Meaning of the word theater

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theatre (British English and also American English), or Theater (mostly American English), has several meanings.

The word comes originally from the Greek Theatron, meaning roughly, ‘a place for viewing’. In American English, the word ‘theater’ can mean either a place where films are shown (this is also called a cinema) or a place where live stage plays are performed.^[1] In British English, ‘theatre’ means a place where live plays are performed. Some people, both English and American, use the spelling ‘theatre’ to mean a place where live plays are performed, and the spelling ‘theater’ to mean a cinema.

‘Theatre’ can also mean the business of putting on plays. An actor might say «I am in the theatre business», or a writer might say «I write for the theatre», meaning that they write plays, rather than writing for movies or television shows.^[2][3]

History[change | change source]

Ancient Greece[change | change source]

The first people we know created plays were the Ancient Greeks, about the year 500 B.C. They divided plays into two kinds: tragedy and comedy. This division is still used today. The best known Ancient Greek writers of plays are Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Some of their plays survived, and are still performed today.

These ancient Greek plays were performed outdoors in large amphitheatres, so that many people could see them. There were contests among the playwrights (people who write plays are called playwrights) and the winner would get a prize.

The Greeks had many brilliant ideas. They used mechanical devices like trap doors and the machina: a crane for winching gods on and off the stage (hence ‘Deus ex machina’). They had a Greek chorus that offered information to help the audience follow the performance. The chorus comments on themes, and shows how an audience might react to the drama. The players wore masks. Illustrations on vases show helmet-like masks, covering the entire face and head, with holes for the eyes and a small aperture for the mouth, plus a wig. The mask was to ‘melt’ into the face and allow the actor to vanish into the role. Therefore, onlookers did not think about the actor, but thought about the character.

Middle Ages[change | change source]

In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church began to use theatre as a way of telling the stories from the Bible to people who did not know how to read. They wrote Mystery Plays, where each part of the Bible story would be a play put on by a different group of people. They wrote miracle plays which were about the lives of the saints. They wrote morality plays which taught the audiences how to live a good Christian life.

Commedia dell’arte plays[change | change source]

In the 1500s, groups of actors toured around Italy performing comic plays to entertain townspeople. These plays were called Commedia dell’arte, and different stories would be created around the same group of characters. Often the spoken lines would be made up by the actors for each performance.

Other kinds of plays called Neoclassical Dramas and Neoclassical Comedies were also popular in Italy and in France at this time. These plays were written to copy the style of the plays from Ancient Greece and Rome.

Elizabethan theatre[change | change source]

At the end of the sixteenth century (before 1600), the traveling actors began to perform in fixed theatre buildings. This was the period when William Shakespeare wrote. He lived from 1564 to 1616. At that time, in England, women were not allowed to perform, so male actors would play female characters.

His theatre was in London, England. It was called The Globe Theatre. It was an outdoor theatre and plays were performed in the daytime for large audiences. His plays were very popular and many are still performed today. Many people believe Shakespeare was one of the best playwrights (a writer of plays).

Plays including Shakespeare’s were banned during the Protectorate’. After that, many more were written and acted.

Plays from the 1900s[change | change source]

After World War II, playwrights in Europe and the United States began doing plays in a new style called «Theatre of the Absurd.» After seeing the horrors of war, these playwrights felt that all their old values had been destroyed. Playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and Jean Genet wrote plays that are considered to be «Theatre of the Absurd.»

The «Theatre of the Absurd» plays have some of the same ideas that are found in the philosophy (a way of thinking) called existentialism. Existentialism is very different from many other philosophies. Most religions and philosopies say that human life has a meaning (or a purpose). The philosophy of existentialism is that human life does not have a meaning (or a purpose). When something has no meaning, it is «absurd». (absurd means means silly and meaningless.)

The plays written in this style make people think about questions like «what is it like to be a person in the world?» and «what does it mean for a person to be free?» They are often filled with sad emotions, such as worry, fear, and thoughts about death.

Theatre breaks[change | change source]

Theatre breaks are a form of short holiday, based around viewing a theatrical convention show. Theatre breaks tend to include a nights hotel accommodation included in the price.

References[change | change source]

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• theatre (standard spelling in all English-speaking countries that use British spelling)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English theater, theatre, from Old French theatre, from Latin theatrum, from Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, “a place for viewing”), from θεάομαι (theáomai, “to see», «to watch», «to observe”). Doublet of tiatr.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈθi(ə)tɚ/, (sometimes) /ˈθɪə.tɚ/, [ˈθi(ə)ɾɚ]
• (Canada, Southern American English) IPA^(key): /ˈθi(ə)tɚ/, /ˈθi.eɪ.tɚ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈθiː.ə.tə/, /ˈθɪə.tə/, (somewhat dated) /θiˈɛt.ə/, (obsolete) /θiˈeɪ.tə/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈθiətə/, [ˈθiə̯tɜ], [ˈθiə̯ɾɜ]
• Rhymes: (US, Canada, Southern American English) -iːtə(ɹ), -iːətə(ɹ), (UK, somewhat dated) -ɛtə

Noun[edit]

theater (countable and uncountable, plural theaters) (American spelling)

1. A place or building, consisting of a stage and seating, in which an audience gathers to watch plays, musical performances, public ceremonies, and so on.
2. A region where a particular action takes place; a specific field of action, usually with reference to war.

   • 2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 69:

     Percy had been too big for the town since he got back from the war. He served in the Pacific theater, behind the lines keeping up the supply chain.

   His grandfather was in the Pacific theater during the war.

3. A lecture theatre.
4. (medicine) An operating theatre or locale for human experimentation.

   This man is about to die, get him into theater at once!

5. (US) A cinema.

   We sat in the back row of the theater and threw popcorn at the screen.

6. Drama or performance as a profession or art form.

   I worked in theater for twenty-five years.

7. Any place rising by steps like the seats of a theater.
8. (figurative, derogatory, often following a noun used attributively) A conspicuous but unproductive display of action.

   The Senate confirmation hearings were just theater.

   security theater

   • 2012, Andrew Rens, “Enforcement Theater: The Enforcement Agenda and the Institutionalization of Enforcement Theater in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement”, in Suffolk Transnational Law Review‎^[1], volume 35:

     ACTA proponents rely on claims of a growing piracy and counterfeiting threat. In the absence of credible evidence of the threat or that the measures in ACTA will reduce the threat, ACTA is no more than enforcement theater.

Usage notes[edit]

• The spelling theatre is the main spelling in British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand English, with theater being rare.
• In United States English, theater accounts for about 80 percent of usage in the major corpus of usage, COCA.
• Among American theatre professionals, there is some usage of the two spellings in order to differentiate between the location theater (as in definitions 1–5) and the art-form theatre (definition 6). A variant of this differentiation is the usage of theatre for things relating to live performances (as in definitions 1 and 6) with theater being used for all other uses.

Synonyms[edit]

• fabulous invalid
• playhouse

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

• Appendix:Glossary of theatre

Anagrams[edit]

• hat tree, hattree, teareth, tethera, theatre, thereat

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Middle French théâtre, from Old French theatre, from Latin theatrum, from Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, “a place for viewing”), from θεάομαι (theáomai, “to see», «to watch», «to observe”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /teːˈ(j)aːtər/
• Hyphenation: the‧a‧ter
• Rhymes: -aːtər

Noun[edit]

theater n (plural theaters, diminutive theatertje n)

1. theater (US), theatre (Commonwealth): either drama, the art form, or a drama theater (building)

Synonyms[edit]

• schouwburg

Derived terms[edit]

• danstheater
• theaterkunst
• volkstheater

Descendants[edit]

• Afrikaans: teater
• → Caribbean Javanese: téater
• → Indonesian: teater

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• theatre, teatre, theatyr, theatere

Etymology[edit]

From Old French theatre, from Latin theatrum, from Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛːatər/, /ˌtɛːˈaːtər/

Noun[edit]

theater

1. A theatre open to the sky; an amphitheatre.
2. Any stage which plays and performances take place at.
3. (rare) A whorehouse.

Descendants[edit]

• English: theater, theatre
• Scots: theatre

References[edit]

• “thē̆ā̆tre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.

What do we mean by theater?

A building, room, or outdoor structure for the presentation of plays, films, or other dramatic performances. noun

A room with tiers of seats used for lectures or demonstrations. noun

Dramatic literature or its performance; drama. noun

The milieu of actors and playwrights. noun

The quality or effectiveness of a theatrical production. noun

Dramatic material or the use of such material. noun

The audience assembled for a dramatic performance. noun

A place that is the setting for dramatic events. noun

A large geographic area in which military operations are coordinated. noun

A building appropriated to the representation of dramatic spectacles; a play-house. noun

A room, hall, or other place, with a platform at one end, and ranks of seats rising stepwise as the tiers recede from the center, or otherwise so arranged that a body of spectators can have an unobstructed view of the platform. noun

A place rising by steps or gradations like the seats of a theater. noun

A place of action or exhibition; a field of operations; the locality or scene where a series of events takes place or may be observed; scene; seat: as, the theater of war. noun

The drama; the mass of dramatic literature; also, theatrical representation; the stage: as, a history of the French theater. noun

An amphitheater; hence, a circular reservoir or receptacle; a basin. noun

An edifice in which dramatic performances or spectacles are exhibited for the amusement of spectators; anciently uncovered, except the stage, but in modern times roofed. noun

Any room adapted to the exhibition of any performances before an assembly, as public lectures, scholastic exercises, anatomical demonstrations, surgical operations, etc. noun

That which resembles a theater in form, use, or the like; a place rising by steps or gradations, like the seats of a theater. noun

A place or building, consisting of a stage and seating, in which an audience gathers to watch plays, musical performances, public ceremonies, and so on.

A region where a particular action takes place; a specific field of action, usually with reference to war.

A lecture theatre.

An operating theatre or locale for human experimentation.

A cinema.

Drama or performance as a profession or art form.

Any place rising by steps like the seats of a theater.

The americanized spelling of ‘theatre’. A side effect of the American Revolution. Urban Dictionary

The incorrect spelling of ‘Theatre’.
Used by those with no interests in the arts, or being an intellectual human. Urban Dictionary

A place where 2 high-school students can go and hook up while another sits in history waiting for his tikme to come Urban Dictionary

1. (Concrete noun) A place where theater kids can be themselves and call home. 3-4 hours a day is typically spent here doing a variety of things.
2. (abstract noun) «The theater» The purpose of a theater kid’s existance.
3. (adj) Used like «theater kid» or «theater bathroom». Used to seperate areas/ people who are connected to the theater. Other people avoid these. Theater kids treasure them. Urban Dictionary

Noun
Originally an American spelling of ‘theatre,’ the word has evolved to mean a building, room or space where films are shown. Sometimes called a cinema or movie theater. Not to be confused with a theatre. Urban Dictionary

When someone pretends they are opposed to another person, but they are not, and they actually just do it for something.
Based upon the Brazilian series «Teatro das Tesouras», that says that the politicians in the elections only pretend to be against each other, and they do not have an actual ideology, just hunger for power. Urban Dictionary

A theater that only plays pornographic movies(Gay or Straight). Seating varies but usually has at least one area(couch,platform, etc) for sex acts to be performed for the entertainment and/or participation by the theater patrons. Urban Dictionary

A man who is an anus at the theater. Urban Dictionary

Progressive Metal band formed in Long Island, New York, USA in 1985. They are said to be one of the innovators of the Prog-Metal genre. The band is composed of five prodigious classicaly-trained musicians — James LaBrie (Vocals), John Petrucci (Guitars), Jordan Rudess (Keyboards), John Myung (Bass Guitar) and Mike Portnoy (Drums and Percussion). Their music was initially inspired by the band Rush and influences by bands like Queensryce and Queen can be heard too. Urban Dictionary

2. Street Theater used in Gang Stalking
«Street theater» when spoken of in a gang stalking context refers to carefully scripted harassment by neighbors and strangers especially, but can include harassment by family, friends and co-workers. These skits are designed to keep a target at a high stress level, but are crafted so that outside observers are likely to wave the skits off as «the breaks». The cumulative effect of such skits can be crushing to sensitive victims. Noise, crowding in person or on the highway, stealing items from shopping cart when in the checkout line, and kids sent to hang out in front of, stare, make noise, in front of a victim’s house or by putting strange items on a lawn as the victim drives by, such as a vacuum cleaner! Urban Dictionary