#1 Primitive Theater 8500-7000 B.C. Primitive Tribal Dance Religious Rituals Cave Drawings Ensuring the Tribe’s Safety and Prosperity Elements: Shaman (priest), Symbolic Clothing, Acting Space, Symbolic Items, Audience Space

#2 Greek Festivals 600-360 B.C. Festivals honored Olympian gods Ritual Competitions Lyric Poetry Dionysus Chorus Tragedy Comedy Masks

Greek Theatre Thespis Theaters Built in Hillsides Tragedy: Aeschylus Sophocles Euripides Comedy: Aristophanes

#3 Roman Theatre 240 B.C.-200 A.D. Origins in Greek Drama (copied) Tragedy: Seneca Comedy:Terence and Plautus Bawdy Stock characters Added Music Setting City Street/ Palace Violence on Stage

Roman Spectacle Gladiatorial combats Stopped Around 568 A.D. Naval battles in a flooded Coliseum “Real-life” theatricals Decadent, violent and immoral All theatrical events banned by Church when Rome became Christianized

#4 Eastern Theater (Indian) Written in Sanskrit (Shakuntala) Estimated 100 A.D. Myth, History and Legend Good vs. Evil Like our Sign Language Very Little Scenery

#5 Medieval Drama 500-1500 A.D. Arose from need to educate converted, illiterate Christians about Christianity Hrotsvita (10th c.), German nun, wrote plays about Christian matyrs using structure based on Terence’s Roman comedies Mystery plays: Biblical tales Miracle plays: Saints’ lives Morality plays: Allegories Mansions (Stages)

#6 Eastern Theater (Japanese) 1400 A.D. Noh Theater Kabuki Theater Stylized and Graceful Silk Costumes Trained Since Children Elaborate Stage Makeup Masks

#7 Italian Renaissance Late 1300’s to 1600’s La Commedia dell'Arte, "Artistic Comedy,” Improv Based on set pieces, lazzi, that are improvised with stock characters A distinct group of actors gave birth to the first nucleus of companies, and started doing their acts on simple stages set outdoors Copied Greek and Roman Plays Advances in Stages, Set Design and Theaters La Commedia dell'Arte literally means "Artistic Comedy", probably named as a contraposition to the standard way of making theater in that period. The Commedia dell'Arte had its start in the second half of the 16th century, in a period when theater plays were classic, stylish, cold and rigorous. Maybe as a reaction, here we go for the exact opposite: loud, colorful representations blossomed everywhere in Italy, and the rules of theater are subverted. The Commedia dell'Arte bases its charme on the free improvisation on stage. Free in the sense it is not codified, but of course it follows very precise rules, and it needs good actors to work. The time of amateur actors who learn by heart the dialogues an repeat them without expression on stage is over. A very distinct group of actors gives birth to the first nucleus of companies, and start doing their act on simple stages set outdoors, essential backgrounds (usually just a painting of streets and houses made on a canvas). The powerful mix of various elements goes strong impulse to the initiative: popular themes, complex stories with lots of climax, acrobatic jumps and mellow love scenes made it a success. Harlequino

#8 Elizabethan Theatre 1558- 1603 A.D. Protestant Reformation closed down religious drama Tudor love of spectacle and patronage of drama Elizabethan poetry -- love of language Influenced by Roman theatre, Renaissance ideas, medieval stagecraft and pagan remnants Important theatrical period even if Shakespeare had never lived

Elizabethan Age Globe Theater (out side city limits) Professional Actors Sparse Scenery William Shakespeare Christopher Marlow Iambic Pentameter

#9 Restoration 1658-1700’s Cromwell/Puritans Royalty Returned to England Women Hit the Stage Poked Fun at the Rich Theaters Enclosed “Raked Stages” “Comedies of Manners”

#10 19th Century 1800’s Industrial Revolution (Lights/Machines) Steam Engine (Tours) Gas Lights (Night Performances) Directors (New) Entertainment in Cities

Melodrama: 19th Century Theatre of sentimentality -- emotional appeal Heroes and villains -- and lily-white heroines Wide popular appeal Sensationalistic Most widely performed play of the 19th C: Uncle Tom’s Cabin based on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Melodrama: 19th Century

#11 Modern Theater (Realism) 19th-20th C. Real Life Characters Theatre of social problems Influenced by emerging disciplines of psychology and sociology Emerging importance of director Realistic stage conventions: Proscenium stage Audience as “fourth wall” Change in acting conventions Continued developments in stagecraft

Realism and Naturalism Middle and Lower classes Sociological How does society/the environment impact individuals? “Slice of life” August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov, John Synge, Sean O’Casey Middle class Psychological How can the individual live within and influence society? “Well-made play” Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw

20th Century Theatre: a hundred years of isms Symbolism Expressionism Futurism Surrealism Social Realism Epic Theatre Existentialism Absurdism Magic Realism Hyper-Realism Not to mention musicals, films, street theatre, etc., etc.

#12 Musicals From the United States! Blended Story, Song and Dance Songs Enhance the Story and Characters Feelings Around 1945