Thespis - wikipedia Thespis For other uses, see Thespis ( disambiguation ). Thespis ' wagon, relief of the Giotto 's Belltower in Florence, Italy, Nino Pisano, 1334 -- 1336 Thespis ( / ˈθɛspɪs / ; Greek : Θέσπις ; fl. 6th century BC ) of Icaria ( present - day Dionysos, Greece ), according to certain Ancient Greek sources and especially Aristotle, was the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character in a play ( instead of speaking as him or herself ). In other sources, he is said to have introduced the first principal actor in addition to the chorus. Thespis was a singer of dithyrambs ( songs about stories from mythology with choric refrains ). He is credited with introducing a new style in which one singer or actor performed the words of individual characters in the stories, distinguishing between the characters with the aid of different masks. This new style was called tragedy, and Thespis was the most popular exponent of it. Eventually, in 534 BC competitions to find the best tragedy were instituted at the City Dionysia in Athens, and Thespis won the first documented competition. Capitalising on his success, Thespis also invented theatrical touring ; he would tour various cities while carrying his costumes, masks and other props in a horse - drawn wagon. Contents 1 Alleged works 2 Legacy 3 See also 4 References 5 Sources Alleged works Titles of some plays have been attributed to Thespis. But most modern scholars, following the suggestion of Diogenes Laërtius, consider them to be forgeries, some forged by the philosopher Heraclides Ponticus, others by or altered by Christian writers : Contest of Pelias and Phorbas Hiereis ( Priests ) Himitheoi ( Demigods ) Pentheus Fragments ( probably spurious ) in A Nauck, Tragicorum graecorum fragmenta ( 1887 ). Legacy This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2017 ) It is implied that Thespis invented acting in the Western world, and that prior to his performances, no one had ever assumed the resemblance of another person for the purpose of storytelling. In fact, Thespis is the first known actor in written plays. He may thus have had a substantial role in changing the way stories were told and inventing theatre as we know it today. In reverence to Thespis, actors in the English - speaking part of the world have been referred to as thespians. Thespis was the title character in an 1871 comic opera by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, the first collaboration between the two men, although the musical score has mostly been lost. The story involves Thespis and his troupe of actors temporarily replacing the Gods of Olympus, while the latter come down to earth to `` mingle '' with humanity. Thespis is a 2014 UK film, produced by ACT 2 CAM. A branch of the National Theatre of Greece expressly instituted in 1939 to tour the country is named `` The Wagon of Thespis '' ( Greek : Άρμα Θέσπιδος, Árma Théspidos ) in his honour. A first season episode of the TV series Sports Night was named `` Thespis '' and referenced him. See also Aeschylus Aristophanes Aristotle Dionysia Euripides Phrynichus Solon Sophocles References Jump up ^ Buckham, Philip Wentworth, Theatre of the Greeks, Cambridge : J. Smith, 1827. Jump up ^ Horace, Ars Poetica 275 - 7 Jump up ^ Diogenes Laertius, Book V, Heraclides, 92 : `` And Aristoxenus the musician says, that he composed tragedies, and inscribed them with the name of Thespis. '' Jump up ^ A Nauck, Tragicorum graecorum fragmenta ( 1887 ), page 832 : `` Thespidis quaecumque feruntur ab impostoribus esse ficta vix est quod moneam, et proditur hoc fraudis genere usus esse Heraclides Ponticus... Heraclidis igitur crediderim esse fr. 1 - 3 ; nam fr. 4 non dubito quin alteri post Christum saeculo debeatur. '' Jump up ^ A Nauck, Tragicorum graecorum fragmenta ( 1887 ), page 832 - 833. Jump up ^ `` Libretto : `` Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old '' ``. The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive. Retrieved 2017 - 08 - 18. Sources Gaster, Theodor, H., Thespis : Ritual, Myth, and Drama in the Ancient Near East, Henry Schuman Publishing, New York, 1950. ISBN 0 - 87752 - 188 - 3. GND : 118997165 ISNI : 0000 0000 5537 0077 LCCN : nb2002083035 VIAF : 15570254 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thespis&oldid=846244764 '' Categories : Ancient Greek actors Greek male stage actors History of theatre 6th - century BC Athenians Tragic poets Hidden categories : Articles containing Ancient Greek - language text Articles needing additional references from November 2017 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Year of birth unknown Talk Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca Български Català Čeština Deutsch Ελληνικά Español فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Hrvatski Italiano עברית മലയാളം 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Slovenčina Српски / srpski Svenska Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Winaray 中文 19 more Edit links This page was last edited on 17 June 2018, at 11 : 49 ( UTC ). 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Question: who was the first known actor to act alone
Answer: Thespis