THEATER, or THEATRE, a building devoted to the representation of dramatic spectacles; a playhouse. Among the Greeks and Romans theaters were the chief public edifices next to the temples. The theater of Marcellus at Rome, the external walls of which are still in exist ence, contained seats for 30,000 specta tors. The Greek theaters were semi circular; that part in which the chorus danced and sang was called the orches tra; behind this, and facing the audience, was the stage for the performers who took part in the drama; the back of the stage being filled in by a permanent architecturally decorated scene. Roman theaters also formed semi-circles, with seats rising in the form of an amphi theater for the spectators, at the chord of which was the stage (scena), with its permanent decorations. The orchestra, which was the space between the stage and the lowest tier of spectators, was employed by the Greeks for theatrical purposes, whereas the Romans turned it into seats for the senators. The topmost tier was generally crowned with a cov ered portico. The theaters were either open or were protected against the sun and rain by an awning stretched over them. The scena consisted of the scena
in a restricted sense, answering to the modern scene, and the pulpitum or stage. The scene itself, in accordance with a critical canon observed with much soli tude by the Grecian dramatists, was very rarely changed during the course of the same play, though the scena versatilis, the turning scene, and the scena ductilis, the shifting scene, were not altogether unknown. The pulpitum again was di vided into proscenium, or space in front of the scene, where the actors stood while actually engaged in the business of the play, and the postscenium, or space be hind the scene, to which they retired when they made their exits. Modern theaters are generally constructed on a semi-circular or horse-shoe plan, with galleries running round the walls.
Also, a room, hall, or other place, gen orally with a platform at one end, and ranks of seats, rising as they recede, or otherwise arranged so as to afford the spectators a full and unobstructed view of the platform. Such rooms are used for public lectures, anatomical demon strations, surgical operations, etc.