First Post

Title/Subject: Questions about the origins and practices of theater

I know theatre only from a performers standpoint that and what I learned in C/I, I’ve heard the myth about Thespis the first actor, the first guy to step out of a chorus. In regard to the performers stand point, I learned what I needed to in order to do well, stage direction, curtain calls, and how to act. But I’ve always wondered why did the need for representation start? Why do humans need to reenact events or enact new ones? What drove early playwrights? Where did the ideas for these plays come from? I’m going to learn the history of the career I’m planning to pursue.
I don’t know much about the origins of theatre so I looked up the origins of the first actor Thespis at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thespis and it provided some clarity. In actuality Thespis seems to have been the first actor with written script as opposed to oral and/or improvised, since there were cave paintings of plays from way earlier in civilization, known as the Sorcerer. I knew there was little evidence to back it up but I was not aware that Thespis had become some superstitious mischievous spirit. Which leads me to another question where did all the superstitions of theater come from? Why do we call Macbeth the Scottish play? Why do we say break a leg instead of good luck? So I decided to look that up as well at http://lecatr.people.wm.edu/theatrical_superstitions_and_saints.html apparently to break a leg is supposed to outwit demons, who according to Evan Morris must be rather dim by now. Also there is a technical explanation, in tech theatre a curtain is called a leg, which could mean by breaking a leg the show is so good you have a million curtain calls.
It’s the peculiarities of theatre that interest me in a lot of ways, and the origin seems a little bit vague so I hope that it is cleared up in DDA 1.