p> A significant difference between the classical and Hellenistic performance areas was that the later-era theatre featured permanent stone theatre buildings, an innovation that occurred after the Golden Age development in the writing of plays. Another innovation was the use of a high stage, raised 8-13 feet above the orchestra level. A back wall of the stage, or episkenion, measured 8-13 feet high and doubled as the front wall of a roofed upper story (distegia) of the skene. At first, the episkenion had three doors, which could be used for entrances and exits; the structure itself was used by actors and for storage purposes. Gradually, the episkenion doors were converted into a series of up to seven openings, or thyromata, separated by columns. These could be used for entrances or, as with the proskenion, decorated with pinakes. The space behind the thyromata might be just as deep as the acting area in front of it.
The first floor of the stage was supported by the proskenion, which was long (up to 120 feet) and narrow (8-13 feet deep). Some but not all Hellenistic theatres also had paraskenia, or two wings on either side of the stage building. It is unclear whether the raised stage and orchestra were used in Hellenistic performance, or whether the orchestra was used for the older plays and the stage for the new ones. However, access from the orchestra level to the raised stage was accomplished by way of a ramp extending sideward from the stage floor to the orchestra level (Gassner 6-8 passim; Nicoll passim).
Nicoll makes the point that the Hellenistic innovations to the theatre plant did not occur all at the same time at all of the Hellenistic theatres. For example, the design of the proskenion associated with the theatre at Priene appears to have originated in Alexandria.
The relevance of the stage setting to the content of the plays is suggested in
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