Greek Theater

Four reasons for theater?

entertainment, religion, displaying loyalty to your city-state, and honoring local heroes

Song and dance were ways of worshiping…and celebrating the…

gods, harvest

a religious ritual performed by a chorus of men

Dithyramb

Thespis created…

the first actor

Aeschylus created…

the second actor

Sophocles created…

the third actor

The chorus remained, but the audience was more interested in the characters and their…

lives and struggles

Theatron

where the audience sat

Orchestra

where the actors were

Skene

the building where changing rooms and prop storage was

Proskenion

stone skene

Open air…

roof, they were outside

Deus ex Machina

God that comes in and fixes everything at the end

Only….could be in the chorus or actors

men

The chorus entered… and…during the performance

at the beginning of the play, remained

The chorus…on the action of the play

commented

The….was the leader of the chorus, and represented…

choragos, the responses of a typical citizen

The actors gestures had to be…so that people in the back row could see

exaggerated and dramatic

Everyone except the….wore….

musicians, masks

They had NO….

scenery or special effects

The skene could be…

whatever it needed to be (palace, temple, cave)

Lighting was…

natural

They had VERY FEW…

props

Violence would occur…

offstage

A….would appear after the violent event and describe what happened

messenger

5th century B.C. was known as the…of Greek Drama

golden age

…wrote tragic plays

Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides

…wrote comedic plays

Aristophanes

Plays retold…, rewrote…, and ridiculed politicians

myths, history

Tragic plays capture humankind’s timeless struggle to find the… and to achieve…

purpose of life, self-understanding

Tragedy had a… who had a tragic…

tragic hero, flaw

Hubris

excessive pride or arrogance (usually the tragic flaw)

The tragic hero would inspire the audience to: … their own lives, define their…, and…

examine, beliefs, cleanse their emotions(catharsis)