Theatre (in American English usually theater) is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance. Elements of design and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, “a place for viewing”) and θεάομαι (theáomai, “to see", "to watch", "to observe”).

Noun

Ryazan drama theatre theatre (plural theatres)

1. (UK) Alternative spelling of theater.
2. (US) Often used specifically of playhouses and drama, so as to distinguish from moviehouses and cinema.

Usage notes

• The spelling theatre is the main spelling in Commonwealth English, with theater being rare.
• The spelling theater is the predominant American spelling; it accounts for about 80% of usage in COCA (the major corpus of American English).