drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

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

Aelius Donatus Aelius Donatus (; fl. mid-fourth century AD) was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. He once taught Jerome, an early Christian Church father who is most known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, known as the Latin Vulgate. N ...

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

epitasis In classical drama, the epitasis () is the main action of a play, in which the trials and tribulations of the main character increase and build toward a climax and dénouement. It is the third and central part when a play is analyzed into five s ...

and catastrophe. In modern

dramatic theory Dramatic theory attempts to form theories about theatre and drama. Drama is defined as a form of art in which a written play is used as basis for a performance. Dramatic theory is studied as part of theatre studies. Drama creates a sensory impre ...

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

References

Drama Ancient Greek theatre {{drama-stub