 | Term | Definition |
| |
dithyramb |
a song sung by a chorus; origin of greek theatre |
| |
Thespis |
the first actor in a play |
| |
Dionysian Festival |
theatre festival with comedies and tragedies |
| |
new inventions |
theatre of dionysus; theatre competitions |
| |
Theatre of Dionysus |
first theatre; formed the blue print of later theatres; located in athens |
| |
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes |
The big 4 writers |
| |
New Comedy |
comic farces about the lives of ordinary citizens |
| |
Menander |
writer during the Hellenistic period who wrote new comedies |
| |
deus ex machina |
the use of gods to solve complicated problems; an unlikely improbable ending to a story line |
| |
ekkyklema |
a wheeled wagon used to bring dead characters into view for the audience |
| |
Pinakes |
pictures hung into the scene to show a scene's scenery |
| |
Cothurmus |
worn by athenian tragic actors |
| |
sock |
The actors with comedic roles only wore a thin soled shoe |
| |
prosterneda |
a wooden structure in front of the chest worn by an actor to play female roles |
| |
progastreda |
worn on the stomach by a male actor to play a female role |
| |
Sophocles |
greek tradgic playwright who wrote Oedipus Rex |
| |
Klimakes |
Stairways in theatron |
| |
Kerkis |
Wedge-shaped seating section in theatron |
| |
theatron |
first: space for audience then: both space for audience and performance |
| |
diazoma |
Horizontal walkway separating upper and lower sections of theatron |
| |
priest of Dionysus |
the name of the large center chair facing the stage at eye level |
| |
orchestra |
the space between the audience and the stage; Circular in early Greek theatre construction |
| |
altar |
was located in the middle of the orchestra |
| |
paradoi |
means of entering and exiting the stage for actors |
| |
skene |
the back building in greek theatre |
| |
proskenion |
raised platform in front of the skene |
| |
paraskenion |
one to two story side wings on either side of the proskenion |
