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Ancient greek 

Athen's theater

384 – 322 BCE

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Ancient greek 

Athen's theater

384 – 322 BCE

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By now greeks had built theatres for realistic performances

Participation in the Athen's many festivals at the City Dionysia as an audience member, or even as a participant in the productions, was an important part of citizenship.

They created two muses:

Thalia: muse of comedy

Melpomene: muse of tragedy

At this point they establish drama and it's 3 genres

Comedy: uses humor to show or point out social dilemmas

Tragedy: based on suffer and death

Satyr: theatrical performance that relates both comedy and tragedy

Greek dramatists THESPIS is credited with the concept of an actor, hypokrites, that speaks rather than sing and impersonates a character rather than speaking af themself.

The chorus and it's leader, coryphaeus, are a traditional part of greek drama

The Persian Empire through its literature, art and philosophy inspired much of ancient greece's teatrical origin

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Ancient Persian

Theater of Iran

Sasanian Empire

224-651 AD

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Ancient Persian

Theater of Iran

Sasanian Empire

224-651 AD

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The first initiation of theater and phenomena of acting can be traced in ceremonial theaters to glorify national heroes and legends and to humiliate the enemy such classics as "Soug Sivash" or "Mogh Koshi" (Megakhouni).

These are a few of the dramatic performing arts that became popularized in Iran in 7th century AD, long before the advent of cinema.

A few examples include:

Naqqāli: One of the oldest forms of tradition of Persian theater. Both men and women can be performers and both genders can be in the audience. It was formally performed in coffeehouses, private houses and historical Venus.

Siah Bazi: Features a blackface, mischievous and forthright harlequin that does improvisations to sir laughter.

Pardon Khani: employs the use of intricately detailed screens to tell a story.

Baghal Bazi: Comedy typically set on a grocery store

Ta'zieh: Predates the islamic era, using music, narrations and poems to tell a story.

Kheimeh Shab Baki: Persian traditional marionette puppetry, performed in a small chambered tent. Open from one side only and there are two people involved in the performance: a musical performer and a person telling the story

Naghali: Narrative style of art and a mixture of story-telling that within acting and singing is one of the oldest forms of Persian traditional theater. Performed by the “Naghal”, single-handedly narrates, acts out different characters and sings before a live audience.

Usually the stories are selected from the Shahnameh (Book of the Kings), which is a classic in epic Persian poetry that recounts Iran's mythical and historical past. Stories of the battle between good and evil, love, dignity, and tales of legendary men and women come to life through the skilled gestures, movements and oration of the Naghal.

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Started basically as a copy of Greek theater, but much bigger.

By the fifth century Rome is falling apart and theater changes course becoming more of a religious and moral place and continues until the fifteenth century. Here theater faced a major role in our religion.

Throughout this era, theatrical performances became a central part of Roman life, often acting as commentaries on society.

The origins of Roman theatrical traditions are unclear, but they were a part of Roman life since around the founding of Rome. At the time, the neighboring Etruscans were noted for practicing a number of performance arts, many of which were used in religious ceremonies. In fact, the Romans later hired Etruscan performers to come to Rome during times of crisis and famine.

In the early Roman Republic, Romans also maintained performance as part of their religious events. While they valued all sorts of entertainment and spectacles, one of their oldest events was the Ludi Romani, an athletic competition in honor of the god Jupiter. By the third century BCE, this event routinely featured pop-up plays performed by professional actors and funded by a local politician or wealthy businessman. Around this same time, the first true Roman playwright appeared: Livius Andronicus, who wrote the first full-length Latin plays.

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Sanskrit theater

Theater of India

1,500 B.C – 1,100 A.D

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Sanskrit theater

Theater of India

1,500 B.C – 1,100 A.D

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Sanskrit drama is part of the classic literature of India. The term classical Indian drama refers to the tradition of dramatic literature and acting in ancient India. The origin of dramatic performance in the Indian subcontinent, dates back to 200 BC.

His drama is considered the greatest achievement in Sanskrit literature. The tradition was maintained for nearly 1,200 years, which makes it the longest continuous performing tradition of any drama texts in the world.

The earliest Sanskrit plays were written in the early centuries A.D and they gradually ceased to be performed at some time during the 15th century, when Sanskrit was no longer a living, spoken language, and the Muslims had invaded northern India, where the tradition had been thriving.

plays are almost impossible to date accurately. This also means that very little is known about the lives of their authors. The use of the Sanskrit language of the learned upper castes indicates that most of the Sanskrit dramas represent court theatre, which was probably created and performed under royal patronage.

The Sanskrit dramas cover a wide range of subjects and types of play. They include full-length poetic love stories, political plays and palace intrigues, as well as shorter farces and one-act love monologues. The foremost drama genre centred on the character of a noble hero

The characters of the Sanskrit dramas are types rather than individuals. The main types of character include the noble hero, nayaka, often a prince or a king, and the heroine, nayika. The villain of the play is called pratinayaka.

The clown or jester character is called vidushaka. Surprisingly, he may even be a highborn Brahman. Although he is possibly intelligent, he is usually lazy, while his humour is spiced with eroticism.

Kalidasa

Very little is known about the life of Kalidasa, the most celebrated poet in the history of India. It is believed that he belonged to the priestly Brahman caste and that he lived in North India at some time during the late 4th to mid 5th centuries A.D, during the classical Gupta Period.

His known works include three lengthy narrative poems, and three plays, and the famous Shakuntala (also The Recognition of Shakuntala). Kalidasa’s poetry has been praised for its beauty and “limpidity” or a kind of transparency. It has been seen as reflecting the “ease and largeness of vision”, characteristics of the mature classical Gupta period.

Shakuntala

The Recognition of Shakuntala, or Shakuntala. It was certainly common practice to borrow and enhance elaborate characters and events from the epic literature.

Shakuntala tells about the love of King Dushyanta and a beautiful girl, Shakuntala, who is the foster daughter of a forest hermit (and, in fact, of semi-divine origin). They meet, fall in love, and engage in a secret marriage. As a token of his love, the king gives Shakuntala a ring. However, owing to a magic trick, the king forgets Shakuntala, and she is taken to the heavens, where she gives birth to the king’s son. Only when the king sees the ring he has given to the girl does he again remember their love. While visiting the heavens, the king meets Shakuntala and their son and they are finally reunited (synopsis of the play Shakuntala).

The play moves freely from the deep forest to the urban palace and from the earth to different levels of the heavens. Supernatural powers are at play, heavenly nymphs take part in the action, and the king is able to overthrow demons while flying with his airborne chariot.

The troupes included various professionals, from minor actors to make-up assistants, stage technicians, musicians and the conductor of the orchestra. Music had a central role in the Sanskrit dramas, but it is not known what exactly the genre of music that accompanied the plays was.

The primus motor of a troupe, as well as the actual play, is sutradhara, or the theatre director. He was supposed to have expert knowledge of all aspects of theatre. He also took an active role in the actual performance by introducing the actors and the play to the audience, in the prologue, and often guiding and commenting upon the flow of the story.

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The traditional dragon dance began as a ceremony for worshiping ancestors and praying for rain. It later became more of an entertainment, often performed during Chinese New Year.

In Chinese culture, dragons symbolize wisdom, power, dignity, fertility, and auspiciousness, and have also become a symbol of Chinese culture itself. Chinese dragons are a symbol of China's culture, and they are believed to bring good luck to people

Odd numbers of the dragon’s joints are regarded as auspicious, so people often make an odd-numbered jointed dragon puppet. Right before the dance, the head and the tail of the dragon are connected to its body. Then, someone holding a rod with a large ball at the top leads the dragon during the dance. As the dragon follows the ball’s movement, left and right, back and forth, up and down, and thus moving in waves, it appears to be dancing.

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The four most well-known types of Japanese theater are all still in practice today.  These types are: Noh, Kyogen, Kabuki, and Bunraku.

Noh and Kyogen are the oldest forms of Japanese theater, dating back to the 14th century.  It was developed by a man named Kan'ami and his son, Zeami.  Noh is a very traditional and structured art form, with training for actors beginning as early as age 3.  In performance, the actors' movements are very, very precise, because the smallest shift in the body or the facial expression will mean something new.  It is often a family tradition, with sons following in their fathers' footsteps to become Noh actors.  Historically Noh and Kyogen plays were performed only by male actors, but the first women--who began performing in the 1940s--were the daughters of esteemed Noh actors.

The traditional structure of a performance is to have five Noh plays, with brief Kyogen in between each play as an intermission of sorts.  Kyogen are short, comic plays that run about 15 minutes long and usually use 2-3 actors.  The comedy provided respite from the more serious Noh plays.  In Noh performance, highly stylized movements represent complex emotions.  Masks are often worn, especially by background characters.  While Noh is still performed today, the actual storyline of Noh plays hasn't changed much.  Noh focuses on classical stories, where a supernatural character is often transformed into a human.

Most Noh plays usually involve a chorus, an orchestra, and at least two main actors.  The traditional characters are:

Shite - the main role/protagonist

Wake - the foil or counterpart to the protagonist

Hayashi - the musicians, playing the flute, the hip-drum, the shoulder-drum, and the stick-drum

Kyogen - the comedic actors for the Kyogen interlude

Kabuk: Classic Japanese dance-drama known for its stylization and elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. The earliest form of Kabuki was actually started by women in the early 1600s, as comic playlets that depicted ordinary life.  This was very popular with lower and middle classes.  The upper and royal classes did not approve of this "mixing" of the classes and banned women from performing in 1629.  However, they took over the Kabuki and began to transform the art form, using all male actors.  Specific poses and make-up represented very specific emotions and characters.  The colors of the costumes were also very important, since the colors expressed the character's primary emotions. Kabuki performances lasted the full day

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Seen as something sinful that needed to be driven out of society during 1642 and 1660 in England because of the Puritan Interregnum.

Pageant Plays: While theater was frowned upon, Pageant Plays were developed from biblical texts and allowed to stay within the churches, on a special movable stage or cart.

In 1660, Charles 2nd returned to the throne from exile during the Restoration.

Theater and arts once begin to rise in public favor.

Morality Plays: Popular in the 15th and 16th centuries, Morality Plays present a lesson about good conduct and character.

The birth of Shakespeare, a poet, playwright, actor and producer. Known as the best dramatist, produced 17 comedies and 12 tragedies. Permanently changing the face of theater. Also pioneered the genre of tragic comedy. A play containing elements of both comedy and tragedy.

The Globe Playhouse was built In 1599 by Shakespeare's Playing company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men. Destroyed by fire on June 29, 1613. A second Globe theater was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed by an ordinance issued on september 6, 1642.

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New York commercial theater or entertainment industry. Is a set of theatrical shows presented in each of the 40 major professional theaters that comprise it, with more than 500 seats, located in the Broadway Avenue theater district and at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, New York, United States

They host a constantly changing variety of productions, including plays and musicals. Many people believe the theatrical productions on Broadway are the best in the world. Each year, the best Broadway shows are awarded Tony Awards. Broadway shows are one of the most popular tourist attractions in New York City.

The Broadway Theatre is one of a select few legitimate theaters that was originally built as a movie house. Its seating capacity of 1,765 made it ideal for the changeover to musical theater in 1930. It showed movies for a brief period again in the 1950s but has been a legitimate theater ever since.

It is currently owned and operated by the Shubert Organization and continues to be one of the largest Broadway theaters.

It opened in 1924 as B. S. Moss’s Colony, a premiere film house. The most notable film that played there in the early years was Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie which opened in 1928, and introduced American audiences to an adorable rodent named Mickey Mouse. The theatre went “legit” from 1930 to 1934, when it was re-christened the Broadway. From 1934 to 1940, the house was once again dedicated to motion picture exhibition, and offered the premiere of Disney’s Fantasia in 1939. In 1940, however, it returned to legitimate stage production and, except for a brief stint as a Cinerama movie theatre in the 1950s, has remained in the business of showcasing live theatre ever since.