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Crash Course Theater
What Is Theater?
Season 1
Episode 1
We're going to ask the two classic questions about theater. 1.What is theater? And 2. Is it spelled -re or -er? Well, there's a clue to question two in the title of the video. The first question is a little trickier. We'll look at some of the historical definitions of theater, and investigate some of the ways people have thought about theater in different times and places in the world.
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12:02
Thanks to Bharata Muni, we can tell you quite a bit about Ancient Sanskrit theater.
11:28
Roman dramas lifted stories and characters directly from Greek dramatists like Menander.
11:52
Turns out, Roman theater looks A LOT like Greek theater.
11:02
How did Greek comedy evolve out of tragedies? And how did that become real comedy?
11:55
Let's look at Aristotle's rules for theater, and how they can be used for catharsis.
9:52
Western theater arose in Athens, Greece from religious rituals – including RITUAL MADNESS.