History of Theater

2500 BC – 600 BC Shamans performed for gods Ancient cultures had rituals to praise gods Dance became a way to express the rhythm of life Oral storytelling in ancient cultures set the stage for future dramas

600 BC – 1500 AD Ancient Greeks sang and danced to the god Dionysus Athenians believed theater was a civic responsibility (created Western Drama) Romans turned theater into entertainment

600 BC – 1500 AD The Byzantine Church opposed Theater and forbid performances Ancient Theater in India was first to guide makeup, costumes, dance, acting.

550 AD – 1500 AD Chinese Theater brought various elements of story, dance, song, and comic pantomime together in one performance Medieval Theater grew to performances out of religious ritual

550 AD – 1500 AD Three types of Medieval Plays: mystery play, miracle play, and morality play German nun Hroswitha became first woman to write a play  Noh drama was created in Japan with masks and highly stylized dance

1500 - 1700 Italian Renaissance set design (linear) could be used for any play produced at the time Commedia dell'arte, professional improvisation with stock characters, became popular in Italy Elizabeth I banned all religious plays in England so the plays became secular combined with classical ideas

1500 - 1700 Shakespeare – deemed greatest playwright in English language Japanese Kabuki combined traditional Buddhist dances with contemporary- elaborate makeup and costumes were used

1500-1700 French dramatists stuck with neoclassical rules of theater English court masques were performed by court to celebrate holidays Moliere integrated neoclassical rules with commedia dell'arte

1500-1700 Spain was at height of power and wealth and good playwrights Restoration comedy of manners became popular in England after Restoration of monarchy

1700-1850 Oliver Goldsmith introduced “laughing comedy” instead of “sentimental comedy” Melodrama (cliff hangers and emotional appeals) became popular in America German theater’s Romantic movement idolized Shakespeare and dismissed neoclassical unities.

1700-1850 Georg Buchner reacted against Romanticism and anticipated naturalism in Germany Peking Opera became popular in China where all actors were male and trained from a young age

1850-1875 Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, created the modern drama (including folk tales and realism) French naturalists wrote plays based on scientific theory and later became the Independent Theatre Movement Sarah Bernhardt became a world renowned star with her flamboyant and exaggerated singing

1850-1875 The first true theatre director was a German nobleman, the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Edmond Rostand, French playwright, created comedic and romantic plays – including the famous play “Cyrano de Bergerac”

1875-1900 Irish playwright Bernard Shaw wrote plays that explored controversial topics Russia’s greatest dramatist, Anton Chekhov, evoked the atmosphere of a society on the edge of change Special effects began to be used in the late 1800s

1875-1900 Moscow Art Theatre, the most influential company in theatre history, which led to the American “Method” style of acting The motion picture (an experimental toy by Thomas Edison and George Eastman) developed rapidly and the stage turned into movies

1900-1920 Constructivism in Russia employed artificial and abstract stage designs Indian poet and playwright Tagore combined classical Sanskrit drama, Bengali fold drama, and Western theatre and won a Nobel Peace Prize for his plays. Expressionism developed in Europe – particularly Germany

1900-1920 The Abbey Theatre was founded in Dublin to present Irish playwrights on Irish subjects British scenic designer and director, Gordon Craig, created designs to capture the feeling of the drama rather than a realistic setting

1920-1940 Eugene O’Neill, American playwright, created plays that revealed a variety of influences Lillian Hellman was most significant American female playwright of the period who dealt with controversial issues and concern for social justice Laurence Olivier, British actor, became famous for being so versatile in theatre and movie industries

1920-1940 Two Germans, Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht, created “epic theatre” that would educate audiences (specifically for Marxist social purposes) Frenchman Antonin Artaud tried to show how nonverbal communication on stage was effective (became influential later in history)

1940-1950 Samuel Beckett created “theatre of the absurd” by writing the first farce Arthur Miller, American playwright, successfully combined realism and symbolic expressionism in Death of a Salesman American musical theatre reached maturity and popularity

1940-1950 Tennessee Williams created fully developed individuals in his Internationally successful plays Thornton Wilder, finest playwright pre WWII, applied contemporary theatricality to simple parables on the nature of life

1950-1970 John Osborne provided a symbol of the “angry young men” and attacked the settled smugness of British class systems Edward Bond’s realist plays created a debate that ended British censorship

1950-1970 Lorraine Hansberry created believable African American characters which inspired others Edward Albee linked modern classics to contemporary theatre Neil Simon created the sitcom with his comedies

1970-1980 British director, Peter Brook, emphasized ritualistic elements and a strong visual quality August Wilson committed to portraying realistic African American characters through plays that represent African American life in the 20th century

1970-1980 Ntozake Shange depicted brutal oppression of black women by black men in her poetic play for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Hispanic American Theatre started with Teatro Campesino founded by Mexican American Luis Valdez Sam Shepard incorporated lyricism and violence on New York’s Off-Broadway theatre

1980-2010 British playwright Caryl Churchill created political theatre focused on feminist and socialist themes Kenneth Branagh directed the most ambitious film version of Shakespeare Women started producing some of the most significant American plays

1980-2010 Tony Kushner started turning the treatment of homosexuality on stage around Julie Taymor designs productions using multicultural ideas Gomez-Pena explores intercultural issues using mixed media and experimental languages (“ethno-techno art”) Butoh (Japanese) remains a vital form of dance around the world