For courses in introduction to theatre or theatre appreciation, this text acquaints students with the theatre -- its artistic and social functions, its development, and how each of the theatre arts functions as a unit. Brockett has established a reputation in the thirty years since it was first published as a comprehensive, authoritative survey of the theatre. Students are introduced to many aspects of the theatre -- theatre as a form of art, critical approaches to theatre, script analysis, the various forms theatre has taken in the past and the present, and a description of how each of the theatre's arts function as a part of the total production.