drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

, a protasis is the introductory part of a play, usually its first act. The term was coined by the fourth-century

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

grammarian

Aelius Donatus Aelius Donatus (; fl. mid-fourth century AD) was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. Works He was the author of a number of professional works, of which several are extant: *Ars maior – A commentary on Latin grammar. * Ars minor – ...

. He defined a play as being made up of three separate parts, the other two being epitasis and

catastrophe Catastrophe or catastrophic comes from the Greek κατά (''kata'') = down; στροφή (''strophē'') = turning ( el, καταστροφή). It may refer to: A general or specific event * Disaster, a devastating event * The Asia Minor Catastro ...

. In modern

dramatic theory Dramatic theory is a term used for works that attempt to form theories about theatre and drama. Examples of ancient dramatic theory include Aristotle's ''Poetics'' from Ancient Greece and Bharata Muni's '' Natyasastra'' from ancient India ...

the term

dramatic arc Dramatic structure (also known as dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of dramatic structures worldwide which have been hypothesized by critics, writers and scholar ...

has substantially the same meaning, though with slightly different divisions.

References

Drama Ancient Greek theatre {{drama-stub