''For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation)

Theatre or theater (Greek "theatron", "θέατρον") is the branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style, theatre takes such forms as opera, ballet, mime, kabuki, classical Indian dance, Chinese opera, mummers' plays, and pantomime.

Overview of theatre

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"Drama" (literally translated, Action, from a verbal root meaning "I do") is that branch of theatre in which speech, either from written text (plays), or improvised is paramount. "Musical theatre" is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance routines, and spoken dialogue. However, theatre is more than just what one sees on stage. Theatre involves an entire world behind the scenes that creates the costumes, sets and lighting to make the overall effect interesting. There is a particularly long tradition of political theatre, intended to educate audiences on contemporary issues and encourage social change. Various creeds, Catholicism for instance, have built upon the entertainment value of theatre and created (for example) passion plays, mystery plays and morality plays.

There is an enormous variety of philosophies, artistic processes, and theatrical approaches to creating plays and drama. Some are connected to political or spiritual ideologies, and some are based on purely "artistic" concerns. Some processes focus on a story, some on theatre as an event, some on theatre as a catalyst for social change. According to Aristotle's seminal theatrical critique Poetics, there are six elements necessary for theatre. They are Plot, Character, Idea, Language, Song, and Spectacle. The 17th-century Spanish writer Lope de Vega wrote that for theatre one needs "three boards, two actors, and one passion". Others notable for their contribution to theatrical philosophy are Konstantin Stanislavski, Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, Orson Welles, Peter Brook, Jerzy Grotowski.

More on [ Theatre ]

Village Voice | Theatre

The Wiz at Encores! and Central Park's Twelfth Night Both Somehow Lack Vividness
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500
We use the word "vulgar" in two senses, one favorable and one less so. Art can be vulgar by having the common touch, the gift of pleasing the largest possible audience. Or it can be vulgar by being common itself, undifferentiated in its banal coarseness. Anybody or anything can win popularity by ...
2009 Lincoln Center Festival Preview
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500
The stately institutions around Lincoln Center's plaza are monuments to 19th-century forms. Ballet. Opera. Boulevard plays. That's worth remembering as we build our expectations for this year's Lincoln Center Festival, the annual three-week presenting series starting July 7. Summertime is an exte...
Molière's Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe Shifted to Harlem, Brecht's Chalk Circle Updated to Now
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500
What's more contemporary than a classic? It seems as if each new season brings us masterpieces propelled helplessly into the present, or at least the more recent past. Directors treat us to Oedipus as a suburban dad, Hamlet as an emo kid, Hedda surrounded by robots. Sometimes, these updates illum...

NYT > Theater

An 84-Year-Old Wisecracker Keeps Trucking
By PATRICK HEALY Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:47:26 -0000
The Broadway legend Elaine Stritch says her small role in “The Full Monty” at the Paper Mill Playhouse in suburban Millburn, N.J., has been an inspiration and a blast.
Theater: In London, Stagings Where 3 Dimensions Aren’t Needed
By BEN BRANTLEY Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:46:47 -0000
“Send in the cartoons” seems to be the new mantra of the National Theater as multiple productions blend animation and other visual effects with traditional stagecraft.
Theater Review | 'Speedmouse': Two Nimble Australians: Much Talk, Many Antics
By JASON ZINOMAN Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:29:45 -0000
In their theatrical lark “Speedmouse” the affable Australian doofuses known as the Umbilical Brothers practice a chaotic brand of unadulterated silliness.
Theater Review | 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream': Unsmooth Course of True Love, Scampering Over a Connecticut Lawn
By CHARLES ISHERWOOD Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:15:49 -0000
Music by Stew, the composer-lyricist of Broadway’s “Passing Strange,” is the chief novelty of this Shakespeare on the Sound production.
Karl Malden, Actor Who Played the Uncommon Everyman, Dies at 97
By ROBERT BERKVIST Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:44:52 -0000
Mr. Malden’s half-century in show business carried him from theater to films to television’s “The Streets of San Francisco.”
Harve Presnell, Singing Actor, Dies at 75
By WILLIAM GRIMES Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:53:27 -0000
Mr. Presnell’s operatic baritone thrilled audiences in the stage and film versions of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”

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