Blast from the Past

My theatre history experience consists of everything I have done in high school. In my AP English class we read Macbeth and Hamlet, and in my Repertory Theatre class we did a huge lesson of theatre history completely from the beginning. From that, I learned whatever I can remember now, which isn’t a whole lot since we covered a few hundred years in about three days. But I do remember things about Moliere, Shakespeare’s life, and Commedia Dell arte. I think that Commedia was the most entertaining to study because it is so physical and fast moving. I also love how they use the same type of characters for each show, with the Harlequin and the jester.
We also did a show called “Theatre Through the Ages” in which we would perform scenes from many different shows including Commedia, and many period pieces, and some Shakespeare. I got to direct a scene from The Taming of the Shrew which was a very unique and fun thing to do. Other than that, I don’t know a whole lot of the history of theatre, but that is why I am in this class, so I can learn and actually remember information about the history. I want to learn where plays started, and how they have evolved over time, and the technical aspects of Greek and Roman theatres.
For our Thespian Inductions we also give speeches about the beginning of Thespis and the creation of theatre (and more so, the International Thespian Society). We described Thespis being the first actor, and how theatre moved throughout the ages into the theatre it is today. I guess throughout my involvment in theatre, I have learned a lot about theatre history!