Since the dawn of civilized time
dramatic art on stage has both reflected and affected
who we’ve been and what we have become.

Overview

Western civilization can be said to have begun in Ancient Greece, circa 534 BCE, when the benevolent tyrant Peisistratus, influenced by Solon the Wise, commissioned the lyric poet Thespis to step away from the dithyrambic chorus and address it and the gods as an individual being—a character—to become the world’s first actor.

The effect on the 18,000 spectators so impressed the tyrant that he used the new medium to promote his radical reforms—the philosophical, political, and aesthetic values that became and (until recently) remained the foundation of civilized society. So successful was his scheme that in 508, barely twenty-five years later, his successor, Cleisthenes, introduced the world to democratic government, and the Golden Age of Greece began. Everything that’s happened since derives from this synergy, and thus is due, in part, to the Wholly Human Art.

There are three elements of this discussion:

1. the cultural significance of dramatic literature,
2. the dynamic relationship between drama and world history, and
3. the visceral effects of dramatic performance.

The following links open essays on these elements, with further links to related posts.

Dramatic Literature

pertains especially to Cold Reads, through the playwrights’ words. It argues that all literary art is divided in three parts: Poetry, prose, and drama, the last being either the one or the other (or both) expressed as dialogue, written to be played, seen and heard—and since we don’t attend theatrical performances—unless we read them—we don’t “Know Drama.”

Historic Moments

outlines the role of plays throughout our 2,500-year evolution, from their roots in Ancient Athens to the latest Broadway smash, revealing the love/hate relationship with Theism and the secular Powers That Be, and examining instances when playwrights’ plays turned the world upside down.

Plays on Stage

emphasizes the intellectual and emotional power of the Wholly Human Art on stage, compares it to religion, and distinguishes it from other forms of art and entertainment.