Theater (structure)

A theater, or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works, performing arts, and musical concerts are presented.

They may range from open-air amphitheaters to ornate, cathedral-like structures to simple, undecorated rooms or black box theaters.

A booth facing the stage may be incorporated into the house where lighting and sound personnel may view the show and run their respective instruments.

[2] The seating areas can include some or all of the following: Greek theater buildings were called a theatron ('seeing place').

[1] It was used as a "backstage" area where actors could change their costumes and masks, but also served to represent the location of the plays, which were usually set in front of a palace or house.

[3] In front of the skene there may have been a raised acting area called the proskenion, the ancestor of the modern proscenium stage.

The auditorium (literally "place for hearing" in Latin) was the area in which people gathered, and was sometimes constructed on a small hill or slope in which stacked seating could be easily made in the tradition of the Greek Theatres.

The central part of the auditorium was hollowed out of a hill or slope, while the outer radian seats required structural support and solid retaining walls.

The Arausio is still standing today and, with its amazing structural acoustics and having had its seating reconstructed, can be seen to be a marvel of Roman architecture.

During the Elizabethan era in England, theaters were constructed of wooden framing, infilled with wattle and daub and roofed with thatch.

Archaeological excavations of The Rose theater at London's Bankside, built 1587, have shown that it had en external diameter of 72 feet (22 metres).

Other evidence for the round shape is a line in Shakespeare's Henry V which calls the building "this wooden O", and several rough woodcut illustrations of the city of London.

Around this time, the green room, a place for actors to wait until required on stage, became common terminology in English theaters.

The Globe has now been rebuilt as a fully working and producing theater near its original site (largely thanks to the efforts of film director Sam Wanamaker) to give modern audiences an idea of the environment for which Shakespeare and other playwrights of the period were writing.

Their structure was similar to that of ancient theaters, with a cavea and an architectural scenery, representing a city street.

At the beginning of 17th century theaters had moved indoors and began to resemble the arrangement we see most frequently today, with a stage separated from the audience by a proscenium arch.

This coincided with a growing interest in scenic elements painted in perspective, such as those created by Inigo Jones, Nicola Sabbatini and the Galli da Bibiena family.

Richard Wagner placed great importance on "mood setting" elements, such as a darkened theater, sound effects, and seating arrangements (lowering the orchestra pit) which focused the attention of audience on the stage, completely immersing them in the imaginary world of the music drama.

These concepts were revolutionary at the time, but they have since come to be taken for granted in the modern operatic environment as well as many other types of theatrical endeavors.

In Australia and New Zealand a small and simple theater, particularly one contained within a larger venue, is called a theatrette.

Without any prosceniums or curtains to obstruct the view, the audience sees each actor at moments even before entering the primary platform of the stage.

[8] The stage includes a large square platform, devoid of walls or curtains on three sides, and traditionally with a painting of a pine tree at the back.

The poet and novelist Toson Shimazaki writes that "on the stage of the Noh theater there are no sets that change with each piece.

The bridge symbolizes the mythic nature of Noh plays in which otherworldly ghosts and spirits frequently appear.

In contrast, hanamichi in Kabuki theaters is literally a path (michi) that connects two spaces in a single world, thus has a completely different significance.

[8] The Japanese kabuki stage features a projection called a hanamichi (花道; literally, flower path), a walkway which extends into the audience and via which dramatic entrances and exits are made.

A driving force has been the desire to manifest one frequent theme of kabuki theater, that of the sudden, dramatic revelation or transformation.