• The True Story Behind Feud: Capote vs. the Swans

    In 1975 New York’s high society was the talk of the town—for all the wrong reasons. That year Esquire magazine published “La Côte Basque, 1965,” a scandalous chapter from Truman Capote’s unfinished roman à clef Answered Prayers. In the tell-all excerpt, he skewered his inner circle of socialite

  • The Tuam babies of Ireland

    In 2014 a shocking news story emerged from western Ireland. Human remains, appearing to be those of infants and young children, had been found in a septic tank on the grounds of the former St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway. Soon, many grim facts about the Tuam mother and baby

  • The U.K. Will Lower the Voting Age to 16 (ProCon headline)

    ProCon Debate: Should the U.S. Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? ProCon Issue in the News: The voting age across the United Kingdom (comprising England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland) will be uniformly lowered to 16 by the next general election (which must be called by August 2029). The voting

  • The U.S. Men’s Basketball Team: The Dream Team

    The arrival of the U.S. men’s basketball team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, proved a major milestone in two notable trends in modern sports: the demise of the amateur athlete in Olympic competition and the remarkable rise in the popularity of basketball worldwide. The United States

  • The U.S. Opioid Epidemic

    Since 1999, the death rate from opioid drug overdose in the United States has been on the rise. The rate nearly doubled—from 1 to 1.8 per 100,000 people—between 2013 and 2014 alone. Today the number of drug overdose deaths per year far surpasses the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents—the

  • The Valpinçon Bather (painting by Ingres)

    The Valpinçon Bather, oil painting created in 1808 by French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. It depicts a female nude and is a masterpiece of light and harmony. The painting was originally entitled Seated Woman but in time acquired its present name after one of its later owners.

  • The Vicar of Dibley (British television series)

    The Vicar of Dibley, British television situation comedy that aired on BBC One from 1994 to 2000, with special episodes continuing until 2020. During its run, the show had high viewership and was nominated for several BAFTA awards. It received an International Emmy Award in 1998. The series follows

  • The Vietnam War and the media

    Vietnam became a subject of large-scale news coverage in the United States only after substantial numbers of U.S. combat troops had been committed to the war in the spring of 1965. Prior to that time, the number of American newsmen in Indochina had been small—fewer than two dozen even as late as

  • The War on Democracy

    The most important development of the 20th century was the spread of democracy. The most important lesson was that the tides of freedom will always be opposed. Now and in the future, this warning should be on our minds because democracy is undergoing a new and rigorous round of tests. (Read

  • The Warehouse

    While go-go was the rage in Washington, D.C., and hip-hop was ascendant in New York City, gay Chicago was laying the foundation for the most lastingly influential of early 1980s African-American dance musics, house. The name came from a club, the Warehouse, where deejay Frankie Knuckles eschewed

  • The Way International (Christian evangelical group)

    The Way International, Christian evangelical group founded in 1942 as Vesper Chimes, a radio ministry broadcast from Lima, Ohio, by Victor Paul Wierwille (1916–85). Its current headquarters are in New Knoxville, Ohio; estimates of its membership range from 3,000 to 20,000. As a minister in the

  • The White House: A Visual History

    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is one of the most famous addresses in the world. The site was chosen by George Washington, but he never lived in the residence that would become known as the White House. (What president officially gave it that name? Read to the bottom to find out.) The first official

  • The White Lotus (American television series)

    The White Lotus is a fictional American TV anthology series that tells a number of intertwining stories at a chain of five-star resorts. The show features deep casts of well-known actors and has attracted critical acclaim for its darkly satirical look at wealth, class, race, relationships, and

  • The Willoughbys (work by Lowry)

    Lois Lowry: Books of the 21st century: …include The Silent Boy (2003), The Willoughbys (2008), Like the Willow Tree (2011), and The Windeby Puzzle (2023).

  • The Wire (American television series)

    The Wire, American crime drama television series, created by David Simon and considered by critics as one of the best shows ever made because of its unique portrayal of systemic dysfunction in American civic institutions. HBO aired 60 episodes over five seasons, the first on June 2, 2002, and the

  • The Wiz (film by Lumet [1978])

    The Wiz, American fantasy musical film, released in 1978 and directed by Sidney Lumet, with a screenplay written by Joel Schumacher. Set in New York City’s Harlem district in the 1970s and featuring an all-Black cast, The Wiz is based on the 1975 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same

  • The Woodstock Music and Art Fair

    The most famous of the 1960s rock festivals, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held on a farm property in Bethel, New York, August 15–17, 1969. It was organized by four inexperienced promoters who nonetheless signed a who’s who of current rock acts, including Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family

  • The World Science Festival’s Pioneers in Science

    The World Science Festival highlights the amazing accomplishments of scientists from around the world through its Pioneers in Science program. Watch these videos provided to Britannica by the festival and read original biographies by Britannica authors to find out more about these scientists’

  • The World’s 5 Most Commonly Used Writing Systems

    Written language stands as one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Whereas speech is fleeting, written communication provides a permanence and has ultimately influenced everything from commerce to government to religion. The following are the five most commonly used writing systems around the

  • The World’s Tallest Statues

    Humanity has long attempted to create ever-larger statues to express reverence for figures both human and divine, and new giants continue to rise from the foundations of human imagination and ingenuity. Some examples of ancient colossi no longer exist, such as the Colossus of Rhodes (c. 294–282

  • The Worst Movies of All Time

    Most film buffs seek out the best that cinema has to offer, but some people have a fascination with the epic fails—that is, the movies considered to be the worst. It comes as no surprise that lists, books, and websites dedicated to Hollywood’s biggest flops and trashiest B-movies are about as

  • The Young Ones (British television series) (British television series)

    The Young Ones (British television series), TV sitcom starring Rik Mayall, Adrian (“Ade”) Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle. The show ran on British television on the BBC Two channel from 1982 to 1984. It is credited with being highly influential in British comedy, winning

  • Thea sinensis (plant)

    tea plant, (Camellia sinensis), evergreen flowering plant valued for its young leaves and leaf buds, from which the tea beverage is produced. Two principal varieties are used commercially, the small-leaved China plant (Camellia sinensis, variety sinensis) and the large-leaved Assam plant (C.

  • Theaceae (plant family)

    Theaceae, the tea family of plants in the order Theales. The Theaceae comprises about 40 genera of trees or shrubs native to temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres, including several ornamental plants, one that is the source of tea. Members of the family have evergreen leaves and

  • Theaetetōs (work by Plato)

    Plato: Late dialogues of Plato: The Theaetetus considers the question “What is knowledge?” Is it perception, true belief, or true belief with an “account”? The dialogue contains a famous “digression” on the difference between the philosophical and worldly mentalities. The work ends inconclusively and may indeed be intended to show the…

  • Theaetetus (work by Plato)

    Plato: Late dialogues of Plato: The Theaetetus considers the question “What is knowledge?” Is it perception, true belief, or true belief with an “account”? The dialogue contains a famous “digression” on the difference between the philosophical and worldly mentalities. The work ends inconclusively and may indeed be intended to show the…

  • Theaetetus (Greek mathematician)

    Theaetetus was an Athenian mathematician who had a significant influence on the development of Greek geometry. Theaetetus was a disciple of Socrates and studied with Theodorus of Cyrene. He taught at some time in Heraclea (located in present-day southern Italy). Plato made Theaetetus the chief

  • theaflavin (chemical compound)

    tea: Fermentation: …to form orange-red compounds called theaflavins. The theaflavins react with more units to form the thearubigins, which are responsible for the transformation of the leaf to a dark brown or coppery colour. The thearubigins also react with amino acids and sugars to form flavour compounds that may be partly lost…

  • Theagenes of Megara (ancient Greek tyrant)

    ancient Greek civilization: The early tyrannies: Theagenes of Megara makes an appearance in history for three reasons: he slaughtered the flocks of the rich (an action incomprehensible without more background information than is available); he tried about 630 to help his son-in-law Cylon to power at Athens; and he built a…

  • Theagenes of Rhegium (Greek poet)

    Homer: Early references: …kind of Homeric scholarship began: Theagenes of Rhegium in southern Italy toward the end of the same century wrote the first of many allegorizing interpretations. By the 5th century biographical fictions were well under way; the Pre-Socratic philosopher Heracleitus of Ephesus made use of a trivial legend of Homer’s death—that…

  • Thealma and Clearchus (work by Chalkhill)

    John Chalkhill: …was an English poet whose Thealma and Clearchus was published posthumously in 1683 by Izaak Walton, and who was identified in the third edition of Walton’s Compleat Angler as the author of two songs which appeared there from the first edition (1653).

  • thearubigin (chemical compound)

    tea: Fermentation: …more units to form the thearubigins, which are responsible for the transformation of the leaf to a dark brown or coppery colour. The thearubigins also react with amino acids and sugars to form flavour compounds that may be partly lost if fermentation is prolonged. In general, theaflavin is associated with…

  • theater (art)

    theatre, in dramatic arts, an art concerned almost exclusively with live performances in which the action is precisely planned to create a coherent and significant sense of drama. Though the word theatre is derived from the Greek theaomai, “to see,” the performance itself may appeal either to the

  • Theater am Schiffbauerdamm (theater, Germany)

    theatre: The influence of Brecht: The auditorium of the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm is lavish to the point of fantasy, decorated with ornate plaster figures. The stage, by complete contrast, is a vast mechanized scenic space in which everything is clearly exposed to view as theatrical and man-made. In the contrast between the comfort of…

  • Theater an der Wien (theater, Vienna, Austria)

    Emanuel Schikaneder: …the time he opened the Theater an der Wien (1801), built especially for him, the costs were becoming ruinous. Schikaneder retained management of the theatre for less than four years, a period marked by an abortive attempt at collaboration on an opera with Ludwig van Beethoven. Schikaneder left Vienna to…

  • Theater der Freien Volksbühne (German theatrical organization)

    Germany: Government and audience support: …the People’s Independent Theatre (Theater der Freien Volksbühne), dating from 1890 in Berlin. Going to the theater or opera in Germany is nearly as affordable and as unremarkable as attending the cinema is elsewhere. The same is also true of concert music. Every major city has at least one…

  • Theater High Altitude Area Defense Ground Based Radar (radar technology)

    radar: Ballistic missile defense and satellite-surveillance radars: Army’s Theater High Altitude Area Defense Ground Based Radar (THAAD GBR). This is a mobile solid-state active-aperture phased-array radar that operates within the X-band of the spectrum. A different approach to ballistic missile defense is the Israeli tactical system known as Arrow, which employs an L-band…

  • Theater vs. Cinema: What’s the Difference?

    The primary differences between theater and cinema lie in the nature of the performances and the medium through which the audience experiences them. A theatrical performance is a live performance; it is a dynamic art form where actors perform in real-time. The immediacy of theater means that every

  • theater-in-the-round

    theatre-in-the-round, form of theatrical staging in which the acting area, which may be raised or at floor level, is completely surrounded by the audience. It has been theorized that the informality thus established leads to increased rapport between the audience and the actors.

  • Theaters (work by Sugimoto)

    Hiroshi Sugimoto: In his next series, Theaters, begun in 1978, he photographed movie theatres and drive-ins with an exposure the length of the film’s duration. All that appeared visible in the photographs was the luminescent rectangular screen in the centre of the theatre and the surrounding architectural details.

  • Theatertreffen Berlin (festival, Berlin, Germany)

    Germany: Arts festivals: …Film Festival in February; the Theatertreffen Berlin (“Berlin Theatre Meeting”), featuring productions from throughout the German-speaking world; and the Karneval der Kulturen (“Carnival of Cultures”), a festival of world cultures. Munich has an opera festival in July and August, with emphasis on Richard Strauss. Festivals in Würzburg and Augsburg are…

  • Theatines (religious order)

    St. Cajetan of Thiene: …Congregation of Clerics Regular (Theatines) to further the ideals of the Oratory of Divine Love among diocesan priests and to promote clerical reform through asceticism and apostolic work. After Emperor Charles V sacked Rome, Carafa and Cajetan escaped to Venice in 1527. Following his dispatch as Theatine superior to…

  • Theatralische Bibliothek (German periodical)

    Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Rising reputation as dramatist and critic.: …where he started another periodical, Theatralische Bibliothek (“Theatrical Library”), but this too had to be closed down after only four volumes. The most significant event during this time was the publication in 1753–55 of a six-volume edition of his works. Apart from some witty epigrams, the edition contained the most…

  • theatre (art)

    theatre, in dramatic arts, an art concerned almost exclusively with live performances in which the action is precisely planned to create a coherent and significant sense of drama. Though the word theatre is derived from the Greek theaomai, “to see,” the performance itself may appeal either to the

  • theatre (building)

    theatre, in architecture, a building or space in which a performance may be given before an audience. The word is from the Greek theatron, “a place of seeing.” A theatre usually has a stage area where the performance itself takes place. Since ancient times the evolving design of theatres has been

  • Theatre and Its Double, The (work by Artaud)

    Antonin Artaud: …Théâtre et son double (1938; The Theatre and Its Double) call for a communion between actor and audience in a magic exorcism; gestures, sounds, unusual scenery, and lighting combine to form a language, superior to words, that can be used to subvert thought and logic and to shock the spectator…

  • theatre ballistic missile defense (military strategy)

    theatre missile defense (TMD), deployment of nuclear and conventional missiles for the purpose of maintaining security in a specific region, or theatre. The purpose of theatre missile defense (TMD) is to protect allies from local threats in their region or to address specific security issues and

  • theatre company (theatrical group)

    theatrical production: The permanent company: The development of a production system depending on a permanent company introduced a new element into theatre—professional virtuosity. The emergence of professional theatre companies was a feature of Renaissance urbanization. Various courts had maintained performers throughout the medieval period, but these were usually musicians…

  • theatre design (architecture)

    theatre design, the art and technique of designing and building a space—a theatre—intended primarily for the performance of drama and its allied arts by live performers who are physically present in front of a live audience. This article describes the different forms a theatre can take and the

  • Théâtre du Marais (French theatrical company)

    Marais Theatre, one of the major theatrical companies in 17th-century France. With the actor Montdory as its head, the company performed at various temporary theatres in Paris from 1629 before finding a permanent home in a converted tennis court in the Marais district in 1634. The Marais Theatre

  • Théâtre du Palais Royale (theater, Paris, France)

    Palais-Royal Theatre, Paris playhouse most noted for 17th-century productions by Molière. The Palais-Royal traces its history to a small private theatre in the residence of Cardinal Richelieu. Designed by architect Jacques Lemercier, this theatre became known by the name of the residence, the

  • Théâtre du peuple, Le (work by Rolland)

    theatre: The new Naturalism: …book The People’s Theatre (Le Théâtre du peuple, 1903), inspired similar movements in other countries.

  • Théâtre et son double, Le (work by Artaud)

    Antonin Artaud: …Théâtre et son double (1938; The Theatre and Its Double) call for a communion between actor and audience in a magic exorcism; gestures, sounds, unusual scenery, and lighting combine to form a language, superior to words, that can be used to subvert thought and logic and to shock the spectator…

  • Théâtre Expérimental des Femmes (French-Canadian theatrical group)

    Canadian literature: The Quiet Revolution: …by groups such as the Théâtre Expérimental des Femmes and featuring controversial plays such as Denise Boucher’s Les Fées ont soif (1978; The Fairies Are Thirsty) and Marchessault’s La Saga des poules mouillées (1981; Saga of Wet Hens). Dramatist and novelist Marie Laberge continued the tradition of feminist theatre with,…

  • theatre for development (theater)

    theatrical production: Educational and developmental: …an entirely new area called theatre for development. Theatre has been used, primarily in the developing world, to foster literacy programs, population planning campaigns, and agricultural development programs. In Indonesia, for example, wayang shadow puppets have been used, with the content of traditional plays altered to include family planning messages.…

  • Theatre Guild (American theatrical organization)

    Theatre Guild, a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 for the production of high-quality, noncommercial American and foreign plays. The guild, founded by Lawrence Langner (1890–1962), departed from the usual theatre practice in that its board of directors shared the responsibility

  • theatre in the hall (theater design)

    theatre design: Renaissance: …“theatre in the hall” (teatro della sala), an arrangement that became a dominant form of theatre design in the Renaissance, when formal experimentation was being undertaken by academic institutions (academies, grammar schools, Jesuit colleges, universities, etc.), by members of the nobility who competed with one another to put on…

  • theatre missile defense (military strategy)

    theatre missile defense (TMD), deployment of nuclear and conventional missiles for the purpose of maintaining security in a specific region, or theatre. The purpose of theatre missile defense (TMD) is to protect allies from local threats in their region or to address specific security issues and

  • theatre music (musical genre)

    theatre music, any music designed to form part of a dramatic performance, as, for example, a ballet, stage play, motion picture, or television program. Included are the European operetta and its American form, the musical. Music as an art of the theatre has its roots in primitive ritual and

  • Théâtre National Populaire (French national theater)

    Théâtre National Populaire (TNP), French national theatre created in 1920 to bring theatre to the general public. Its first director, Firmin Gémier, had been the director of the Théâtre Antoine and had made a number of attempts to create a people’s theatre. Initially the TNP offered productions

  • Théâtre Nationale de l’Opéra (opera house, Paris, France)

    Opéra, Parisian opera house designed by Charles Garnier. The building, considered one of the masterpieces of the Second Empire style, was begun in 1861 and opened with an orchestral concert on Jan. 5, 1875. The first opera performed there was Fromental Halévy’s work La Juive on Jan. 8, 1875. A

  • Theatre of 13 Rows (theatrical group, Poland)

    directing: Directorial styles: …intense physicality to Jerzy Grotowski’s Polish Laboratory Theatre from Wrocław in Poland, though the two companies had been founded independently in the early 1960s.

  • Theatre of Blood (film by Hickox [1973])

    Diana Rigg: …the Vincent Price horror film Theatre of Blood (1973) to her credit, among others. Still, she remained dedicated to the theatre, appearing in classical and contemporary plays in both England and the United States. In 1971 she made her Broadway debut, appearing in Abelard and Heloise. The following year she…

  • Theatre of the World (atlas by Ortelius)

    Abraham Ortelius: … (1570; “Theatre of the World”).

  • theatre oft toon-neel, Het (work by Noot)

    Jan Baptista van der Noot: …his main works had appeared, Het theatre oft toon-neel (“Theatre for Voluptuous Worldlings”), a prose defense of the virtues of Calvinism and a condemnation of the worldliness of Dutch society. It is prefaced by sonnets and epigrams that were translated by Edmund Spenser for an English version.

  • Théâtre Optique (film)

    Cinématographe: …and in part on the Théâtre Optique of Émile Reynaud in Paris. From Dickson and Edison’s invention the Lumières took the idea of a sprocket-wound film and from Reynaud that of projecting the successive frames on a screen. The Cinématographe also functioned as a camera and could be used to…

  • Theatre Owners Booking Association (American organization)

    Chitlin Circuit: Development of the Chitlin Circuit: …saw the formation of the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA), an organization that booked Black entertainers and gave theater managers and owners some amount of shareholder interest in their performance venues. TOBA’s governing board was interracial, and many of the organization’s agents and owners who booked theater and musical acts…

  • Theatre Regulations Act (United Kingdom [1843])

    music hall and variety: By the Theatre Regulations Act of 1843, drinking and smoking, although prohibited in legitimate theatres, were permitted in the music halls. Tavern owners, therefore, often annexed buildings adjoining their premises as music halls. The low comedy of the halls, designed to appeal to the working class and…

  • Théâtre Repère (Canadian theater company)

    Robert Lepage: Early life and career: …Knapp, Lepage in 1982 joined Théâtre Repère in Quebec. This theatre company, founded by Jacques Lessard, relied on the active involvement of actors to discover the key object or pattern necessary to develop the production. In 1985 Lepage became artistic director of the company. That same year he staged a…

  • Theatre Royal Drury Lane (theater, London, United Kingdom)

    Drury Lane Theatre, oldest London theatre still in use. It stands in the eastern part of the City of Westminster. The first theatre was built by the dramatist Thomas Killigrew for his company of actors as the Theatre Royal under a charter from Charles II. It opened May 7, 1663, in the propitious

  • Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt (theater, Paris, France)

    Sarah Bernhardt: International success: …is now known as the Théâtre de la Ville.

  • theatre, African (art)

    African theatre, effectively, the theatre of Africa south of the Sahara that emerged in the postcolonial era—that is to say, from the mid-20th century onward. It is not possible to talk of much African theatre as if it fell into discrete historical or national patterns. Colonial boundaries ignored

  • theatre, African (art)

    African theatre, effectively, the theatre of Africa south of the Sahara that emerged in the postcolonial era—that is to say, from the mid-20th century onward. It is not possible to talk of much African theatre as if it fell into discrete historical or national patterns. Colonial boundaries ignored

  • Theatre, The (historical building, London, United Kingdom)

    The Theatre, first public playhouse of London, located in the parish of St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch. Designed and built by James Burbage (the father of actor Richard Burbage), The Theatre was a roofless, circular building with three galleries surrounding a yard. It opened in 1576, and several

  • theatre, Western (art)

    Western theatre, history of the Western theatre from its origins in pre-Classical antiquity to the present. For a discussion of drama as a literary form, see dramatic literature and the articles on individual national literatures. For detailed information on the arts of theatrical performance and

  • theatre, Western (art)

    Western theatre, history of the Western theatre from its origins in pre-Classical antiquity to the present. For a discussion of drama as a literary form, see dramatic literature and the articles on individual national literatures. For detailed information on the arts of theatrical performance and

  • Théâtre-Français, Le (French national theater)

    Comédie-Française, national theatre of France and the world’s longest established national theatre. After the death of the playwright Molière (1673), his company of actors joined forces with a company playing at the Théâtre du Marais, the resulting company being known as the Théâtre Guénégaud. In

  • theatre-in-the-round

    theatre-in-the-round, form of theatrical staging in which the acting area, which may be raised or at floor level, is completely surrounded by the audience. It has been theorized that the informality thus established leads to increased rapport between the audience and the actors.

  • Théâtre-Libre (theater, Paris, France)

    Théâtre-Libre, (French: Free Theatre), independent, private theatre founded in Paris in 1887 by André Antoine, which became the proving ground for the new naturalistic drama. Antoine, an amateur actor, was influenced by the naturalistic novels of Émile Zola and by the theatrical realism of the

  • Theatres Act (United Kingdom [1843])

    theatre: The evolution of modern theatrical production: …political power, led to the Theatres Act of 1843, which gave London a “free theatre.” The expected flood of new theatre buildings did not occur, and no major building took place for 16 years. This is probably because there were already sufficient illegal theatres in operation when the act was…

  • theatres, war of the (English literature)

    war of the theatres, in English literary history, conflict involving the Elizabethan playwrights Ben Jonson, John Marston, and Thomas Dekker. It covered a period when Jonson was writing for one children’s company of players and Marston for another, rival group. In 1599 Marston presented a mildly

  • theatrical costume (theater)

    stagecraft: Costume design: Theatrical costumes were an innovation of the Greek poet Thespis in the 6th century bce, and theatrical costumes were long called “the robes of Thespis.” Athenians spent lavishly on the production and costumes at annual drama contests. Each poet was…

  • Theatrical Mission of Wilhelm Meister, The (novel by Goethe)

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: First Weimar period (1776–86) of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: …Wilhelm Meisters theatralische Sendung (The Theatrical Mission of Wilhelm Meister), each year until 1785. In a rough-and-tumble, ironic way, reminiscent of the English novelist Henry Fielding, it tells the story of a gifted young man who aims for stardom in a reformed German national theatrical culture. At first the…

  • theatrical music

    music, art concerned with combining vocal or instrumental sounds for beauty of form or emotional expression, usually according to cultural standards of rhythm, melody, and, in most Western music, harmony. Both the simple folk song and the complex electronic composition belong to the same activity,

  • theatrical production

    theatrical production, the planning, rehearsal, and presentation of a work. Such a work is presented to an audience at a particular time and place by live performers, who use either themselves or inanimate figures, such as puppets, as the medium of presentation. A theatrical production can be

  • theatrical stage (theater)

    Central Asian arts: Shamanic ritual: …Central Asia, there were no centres for the performing arts in the usual sense of the word. Each shaman performed his dramatic arts at his own residence or environs as the occasion demanded. He had his own ritual costumes and paraphernalia, which displayed regional variations, particularly in ornamentation. The representation…

  • Theatrical Syndicate (American theatrical company)

    Charles Frohman: …laid the foundation of the Theatrical Syndicate, which for several years controlled U.S. theatres. Frohman’s initial success was Bronson Howard’s Shenandoah in 1889. In 1892 he engaged John Drew as his star and established the Empire Stock Company. Frohman’s encouragement of such playwrights as Clyde Fitch, David Belasco, and Augustus…

  • theatricalism (drama)

    theatricalism, in 20th-century Western theatre, the general movement away from the dominant turn-of-the-century techniques of naturalism in acting, staging, and playwriting; it was especially directed against the illusion of reality that was the highest achievement of the naturalist theatre. In the

  • Theatro crítico universal (work by Feijóo y Montenegro)

    Spanish literature: New critical approaches: Feijóo’s monumental Theatro crítico universal (1726–39; “Universal Critical Theatre”), a compendium of knowledge, exemplifies the interests and achievements of the encyclopaedists. Another major encyclopaedic talent, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, produced streams of reports, essays, memoirs, and studies on agriculture, the economy, political organization, law, industry, natural science,…

  • theatrograph (movie technology)

    History of film: Edison and the Lumière brothers: …projector, the theatrograph (later the animatograph), had been demonstrated in 1896 by the scientific-instrument maker Robert W. Paul. In 1899 Paul formed his own production company for the manufacture of actualities and trick films, and until 1905 Paul’s Animatograph Works, Ltd., was England’s largest producer, turning out an average of…

  • theatron (building)

    theatre, in architecture, a building or space in which a performance may be given before an audience. The word is from the Greek theatron, “a place of seeing.” A theatre usually has a stage area where the performance itself takes place. Since ancient times the evolving design of theatres has been

  • Theatron Erotikon (theater, Paris, France)

    puppetry: Styles of puppet theatre: …artistic friends to found the Theatron Erotikon, a tiny private puppet theatre, which only ran for two years, presenting seven plays to invited audiences. The moving spirit, however, was Lemercier de Neuville, who went on to create a personal puppet theatre that played in drawing rooms all over France until…

  • Theatrum anatomicum (work by Bauhin)

    Gaspard Bauhin: …wrote the Theatrum anatomicum (1605; Microcosmographia, A Description of the Body of Man), considered the finest comprehensive anatomy text to that time. In this work he replaced the ambiguous practice of numbering muscles, vessels, and nerves with a system that named parts according to their most salient features.

  • Theatrum instrumentorum (work by Besson)

    Jacques Besson: …published in his illustrated treatise Theatrum instrumentorum (1569), introduced cams and templates (patterns used to guide the form of a piece being made) to the screw-cutting lathe, thus increasing the operator’s mechanical control of tool and workpiece and permitting the production of more accurate and intricate work in metal. He…

  • Theatrum orbis terrarum (atlas by Ortelius)

    Abraham Ortelius: … (1570; “Theatre of the World”).

  • Thebaid (work by Statius)

    Statius: …completed one epic, the 12-book Thebaid, but only two books of another, the Achilleid. The Thebaid, a more ambitious work, describes the struggle of the brothers Polyneices and Eteocles for the throne of the ancient Greek city of Thebes. It has many features borrowed from Virgil, but suffers from overstatement…

  • Thébaide ou les frères ennemis, La (play by Racine)

    Jean Racine: Life: …Molière’s troupe of his play La Thébaide; ou, les frères ennemis (“The Story of Thebes; or, The Fratricides”) at the Palais-Royal Theatre on June 20, 1664. Molière’s company also produced Racine’s next play, Alexandre le grand (Alexander the Great), which premiered at the Palais Royal on December 4, 1665. (It…

  • thebaine (drug)

    opium: Opium alkaloids: Morphine, codeine, and thebaine, which represent one type, act upon the central nervous system and are analgesic, narcotic, and potentially addicting compounds. Papaverine, noscapine (formerly called narcotine), and most of the other opium alkaloids act only to relax involuntary (smooth) muscles.

  • Thebais (work by Antimachus of Colophon)

    Antimachus of Colophon: …epic in 24 books entitled Thebais, about the expedition of the Seven Against Thebes. This work enjoyed little popular success at first, but it was greatly admired in antiquity, beginning with Plato. Antimachus’s other poetry included the Lyde, two books in elegiac couplets modeled on the Nanno of Mimnermus. In…

  • Thebaud, Simon (English archbishop)

    Simon Of Sudbury was the archbishop of Canterbury from 1375 and chancellor of England from 1380 who lost his life in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. Simon served for 12 years as an auditor (judge) of the Rota at the papal Curia, and in 1359 Pope Innocent VI employed him in an attempt to persuade King