of the skene wasused for the actors to change costumes and to store various machines used throughout theperformance. 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 canvaseson the skene to help create the appropriate mood and setting of the play. With the adventof the new skene came remodeled paradoi. The paradoi served as a side entrance foraudience members as well as a means of entering and exiting the stage for the actors. Ifsomeone was entering from the right parodos, it meant that he was coming from the cityor the port. If he was coming from the left parodos, he was coming from the fields orabroad. As time went on, the paradoi became known for their beautifully decorated gatesand hallways (Nicoll 12). Along with the advent of painted canvases, the decoratedparadoi indicate the growing importance of mood and atmosphere of the productions. Onelast change was the wing space that was added on both sides of the orchestra. Thesewings were officially called paraskenia. Each of the paraskenia measured about 16.5 feetdeep and 23 feet wide. After their inception into the theater they became heavily used in avariety of performances (Allen 11). The paraskenia added an element of depth and heightto the sides of the orchestra that was not there before. The final type of theater came tofruition towards the end of the second century B.C., when the Roman influence becamemore prominent. The Romans had conquered the Greeks, and began changing everythingin society, including the theater. Graeco-Roman theaters were built, bringing about evenmore changes to the physical appearance of the theater. The Graeco-Roman era fusedtogether the ideas of Romans and Greeks into the theater. These theaters had a largertheatron, so that more people were able to attend performances. The lower level of seatswas built at the same level as the orchestra, and the backgr...
