flowing robe with colors that symbolized something, called a chiton. For shoes they wore high platformed shoes called cothurni to add height. Though the acors gained size and height they lost the ability to move. The actor had to figure out a way to act passionately while standing in place. When the actor could move they needed to act using big gestures like lowering the head to indicate grief, or beating the chest and rending their clothes to indicate mourning, or stretching out arms in prayer.
Properties (Props) were used to help create the character. Kings could carry scepters or warriors could carry weapons. Probably the most important part of any character is the mask. It helps the audience understand a little bit about the character.