Theatre

Theatre or theater (from French "théâtre", from Greek "theatron", θέατρον, meaning "place of seeing") is the branch of the

Theatre or theater (from French "théâtre", from Greek "theatron", θέατρον, meaning "place of seeing") is the branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, mime, puppets, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed any one or more elements of the other performing arts. Bernard Beckerman, head of Hofstra University's department of drama, in his book, Dynamics of Drama, defines theatre as what "occurs when one or more human beings, isolated in time and/or space, present themselves to another or others." In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style, theatre takes such forms as opera, ballet, mime, kabuki, puppetry, classical Indian dance, Chinese opera, mummers' plays, and pantomime.

"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.