the back wall through which actors could enter and exit the orchestra. The interior of the skene was used for the actors to change costumes and to store various machines used throughout the performance. The faade of the skene was often made to resemble a temple or palace. Sophocles, playwright of the fourth century, was one of the firsts to hang painted canvases on the skene to help create the appropriate mood and setting of the play. With the advent of the new skene came remodeled paradoi. The paradoi served as a side entrance for audience members as well as a means of entering and exiting the stage for the actors. If someone was entering from the right parodos, it meant that he was coming from the city or the port. If he was coming from the left parodos, he was coming from the fields or abroad. As time went on, the paradoi became known for their beautifully decorated gates and hallways (Nicoll 12). Along with the advent of painted canvases, the decorated paradoi indicate the growing importance of mood and atmosphere of the productions. One last change was the wing space that was added on both sides of the orchestra. These wings were officially called paraskenia. Each of the paraskenia measured about 16.5 feet deep and 23 feet wide. After their inception into the theater they became heavily used in a variety of performances (Allen 11). The paraskenia added an element of depth and height to the sides of the orchestra that was not there before.The final type of theater came to fruition towards the end of the second century B.C., when the Roman influence became more prominent. The Romans had conquered the Greeks, and began changing everything in society, including the theater. Graeco-Roman theaters were built, bringing about even more changes to the physical appearance of the theater. The Graeco-Roman era fused together the ideas of Romans and Greeks into the theater. These theaters had a larger theatron, so that more people w...
