Indigenous Origins of Theatre
These storytellers, sprit guides, musicians, and healers, exist in indigenous cultures around the world, and are believed to be connected to the dawn of theatre.
What is a Shaman?
In ancient Greece, these costume pieces were central to their style performance and worn by actors to differentiate characters and accentuate emotion.
This playwright wrote Medea.
Who is Euripides?
This character said:
"You must not let Jason's marriage make you
a laughing stock among Corinthians,
compatriots of Sisyphus, for you
trace your family from a noble father
and from Helios, the sun."
Who is Medea?
This group of performers served as narration in Ancient Greek theatre, and spoke in unison.
What is a Greek chorus?
All early performance/theatre traditions tied back to these universal practices.
What are religious rituals?
Ancient Grecians worshiped this god through the performance of theatre at festivals.
Who is Dionysus?
What is a dress and a crown (diadem)?
This character said:
"She gave all sorts of help to Jason.
That's when life is most secure and safe,
when woman and her husband stand as one.
But that marriage changed. Now they're enemies.
Their fine love's grown sick, diseased, for Jason,
leaving his own children and my mistress,
is lying on a royal wedding bed."
Who is the Nurse?
This South/Central American civilization wrote and performed scripted theatre.
What is Ancient Maya?
These West African performers combine storytelling with music to record ancestral history.
What is a griot?
This circular part of the Greek theatre served as the main performance space, and featured the thymele, an altar, at the center of it.
What is the orchestra?
This character is the father of Jason's new bride, Glauce.
Who is Creon?
This character said:
"As for my children,
I want to raise them in the proper way,
one worthy of my house, to have brothers
for the children born from you, and make them 670
all the same. Thus, with a united family
I might prosper."
Who is Jason?
This play written by Sophocles is about Oedipus Rex's daughter/sister, and her journey to bury her brother against the wishes of the king, her uncle.
What is Antigone?
This Yoruban festival involves dancing, improvisation, and masquerade.
What is Egungun?
The following elements of tragedy are from this piece of Ancient Greek theatre theory.
Plot
Character
Thought
Language
Music
Spectacle
What is Aristotle's Poetics?
These individuals make up the chorus in Medea.
Who are the women of Corinth?
This character said:
"I'm afraid of you.
I won't conceal the truth. There's a good chance
you might well instigate some fatal harm
against my daughter."
Who is Creon?
This term written in Aristotle's poetics is defined as "A sense of release through emotional fear/pity evoked by tragedy."
What is catharsis?
This dance drama about a evil demon and a magical lion spirit is from Bali, Indonesia, and involves dangerous dagger stage combat.
What is the Barong dance?
These poems were recited and chanted in ancient Greece, and their existence eventually evolved into scripted theatre.
What is a Dithyramb?
Medea worships this goddess, who gives her magic abilities.
Who is Hecate?
This character said:
"Lady, I'd like to grant this favour to you,
for many reasons. First, there's the gods.
Then, for the children you say I'll produce.
For there I've lost all sense of what to try.
Here's what I'll do. If you get to my country,
I'll strive to treat you as a foreign guest—
that's the proper thing for me to do."
Who is Aegeus?
The native people in Pacific Northwest America called the Kwakwaka’wakw participated in this coming of age ritual once believed to be cannibalistic in nature.
What is Hamatsa?