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| "Story play"; a form of Indian folk drama begun in the second century CE and based on the Hindu epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata. |
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| A form of traditional Japanese drama combining poetry, acting, singing, and dancing that was developed in the 1300s. |
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| Theatre that does not have its origins in ancient Greece; includes the ancient ritual theatre of Africa, traditional theatre of Asia, and Islamic shadow and puppet theatres. |
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| In Peking Opera, supernatural beings, warriors, bandits, and other stock characters whose makeup used elaborate geometrical designs and colors that symbolized chaacter traits. Red for loyalty, blue for vigor and courage, yellow for intelligences, black for honesty, brown for stubborness. |
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| precolonial African Theatre |
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| Indigenous African theatre that grew out of ritual and predates contact with Europeans. A combo of ritual , ceremony, and drama, it incorporates acting, music, storytelling, poetry, and dance; the costumed actors often wear masks. Audience participation is common |
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| the middle stage of theatres evolution from rituals; the theatrical techniques of song, dance, and characterization were used, but the performances' purpose was that of rituals. |
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| Element of a Greek tragedy; the tragic hero's self examination leading to realization of true identity; followes peripeteia (radical reversal of fortune). |
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| Written by Aristotle (384 - 322 BC), the first know treatiseon how to construct a dramatic story |
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| the first actors union; formed by traveling companies of actors who traveled around the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic period |
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| An intense, twofold feeling of pity and fear that is the Goal of Greek tragedy. |
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| a wealthy citizen who financed production performed at City Dionysia in ancient Greece. The choregos paid for special effects, costumes, and salaries. |
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| In ancient Greek plays, an all male group of singers and dancers who commented on and participated in the action |
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| One of two ancient Greek relicious festivals held each year to honor Dionysus. This festival often included plays. |
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Latin for "god from a machine"; an improbable plot twist, such as a god flying onto the stage via a special effects crane (a mechane) that solves all the problems in the play
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| In ancient Greek plays, the second actor. (protagonist, triagonist) |
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| The ancient greek god of wine and ertility. worshipped through theatre performances and sacrifices. |
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| A hymn sung at the altar of Dionysus, the ancient Greek gof of wine and fertility; it was accompanied by dancing and perhaps improvisations by a chorus of as many as fifty men |
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| One scene in an ancient Greek play; alternates with stasimons |
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| In ancient Greek theatres, a platform that could be rolled out from the skene to reveal a tableu |
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| In ancient Greek theatre, the summation by thechorus on the theme and wisdom of the play. |
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| In ancient Greek tradgedies, a personal weakness (also called a tragic flaw or fatal flaw) that leads to a tragic hero's downfall. A common hamartia is hubris. |
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| The two centuries when classical Greek culture spread around the Mediterranean Sea, including Egypt and the Middle East; dates approximately from the death of Alex the Great in 323 BC until the Roman conquest Greece in 146 BC. The word Hellenistic is derived fromt he Greek word meaning "to imitate the Greeks" |
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| In classical Greek drama, a tragic hero's overbearing pride or arrogance. A type of hamartia |
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| One of the first universities; its holdings included original manuscripts by Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. Located in Alexandria, Egypt, a city founded by Alex the Great. Partially destroyed by Roman troops and later Christian mobs. |
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| In ancient Greek Theatres, a crane that could fly actors inn over the skene to land gently in the orchestra or overhead. |
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| Greek comic plays with safe themes and mundane subject matter produced after Athens lost eh Peloponnesian War to Sparta |
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| Greek comic plays that directly or indirectly lampooned society and politcs; they were filled with sight gagas and obscene behavior |
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| the circullar playing ares in ancient Greek theatres; derives from the Greek word for 'dancing place' |
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| The entrance of the chorus into the playing area in ancient Greek theatre |
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| War between the city-states of Athens and Sparta and their allies (431 - 404 BC) Atens defeat by Sparta brought about the end of Athenian democracy and classic Greek theatre |
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| In ancient Greek plays, a pivoting device used to quicl;u change paintings on the skene |
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| in ancient greek tragedies, a radical reversal of fortune experienced by the hero |
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| in ancient greek theatre, a short introductory speech or scene |
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| in an ancient greek play, the main actor. Now the central character who pushes foward the action of a play |
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| Troupes of actors in ancient Rome, whose shows were one of the most popular forms of entertainment. They were filled with jugglers, acrobats, and comic skits that include vulgar language, buffoonery, and nudity. |
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| In ancient Greece, a comic-relief play performed between tragic plays at the City Dionysia. Often burlesque, these plays parodied the mythes, gods, and heroes in the tragedies. Names for the halfbeast, half-human creatures said to be companions of the god Dionysus. |
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| in ancient Greek plays, a choral interlude between episodes |
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| the largest ancient Greek theatre, located in Athens; it could seat as many as 17,000 people. |
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| From the Greek term for "seeing place", the seating area in ancient Greek theatres. |
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| The first known Western actor. Created theatre by stepping from a dithyramb chorus in ancient Greece to play an individual role. In 534 BC, wote and acted in a play that won City Dionysia. Source of the word thespian or a person who has studied the craft of acting |
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| In ancient Greek tragedies, an extraordinary but empathetic person of noble birth or a person who has risen to prominence and makes a choice (due to bad judgement or to a character flaw) that leads to trouble, but who ultimately takes responsibility for the choice. |
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| In ancient Greek plays, the third actor. |
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| the most famous morality play (ca. 1495); contains many allegorical characters encountered by Everyman as he seeks a companion for his reckoning before God. |
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| The Second Shepherd's play |
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| A comic play (ca. 1375) about what the three sheperds were doing judt before the angel arrived to announce the birth of Jesus and they decided to go to Bethelhem bearing gifts (Luke 2: 8-18). |
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| A dramatic device by which an acotr represents or symobolizes an idea or a moral principle; common in medieval morality plays |
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| Aristotelian Scholasticism |
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| A synthesis of Aristoles philosophy and dogma of the roman catholic church that was widely taught in universities during the Middle Ages |
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| Festival of Corpus Christi |
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| In 1264, thefirst occasion for which the medieval Chruch allowed a dramatic festival; the Thursday following Trinity Sunday |
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| in 15th century Italy, university students who rejected the traditional curriculum of theology in favor of the subjects studied in classical Greece, specifically rhetoric, literary criticism, grammar, history, poetry, painting, architecture, music, classical literature, and theatre. |
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| Secular play performed between other forms of entertainment at court in the late Middle Ages |
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| Plays in the Middle ages in Europe that recounted stories about the lives, suffering and miracles of particular saints |
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| Different settings ("houses") inside a church where the congregation gathered to watch the priest stage Biblical playlets. |
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| allegorical plays in the late middle ages in europe that taught moral lessons about how to conduct ones life |
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| a group of plays about biblical stories performed outdoors by guilds during the middle ages in europe |
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| Liturgical plays performed outdoors by workers guilds during the Middle Ages; mystery derives from mesterie, the Anglo-French word for occupaition |
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| wagon decorated with a set and used as a traveling stage for performances of mystery and miracle plays during the Middle Ages |
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| Period in European history (ca. 1350-1650) when the wisdom of ancient Greek and Roman scholars was rediscovered and the dogma of the CHurch was challenged; characterized by a flowering of the arts and literature and the beginning of modern science. Renaissance comes from the Latin for 'born again' |
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| a chanted or sung phrase incorporated into Mass as an embellishment or commentary on a religious lesson. |
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| In Kabuki theate, wooden clappers whose beats accompany a mie pose at a particularly intense or profound moment |
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| in kabuki theatre, a suden, striking pose (with eyes crossedm chin sharply turned, and the big toe pointed toward the sky) at a particularly intense or profound moment; accompanied by several beats of wooden clappers, ki. |
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| An encyclopedia of classical Indian dramatic theory and practice, written ca. 200 BC - 200 AD. Teaches actors dancing and stage gesturs; also covers costume design, plot contruction, music and poetry. |
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| Men who play female roles in Kabuki heatre |
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| A popular, robust, and spectacular version of the Japanses Noh theatre. The name comes from the characters for "song"(ka), "dance"(bu) and skill (ki). |
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| Religious dramas in Spain during the Middle Ages and Renaissance |
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| Crude platform stages built in courtyards of inns in Spain for performance of auto sacramentales and other plays |
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| a common style of French tragic playwrights that haf 12 syllables to a line. An actor would raise his voice for the 1st six syllables and lowered it for the last six; each line was then followed by a slight pause. |
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| A figure in commedia dell'arte; the crafty servant of Pantalone. His costume is covered with multicolored lozenges that represent the patches he used to repair his clothing. |
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| A famous indoor theatre that catered to wealthy clientele in late 16th century London. James Burbage, who built the theatre in 1576, skirted London's anti theatre laws by locating the theatre in the old Domincan friary called Blackfriars, which was legally church-owned land, not part of the city. |
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| Ticket office of a theatre; named for the enty oom in Elizabethan theatres where theatre goers dropped payment into a box |
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| professional theatre companies of boys who competed with adult acting troupes in Elizabethan London |
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| Originating in 16th century Italy, traveling acting companies that presented broad, improvisational comedy and were popular throughout Europe between 1550 and 1750. |
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| style of acting popular from the renaissance through the early 2oth century that features grand gestures and an exaggerated eleocutionary style. The actors deliver their lines directly to the audience in a thetorical manner typified by order, harmony, and decorum. |
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| The area of the stage closest to the audience |
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| Audience memeber who stood on the main floor( and therefore paid the least for their tickets) in Elizabethan theatre |
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| A stock character in commedia dell'arte; leading lady who is inlove with Innamorato. |
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| A stock chaacter in commedia dell'arte; leading male who is in love with Innamorata. |
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| A stock character of commedia dell'arte ; a gossipy old woman who meddles in the afairs of the lovers, Innamorata and Innamorato. |
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| Originating in the early 1500s, a form of entertainmenr for monarchs and their invited audiences; characterized by grand dances, extravagant costumes with masks, lavish spectacle, poetry, and florid speeches all hung on a thin story line praising the monarch and demonstrating the need for loyalty |
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| A stock character of commedia dell'arte; a stingy, retired Venetian merchant who often makes a fool of himself by courting yound women |
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| a technique of set and design and scen painting that gives the illusion of depth; it gave birth tot he proscenium arch theatre. |
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| A strict religious group in Elizabethan England who hated the theatre and lobbied to shut it down |
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| A stock character of commedia dell'arte; a servant who is smarter than his master; usually played by an acrobat |
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| Rules for writing a play requiring (1) the action to take place within a 24 hour period, (2) settings that can all be reached within 24 hours, and (3) no commingling of comedy and tragedy. These rules for unity of time, place, and action were a misinterpretation of Aristotles writings by renaissance scholars. |
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| In Elizabethan England, one of the groups of student actors writing and performing plays in the style of the ancient Greeks and Romans; included Thomas Kyd (1558- 1594) and Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593). |
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| The area of the stage farthest away from the audience |
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| A technique used by the English and Spanish playwrights to set the mood or place of a scene. Because the words paint pictures, the audience "dresses"the stage in their imagination. |
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