Origin of Theater

Nota:

• Theatrical performance has emphasis on story with conflict  > performed by: actors playing characters from stories.

1. Myth
2. Mimetic Performance
3. Ritual

   Nota:

   • Emphasis: the event  > rooted in religion > performed by: dancer/actors - conduits for sympathetic magic
4. Storytelling

1. story
2. audience
3. actors
4. space
   1. The Building

      Nota:

      • Theaters made from limestone=good acoustics.
      1. Types of Stages

         Nota:

         • Proscenium arch Thrust stage Arena or theater in the round Black box Environmental theater: found space (outside, on the street, in a restaurant, etc...) 
         1. Proscenium Layout

            Nota:

            • Orchestra pit House: main floor for audience Loge or mezzanine  Balcony  Boxes  Apron or lip Fly systems and battens  wings
         2. Black Box

            Nota:

            • seats up to 150  flexible space low budget or experimental productions 

1. Thespis

   Nota:

   • first actor 
2. Vocabulary

   Nota:

   • > Deus ex machina: person lowered by a crane at the end of the play (literal meaning: god from the machine) > Ekkyklema: wagon that rolls dead body onto the stage. > Chorus: group of people that aid in narration, dance, acting, singing, interaction with the audience. > Catharsis: a release/ a cleansing
3. Dionysus

   Nota:

   • Dithyramb  City Dionysia Theater of Dionysus
4. Masks

   Nota:

   • All performers wore masks: > allowed for multiple roles > audience could see the expression on the mask

Nota:

• > Theatron: where the audience sat > Orchestra: where the actors performed > Skene: scene house/background > Voms: tunnels to get to the seats

Nota:

• > Sophocles: introduced painting in theater.

Nota:

• Mystery Cycles: > Mystery plays: had comic relief inserted. > Miracle Plays: Stories of lives of the saints. > Morality Plays: How we should conduct our lives. 

Nota:

• > Performance began at 2pm  > Flags: used to advertise plays - White: comedy  - Black: tragedy - Red: history > Box office: > groundlings and gallery patrons (up to 3000) > verbal scene painting > costumes (not historically accurate) and props  > built 1599/burned 1613 > closed by Puritans 1642 > destroyed 1644 > reconstructed 1997 (1300 max audience members)