November 23: Thespians and Teachers

On 23 November 534 BCE, Θέσπις (Thespis) became the first person to appear on stage as an actor; someone who takes on a role other than him/herself.

Thespis began his career as someone who performed διθύραμβος (dithyrambs) which were sung in honor of the god Dionysus. Prior to his taking on the role of actor, stories like dithyrambs were told in the third person and performers did not present themselves as if they were another person.

I first heard of Thespis when Leeds Bird told the story of a very drunk man who, during intermission, stepped up onto the stage of a play he and his wife Margaret were attending. The man slurred, “Look, I’m a thespian!” None of the teenagers in his high school drama class understood the joke so Leeds patiently explained to us that a thespian is an actor.

Thespis could not have known that more than 2,500 years after his death that his name would be synonymous with acting. And Bird could not have realized that a story he told to his high school students more than 35 years ago would be repeated today.

While it is unlikely that the names of Leeds and Margaret Bird will ever be enshrined in Wikipedia, their influence—like the influence of millions of other teachers—lives on in their students. Not only do I remember the story of Thespis, but my introduction to film appreciation began in Leeds’ classroom; an appreciation I now share with the students in the classes I teach.

The day before I drafted this memorable moment, my partner and I were sitting on the front porch enjoying what, for November, was lovely Michigan weather. During our discussion, I cited a lesson that I learned in Margaret’s class; that it is not curiosity but lack of curiosity that killed the cat. It is a lesson that informs my life and one which I try to pass on to my students.
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It is worth taking time to reflect on the memorable moments provided by the teachers who influenced us.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Photo Caption: Leeds and Margaret Bird.

Although Today in History is primarily student written, there are some days when we do not have a student author. You will enjoy another student entry on November 25.

Posted on November 23, 2013 by stevenlberg
Categories: American History: Modern, Michigan History, World History: Ancient
Tags: entertainment, Greece, theater, United States

8 Responses

Mark Harris says:

23 November 2012 at 2:46 am

What a great “Today” for the day after Thanksgiving.

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Debbie says:

23 November 2012 at 11:11 am

We were all so blessed to have had Mr. and Mrs. Bird as teachers in high school!! Many, many valuable lessons were learned while in their classrooms!!

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Katelyn Pollack says:

26 November 2012 at 9:59 pm

I found this article to be very interesting because theater has always been a big part of my life and my family. I’ve always been inspired by playwrights like William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was considered to be one of the greatest playwrights in history. Some of his plays were performed at the Globe theater, which opened in the autumn of 1599. It was a momentous occasion because it was the first playhouse constructed and built by actors for actors. Sadly, on June 29th 1613, a canon set fire to the theater and it was burnt to the ground. During it’s time, it was a stage for some of the greatest works of Shakespeare such as Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, and King Lear.

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Adam Clark says:

2 December 2012 at 11:32 pm

Along with being a historic day in the world of the stage, November 23rd was also a historic day for music technology as the first jukebox went into operation on this day in 1889. The first jukebox was installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. Early designs of jukeboxes were merely altered phonographs, changed so that you had to put in a coin in order to listen at one of the attached horns. The pioneers of the jukebox were Louis Glass and William S. Arnold, who created the predecessor to the jukebox , the nickel-in-the-slot phonograph, in 1890; the rest is, as they say, history.

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david collins says:

3 December 2012 at 1:05 pm

That was incredibly interesting, especially for someone like me, a member of the International Thespian Society. There have been studies done that show those of us that enjoy acting and especially those that seek it as a career experience an loss of self, the locust of identity for thespians seems to be exterior. They don’t quite now who they are as a person because the spend so much time trying to be someone else. Mainstream artists even today express this same feeling, Leonardo Dicaprio in preparing for the Aviator, a movie about a Howard Hughes; an incredibly successful aeronautical engineer who suffered an extreme case of Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorder, admitted to digressing back to his own Obsessive-Compulsive tendencies and that they became more dramatic after the role. James Franco during the movie James Dean, the story of a deeply troubles actor, became socially isolated from everyone in his life and fell into depression. These are just a few examples of how the human psyche can be dramatically influenced by acting, continuously being someone else and not being able to develop yourself as a person.

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Heather Daugherty says:

5 December 2012 at 11:27 am

This was a very interesting post, in my opinion. I always found the history of weird and random “things” to be interesting and fun to learn about. I didn’t know until recently that woman were not allowed to act on stage, so young men that didn’t hit puberty yet would play the role of the woman part.
Also during the Christian rule of Rome, acting and putting on plays slowly began to decrease. However some form of entertainment was kept alive through jugglers and mimes in local markets or town fairs.
It wasn’t until the 18th century that acting was considered a real profession.

http://www.acting-classes-online-tips.com/acting-history.html

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Austin Henson says:

5 December 2012 at 5:01 pm

The part in this Today in History where you said ” Thespis could not have known that more than 2,500 years after his death that his name would be synonymous with acting. ” made me think of something very interesting. Soldiers who experienced the terrible scenes of death and gore came home hoping to forget those memories. Yet later in their lifetimes war was made into fun. Through the use of video games. The Call of Duty franchise has turned war games into a past time. War is almost looked at as a fun almost competitive like sport. This being said i was wondering what veterans would think of it today?

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Hannah Weaver says:

9 December 2012 at 3:44 pm

Hundreds of years after Thespis first acted on stage, people are still embracing the art and history of the theatre and acting. The International Thesipan Society is one way people keep this tradition alive. This organization embraces theatrical culture as well as achieving academic success. Since its formation in the spring of 1929, students are given an opportunity to shine on stage and be enriched in the timeline of theatre, all thanks to Thespis.

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