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The earliest recorded theatrical event dates back to 2000 B.C. with the passion plays

of Ancient Egypt.
At Abydos, every year for 2000 years this story was retold. A stone tablet written in approximately 1868 BC by Ikhernofret is our only piece  of  primary  evidence.

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The earliest days of western theater remain obscure, but the oldest surviving plays come from the ancient Greece.
Most philologists agree that Greek theater evolved  from  staged religious  choral  performances,  during  celebrations  to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility.

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Great Dionysia, also called City Dionysia (534/531 B.C.), is an ancient dramatic festival in which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama originated; it was held in Athens in March in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine.
The  tragic  and  satyr  plays  were  always  performed  at  the  festival  where  they were part of a series of four performances. Athens was  the  main  center  for  these  theatrical  traditions.

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Ancient  Roman  theater  was heavily  influenced  by  the  Greek  tradition. The Roman dramatists tended to adapt and translate from the Greek as writers in other literary genres did.
Of  the  hundreds  of  playwrights  of  ancient  Rome,  only  a  small percentage  of plays have survived the passage of time.

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Said to be the Roman comedy master. He created over a hundred plays, many of  which  lampooned  iconic  figures  within  Roman  society:  the  soldier,  the politician, the clever slave, the philandering husband, and the wise but nagging wife.

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Terence's life story is an ancient tale of rags to riches. Terence was the slave of a Roman senator. Apparently, his master was so impressed with young Terence's intellect  that  he  released  him  from  his  service  and  even  funded  Terence's education.  During  his  adult  years,  he  crafted  comedies  which  were  primarily Roman-styled adaptations of Greek plays by Hellenistic writers such as Menander.

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Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a playwright, a lawyer and a Roman senator. He served under the sadistic Emperor Caligula. During the playwright's lifetime he wrote tragedies, many of them re-inventions of Greek myths of decadence and self-destruction.

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Medieval  drama  was  for  the  most  part  very religious  and  moral in  its  themes, staging and traditions. The  most famous  examples  of  Medieval  plays  are  the  English cycle  dramas, the York Mystery Plays, the Chester Mystery Plays, the Wakefield Mystery Plays, as  well  as  the  morality  play, Everyman (Late 15thCentury).

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Theatrical activities, particularly comedies, flourished in Italy, England and Spain during the 16th and early 17th century.
The stage during the early part of this period was simple; however, at the latter part  of  the  period,  more  elaborate  theaters  were  constructed  to  satisfy  the needs of the actors and the viewers. Among  the  dramatists  of  the  period, William  Shakespeare stood  out  as  the greatest.

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During this period, drama was not only performed live on stage but also enjoyed through the mediums of radio, television, and cinema.
The modern period and its drama were shaped by world-changing forces, such as industrial-technological revolution, democratic revolutions, and an intellectual revolution.