BEHIND THE CURTAIN

What is Theater?

By Christopher Raymond

In his book, Poetics, Aristotle defines drama, or more broadly, theater as "performance of imitation for spectators". The imitation being that of all human action. He claimed theater's purpose was to use mimesis for an audience to evoke some form of catharsis. A thoughtful and insightful definition. And the beauty of its simplicity has quite the awe factor. 

But it is a definition that was obviously formed before the time of any other form of performance art. Before radio, movies, television, or Taylor Swift concerts. So now that we have those things, now that we have all this technology and theater as we know it is changing in front of our eyes, how does our definition change? Aristotle's definition is vague and leaves room for a lot of growth. In the coming months, I am going to ask; What is our new definition of theater? Do we need a new definition? And does the artform change with us or do we change with this artform that maybe is naturally evolving?

Theater, like all art, has changed drastically over the years. But what makes theater different from other artforms in this respect, is that it has changed so much in just the past decade. Even in the last 5 years. We have mostly technology and a struggle to survive to thank for that.

Technology changes everything in society. And theater along with it. From the obvious things like projections and videos, to the not so obvious like lights and sound, producing a play in 2025 is a different beast than it was in 2019. This is leading to one of the biggest arguments in theater circles today. What counts as theater anymore? Broadway’s current production of Sunset Boulevard begins with one of the lead actors walking down New York City's streets singing into a camera and the audience watching a livestream until he eventually enters the theater. It may be live, but so is live tv. Does watching Disney’s live recording of Hamilton count as a night out at the theater? Using projections in place of a set is the new big thing on Broadway right now, but isn’t the physical set part of the theatrical experience? During the pandemic the go to way to do theatrical productions was over zoom. But where’s the stage then? Some would argue the audience now lacks the feeling of experiencing the performance together which Aristotle considered vital to theater as an art. But these types of productions were necessary to keep people safe.

Believe it or not, Broadway has still not fully recovered from closing during the lock down. Neither has community theater, really. This has caused two responses among theaters. Some have decided to do the most commercially safe shows to bring in large audiences, and some have taken huge artistic swings with new, different plays. Let’s not forget that the pandemic was also a time of civil unrest around the country. BLM protests and marches took the US by storm, and Broadway reacted by trying to give opportunities to lesser heard voices. Unfortunately, neither response seems to be working to bring back the pre-pandemic crowd sizes. Shows are closing faster and faster, and people are struggling to find the right solution.

These are just some of the recent changes in theater. In the next few articles, I will be talking to members of New Surry Theatre to get their take on the rapidly changing artform we know as theater.