Ancient Greek Theater

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Greek theater originates in religious rituals, particularly the festival of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and song.

Just as your family gets together to celebrate important events, like births, weddings, or graduations, these festivals allowed people to get together and celebrate!

By the 6th century BC, the festivals were trendy throughout the country. Songs in praise of the god eventually evolved into one singer stepping out of the chorus and acting out the part of one of the characters.

Eventually, more actors, scenery, and props were added, and they began using masks. Only two or three actors, and only men, played every part in the play, so they had to have a lot of masks to portray the different characters.

In the late 6th century, a Greek ruler turned Athens into a five- to six-day festival and theater competition. It was called City Dionysia and was a huge gathering of people from all walks of life.

The festival's highlight was the competition: playwrights competed for the honor of putting on the best play. Their plays were performed in a large open-air theater in front of about 14,000 people!

That, in a nutshell, is where our idea of theater or drama comes from.

Drama here means a scripted play performed for an audience to tell a story. The ancient Greeks divided drama into two categories.

• Can you guess what those two categories are from the picture of the masks above?

If you guessed comedy and tragedy, you're correct!

To learn more, watch the following video.

Write a reflection in your notebook or journal in response to the following questions.

• How can you distinguish between comedy and tragedy?
• If you knew nothing about a play you were about to see, what specific features would tell you it was a comedy or tragedy?

The Ancient Greeks started the tradition of drama that was followed in the Western world for many centuries.

In the Got It? section, learn more about the history of comedy and tragedy. Then, use summaries of real ancient Greek plays to see if you can tell the difference.