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The timeline starts at 600 B.C. and ends at 400 A.D.
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Ludi Romani was a yearly festival that was dedicated to the King of the Roman Gods, Jupiter. It consisted of many games intended for the public, including chariot racing, gladiator battles, and most importantly theatrical performances. The shows were held in "honour of some god", in this case Jupiter (Britannica, pg. 1). One of the most memorable theatre acts is the first ever Roman play. This event is important to Roman theatre, because it vastly portrayed the preforming arts to the public. -
Lucius Livius Andronicus was known for being the "founder of Roman epic poetry and drama" (Britannica, pg. 1). He was a freed Greek slave, who at first made his earnings by teaching Greek and Latin in Rome. He eventually blossomed into creating and publishing dramatic works. He is most famously known for producing the first ever Roman play at Ludi Romani, an annual festival. He is important, because his works of dramatic arts were used as teaching tools for Roman youth and are still used today. -
Plautus, born in 254 BCE, was one of the first Roman playwrights and was one of the most historically prominent. As a ancient Roman Theatre playwright, he was renowned for his "comedic works, which significantly influenced later European literature and drama" showing importance to future theatre works (EBSCO, pg. 1). Some of his famous works include "The Comedy of Errors" and "Miles Gloriosus". He is influential in the works of modern playwrights, showing his lasting legacy in comedic dramas. -
The first Roman Play that was preformed was produced by Lucius Livius Andronicus. He was able to produce the play at the annual festival, Ludi Romani. The play was perceived as a tragedy but could have also been a comedy. This production, "the first dramatic performance ever given in Rome" sparked the continuation of Roman tragedy and comedy dramas (Britannica, pg. 4). This is what caused the landslide of productions being created during the Roman Theatre Era. -
Chorodidaskalos is the Roman term for the chorus director. The origins of the chorus director come from Greek theatre, but were used more heavily in Roman theatre. There was no general director at these Roman productions, there was only a chorus director. The chorus was used in play's in order to "narrate it and tell a background story" (BNHSTheatre1, pg. 6). The chorus director is who was able to portray the story which is significant because the role evolved into the creation of the director. -
Quintus Roscius Gallus was a very popular Roman actor who's , after Renaissance Europe, name stands for ," an outstanding actor" (Richards and Badian, pg. 1). He was mostly known for is works in comedy productions, but occasionally he would preform in some tragedy creation. On top of his acting skills, he was a Knight and was said to be very handsome. He is significant during this time, because he was a fantastic actor and set the bar high for future actors after his time. -
Vitruvius was a renowned Roman architect and engineer. He has served as a military engineer under the direction of Caesar Augustus. He wrote ten books on architecture which was "critical to architectural theory for over two millennia" (University of Colorado Boulder, pg. 1). He is most known for ,his only architecture work to survive, de Architectura. This work being found ,when it was lost in the Middle Ages, was able to prove his importance and influence on modern and Renaissance architects. -
The construction of the Pompey Theatre began the era of creating Roman theatres and was the first one built. General Pompey was the one who persuaded the authorities of the city in 55 BCE to allow him to build "Rome's first permanent theatre -- the largest the Romans ever built" (THEATRON Consortium, pg. 1). This monumental building made my top ten most important events as a theatre because ,due to its extraordinary size, many Roman scholars found it fascinating and astounding for its time. -
Mime theatre is a type of drama used widely in Roman theatre. The Mime interest more specific to Rome is called Pantomime. This widespread form of amusement was created to "represent scenes from life, often in a ridiculous manner" (Britannica, pg. 1). The actors would portray a character through the acts of moving their body symbolically to the feelings of a song. Mime theatre is important, because it developed the art of non-verbal theatre by teaching actors to convey meaning without words. -
Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry) was a text written in 19 BCE by the Roman poet, Horace. As Pipino describes, the text was seen and used as a "guidebooks for playwrights" (Pipino, ch. 5). The text describes multiple key concepts of Roman theatre including the separation of comedy and tragedy, unity of time and action, and the importance of believability. As Pipino later states, this is an important text of the Roman era, because it gave instruction and guidance to the other playwrights.