So contemporary is the art of theatre that it must often seem a root-
less phenomenon to the new audiences of the present day. But the
present grows out of the past; "the past is prologue." Excepting
poetry itself, the drama is man's oldest artistic statement. Acting, in
one form or another, goes back to the very roots of civilization.

Theatre is an eclectic art form. It selects from literature, from
music, from dance, from the spoken word, from architecture, from
sculpture, and from painting elements which, when combined, make
a new creation. In its long-lived and widespread manifestations, the-
atre has from time to time stressed one or the other of these elements.
It has existed without literature, without the spoken word, without
the graphic arts. Pantomime has flourished; pure declamation tri-
umphed. But in its greatest periods and its finest productions, it has
shown a judicious selection and artistic arrangement of most of these
elements.

Whatever the selection and arrangement of theatre's artistic com-
ponents, two literal and practical elements have been everywhere
and at all times present in theatre--the actor and the audience.
Theatre has always been the most social of all the arts and cannot
exist without this actor-audience relationship and communication.
The function of the actor may be circumscribed, enhanced, or sup-
plemented by text, playhouse, setting, costuming--by any and all of

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