Greek Theater
Greek drama was in many ways the foundation for modern theater and the separation of theatrical genres. In the 5th century BC, Greeks were noticeably interested in the idea and the origin of tragedy and comedy, and the most active playwrights produced plays finding the root of these things in all areas of human nature and social frameworks. Aristotle had a number of premises regarding the beginnings of drama and waxed on them openly.
Production of Greek Plays
Greek plays were performed in outdoor, crescent-shaped theaters. The actors, of whom there were only three, at most, played all of the parts. The cast was masked, and a chorus assisted the performance as well. To manage character changes, the actors would disappear off stage and change masks to appear as another. Greek plays were often performed as part of religious festivals that honored the god of debauchery, pleasure and drunkenness, Dionysus. Plays were funded by the state and usually only performed once, unless revived by popular demand. Tragic plays dealt with stories of loss and despair in ancient mythic pasts, but comedies dealt more with contemporary subject matter.
Structure of Greek Theater
See this diagram for reference.
Orchestra: Circular and level space where the chorus would sing, dance, and interact with the actors during scenes.
Theatron: Where the spectators sat, usually built upon a hillside looking over the orchestra and wrapped around most of it. Spectators in the 5th century BC most likely used cushions and boards to sit on, but by the 4th century BC many Greek theaters had marble seats.
Skene: The building directly behind the stage, decorated for theatrical purposes usually as a palace, temple or other building depending on the play.
Parodos: Passageways that were used by the chorus and actors to enter and exit the theater.
Click here to explore a variety of famous ancient Greek theaters.
Famous Greek Playwrights
Aeschylus: Considered by many to be the first playwrite, Aeschylus appeared on the Greek Theater scene in 484 BC. He developed a two player dramatic paradigm, introducing props and scenery. His play, Persians, is considered the earliest play written. His magnum opus is The Oresteia, a trilogy of tragedies surrounding the story of Agamemnon, a Greek war hero murdered by his wife Clytemnestra, and his vengeful children, Orestes and Electra. The stories are ultimately the story of human hubris and the root of evil within human arrogance.
Sophocles: Sophocles defeated Aeschylus in a tragedy competition in 468 BC, adding a third actor to the framework and turning the focus to human relationships instead of those between humans and gods. Sophocles' works are ripe with irony, as shown in his Oedipus trilogy, depicting the story of a man who accidentally fulfills his fate by the very things he does to escape it. Sophocles too moralized on the evil of arrogance and the wisdom of accepting one's own fate.
Euripides: Euripedes won the least amount of dramatic competitions of the famous playwrights, but his subject matter has made him one of the most enduringly popular writers. Instead of concentrating on the upper strata of society or the lowest exclusively, Euripides put people from every eschelon of life together and wrote them as equals, delving into the subtleties of what makes us all universally human. He showed the bleak reality of war, criticized religion, and paid attention to the citizens on the fringe of society.
See here for more a comprehensive guide to Greek playwrights and their works, and the history of Greek theater.