The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-10-15
BIRTHPLACE OF THE DRAMA
DR. DOERPFELD,S FINAL SUBJECT,
 "THE GREEK THEATER."

 Theaters Rebuilt by Romans.
 Little did Vitruvius dream how knot later, modern times, when in describing the Greek theater he stated precisely that there was a "stage, from ten to twelve feet high" Subsequent scholars of all ages havesbeen fruitlessly at- tempting to reconcile the apparent and appalling inconsistencies between the stage as described by Vitruvius, and CD the remains of old theaters found; for none have any elevated stage; CD the absence of any relief on vases or in- scriptions Illustrating the old theater with any stage, and (3( the nature of the plays once acted in the Greek thea- ters, in which plays many episodes oc- cur absolutely incompatible with any elevated staging.
 Dr. Doerpfeld went right at the heart of the erroneous supposition, by de- claring that the inference Is all against the elevated stage; all in favor of the stageless theater.
 Vitruvius' account describes 8 skene a prosecution, and an orchestra, the first, the skene was a structure back of the prosceniun; the orchestra was a circular or semi-circular space below and before the tiers of rising seats in the circular form about it; the prosce- nion was, as all excavations point, and all pictures show, a row of columns be- fore the scene, and roofed over, form ing sort of porch, adjoining the build ing in the rear, the scene. The upper part of the scene was called the episke- nion, the upper story, merely, with a door opening out, probably, upon the roof of the prosceniun. It was this roof ten or twelve feet high, that Vii truvius called the stage proper where the actors stood and where they spoke. It was this exact and unequivocal statement that has caused such trouble to later scholars, philologists and archt- tects.
 Many ancient theaters have been un- earthed; at Athens, at Epirus, at Delos, in Boeotia, in Asia Minor and the Pe- lopennesus; none. however, shows any trace of even a slight elevation for the stage The theaters found differ much from one another, but all agree exactly in one particular-they have no stag ing.
 The theater of Dionysus, found in the south part ofthe Acrocoplis of Athens, is one of the most important It is pe- culiarly interesting, because 1t is the oldest theater in Greece, and because it has undergone 50 many changes since the plays of Euripides and Sophocles were acted within it.
 Pausanius described it, and the record he has left agrees precisely with the structure as proved by the ruins. A temple of Dionysus stood near by, for his worship was peculiar to Athens, and fostered by the Dionysiae festivals in his honor. The orchestra in this was full circle, an open arena, in the cen- ter of which stood an altar of the god; the first row of seats formed by mar ble throens, whereon sat the priests of the god and the one who presided over the games and plays. Back of this first row, rising tiers above tiers, the seats were arranged in an arch-form from one side of the prosceniun, around to the other, leaving but passage way,
 
 end of the tiers of seats and the pros- ceniun.
 The theater was built by Nero, and the Roman theater, while keeping the main outlines, differed in several im- portant particulars. The orchestra was excavated several feet lower, forming a pit fenced off from the first row of seats by marble railing, as balustrade; a, slight elevation was thus given to the space immediate in front of the pros- cenium, and here Nero built low stage, with steps leading from it down into the pit or arena; in the arena, however, in- stead of dancing ohoruses and actors the Romans loved best to watch the fights Of men and beasts, Nero even making arrangements for flooding the space and giving mock sea-fghts there. The presceniun of the earliest theater was of wood; later, of stone.
 The theater found in Attica before the American school began It's excava- tions, has not complete circle for the centrally located orchestra. The seats were rougher and more primitive in form than at Athens. The wooden scene and proscenium continued to be the uSudi, dllu Lue OLlly lOIIu ulAtAI LHO time of Euripides.
 Then came the fiourishing time of Greek tragedy in the fourth century, B. C., and the new theaters all had the full circle for the orchestra space; marble columns formed the prosceni- um in the form of facade.
 The enigma of former scholars, the vexed question of recent years is: Was the roof of the proscenium the stage, where the actors Cor actor, for at first there was only a single actor) stood? The orchestra was the space allotted for the chorus; on this all are agreed and all proofs go to show that here, in the central arena, the chorus, usually of Grecian girls, danced, sang and car / ried on the dialogue with the chief &C., tors
 If stage ten or twelve feet high l were erected before the proscenium, . the beautiful carvings and reliefs of the facade forming the proscenium, would be utterly hidden and hence use less; if the roof of the eproscenium form ed thestage proper, as VitruvuS de- cIared, then stairs would be needed to lead from orchestra up to the stage; but in either case how could play be