Ancient Greek Theater

Theatre in ancient Rome and Greece Our interest in the theater connects us with the ancient romans and Greeks. Almost every Greek and Roman city that is noted had an open-air theater also known as a theatron, the seats arranged in tiers with a panoramic view of the natural landscape. The Greeks witnessed the first plays of Thespis, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Epidaurus as well as later playwrights. Theater has evolved generation to generation but This essay will analyze early greek and roman theatre, more in depth look on the creation of theaters, well look at a play by Aeschylus, as well as The City Dionysia where dramatic festival were first held. In Athens Greece tradgeties were always performed in an outdoor open air theatre. It was comprised of many parts such as Theatron, Cavea, Orchestra, Skene, and Parodos. The Theatron is the viewing area of a Greek theatre, where the audience sat to watch the performance of a Greek play. Cavea is the auditorium or banks of seats in a Greek theatre. The cutting out of a naturally shaped hillside to create an auditorium. Acoustic quality, was a critical feature of its design. In the early theatres the

As the procession progressed toward the temple of Dionysian, Athenian citizens would dance and play tambourines, while others were much more relaxed, displaying their dignity and wearing very lavish robes. The festival began with dithyrambs, or a songs sung by a large chorus of usually 50 men. When these festivals took place woman were not able to participate in the acting of drama in Athens, the men feared the woman would think they are equal to men, which was not the case in ancient Athens. The remainder of the festival was dedicated to competition in which five new plays were performed and judges gave prizes to the best authors and actors, much like actors authors, and directors are awarded