1. Ancient Theatre
c.550- c.220 BC

2. History of Ancient Theatre
The Greeks' history began around 700 B.C. with festivals honoring their many gods. The revelry-filled festival was led by drunken men dressed up in rough goat skins who would sing and play in choruses to welcome a Greek god.
Tribes competed against one another in performances, and the best show would have the honor of winning the contest.
Historians believe that the Greeks patterned their celebrations after the traditional Egyptian pageants honoring Osiris.

3. Greek Theatre
Ancient Greek theatre was a mixture of myth, legend, philosophy, social commentary, poetry, dance, music, public participation, and visual splendor. It began as a religious ceremony.
The Athenian theatre focused on the God Dionysus. Dionysus was the God of:
fertility (main duty)
wine
agriculture
sexuality

4. “Theatron”
Theatre buildings were called a theatron. The theaters were large, open-air structures constructed on the slopes of hills. They consisted of three main elements: the orchestra, the skene, and the audience.
Orchestra: A large circular or rectangular area at the center part of the theatre, where the play, dance, religious rites, acting used to take place.
Skene: A large rectangular building situated behind the orchestra, used as a backstage. Actors could change their costumes and masks. Earlier the skene was a tent or hut, later it became a permanent stone structure. These structures were sometimes painted to serve as backdrops.

5. Types of Plays Tragedy Comedy
Thespis is considered to be the first Greek "actor" and originator of tragedy (which means "goat song", perhaps referring to goats sacrificed to Dionysus before performances, or to goat-skins worn by the performers.) However, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as sixteenth in the chronological order of Greek tragedians.
Comedy
Comedy was also an important part of ancient Greek theatre. Comedy plays were derived from imitation; there are no traces of its origin. Aristophanes wrote most of the comedy plays. Out of these 11 plays survived - Lysistrata, a humorous tale about a strong woman who leads a female coalition to end war in Greece.

6. “Aeschylus”
  B.C.
Aeschylus was the first of the three great ancient Greek writers of tragedy. Born at Eleusis, Aeschylus lived from about 525–456 B.C., during which time the Greeks suffered invasion by the Persians in the Persian Wars. Aeschylus fought at the major Persian War Battle of Marathon.

7. Greek Gods

8. “Sophocles”
B.C
Sophocles was the second of the 3 greatest Greek writers of tragedy. He is known for writing about Oedipus, the mythological figure who proved central to Freud and the history of psychoanalysis. Sophocles lived through most of the 5th century, experiencing the Age of Pericles and the Peloponnesian War.

9. “Euripides”
B.C.
Euripides was an ancient writer of Greek tragedy -- the third of the famous trio. Euripides wrote about women and mythological themes like “Medea” and  “Helen of Troy”. He enhanced the importance of intrigue in tragedy. Some aspects of Euripides' tragedy seem more at home in comedy than in tragedy, and, indeed, Euripides is considered to have been a significant influence on the Greek creation of New Comedy.

10. “Aristophanes”
B.C.
Aristophanes is the only representative of Old Comedy whose work we have in complete form. Old Comedy had been performed for 60 years prior to Aristophanes, and in his time, as shown in his work, Old Comedy was changing. Aristophanes wrote comedies from B.C., which gives us approximate dates for his life. Unfortunately, we know very little about Aristophanes, although he lived in Athens during periods of turmoil, beginning his writing career after the death of Pericles.

11. “Menander”
B.C.
Menander wrote over 100 plays, his first at age 22. He is the most famous writer of what is described as Athenian new comedy. Eight of his comedies were prize-winners. He imitated Euripides and was in turn adapted by Roman writers of comedy, Terence and Plautus. Unlike the classical writers who wrote mythical plots or political commentary, Menander chose as topics for his plays aspects of daily life with happy endings and themes inspired by Aristotle's Ethics. Menander's characters, shown with psychological realism, were stern fathers, young lovers, crafty slaves, and more, who couldn't resort to the deus ex machina of tragedy to settle their problems.