You need 8 of your own! There are more than 8 so ONLY PICK 8!!
adapted from a variety of sources, including PBS.
Theater Fact: American Tony Pastor is credited with being the inventor of vaudeville, a variety show that entertained the whole family. It would include comedy, song, dance, and more. From 1881 onwards, vaudeville took the US by storm.
Theater Fact: In 534 BC, Pisistratus, leader of Athens, established a festival to honor the god Dionysus. A wandering bard named Thespis acted out the poetry he was reciting, becoming the first actor, or thespian, which comes from his name.
Theater Fact: In 1939, the Wizard of Oz premiers, starring Judy Garland. It uses technicolor film and ushers in a new era of movie musicals.
Theater Fact: The Colosseum is built around 72, and is a traditional Roman theater. Theater could include acrobatics, singing, dancing, sword fighting, or even live deaths.
Theater Fact: English theater takes off in the 1350s, when religious leaders used the Bible as inspiration for story telling plays. These were performed in English so that everyone could understand, because the Bible was written in Latin, which not everyone could read.
Theater Fact: New York's first major theater appeared in 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street in Manhattan.
Theater Fact: The Playwright Aeschylus wrote the oldest surviving Greek play, which has a cast of 12. Called "The Persians", it was written in 472 BCE.
Theater Fact: The commedia dell'arte movement in Italy allows woman to act. Lucrezia Di Siena is the first Italian actress, appearing in a contract from 1564.
Theater Fact: Showboat premiers on December 27, 1927 at the Ziegfield Theater in New York. It is the first major musical that incorporated lights, music, sound, dialogue, setting and movement, paving the way for other shows to appear on Broadway.
Theater Fact: From the 5th century to the 10th century, European theater fades during the "Dark Ages." The church at the time found plays to be dangerous and pagan.