1. Greek Theatre

2. Origins
Theatre was used to formally celebrate and honor Dionysis, the Greek God of Wine and Fertility (The Party God), during their great festival.
Actual written and staged plays that were performed over several days.
Birth of Comedy and Tragedy: The two types of plays performed.
Thespis became the first recognized actor when he stepped out of the standard chorus to perform something apart from the rest of the chorus. Thus, actors are called “Thespians” to this day.

3. Theatre Structure PARTS OF THE STAGE:
Theatron – Audience seating (carved out of a hillside)
Orchestra – Main acting area, particularly for the chorus
Skene – Building behind the orchestra that had the “changing rooms.” The actors changed masks in here to help with scene changes. We take the word “scene” from skene. They also used the roof as an elevated acting area for those actors playing Gods.
Parodos – Entrance/exit places for actors on the stage, but also for the audience to arrive and leave the show.
Theatron
Orchestra
Parodos
Parodos
Skene

4. Playwrights
Aeschylus – Considered the “father of tragedy.” Wrote Agamemnon and Prometheus Bound (among others).
Euripides – Also wrote tragedies: Medea, Electra, and The Bacchae (among others).
Sophocles – Another tragedy writer: Oedipus and Antigone were his most famous.
Aristophane - Known as the “father of comedy.” Wrote The Clouds, The Frogs, and Lysistrata (among others). Often his plays were politically based and/or satires of Athenian beliefs.

5. A Critic Emerges
Aristotle – Yes, this is the same Aristotle you have heard about in science, math, and other subject areas. He wrote on MANY topics and is still considered one of the most important philosophers of all time. He became the first ever theatre critic. He wrote The Poetics, which was the first known written critiques of the plays of the time. His critiques were widely read and indeed influenced the art of theatre.

6. Masks
The actors wore only robes and masks for costumes. Though the robes rarely changed during a production, the masks changed often.
Masks were used to show the emotions of the actors because the audience was so large that there was no way for them all to see the faces of the actors. The masks bore very exaggerated expressions and were larger than real faces to show the whole audience the characters general emotional state.
The masks were also changed to help facilitate scene changes or shifts in the storyline so the audience knew there was a new perspective to be seen or a turning point in the story.
The actors spoke and sung through the masks, which were hard and could not change expression without a “costume” change, unlike our latex masks of today .

7. Quiz
Let’s see if you took good notes! You may use the notes YOU took, but you may not use your neighbor’s note or your neighbors.
Take out a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Number your paper from 1-10.
Remember to write in blue, black, or pencil ONLY!!

8. Greek Theatre
Who were the festivals (thus the plays of the time) honoring?
What did Aristotle write that was important to theatre?
Draw and label a Greek theatre.
What is a theatron?
Where does the word “scene” come from?

9. Greek Theatre What purpose did the masks serve in Greek theatre?
Who is the first known actor?
Who wrote tragedies? (You must get all of them.)
Who is the “father of comedy?”
What is the purpose of the orchestra?

10. Greek Theatre Make sure your name is on your paper and turn it in.
With the remaining class time, continue the work on your project or the research for it.