Theatre in The Round

Theatre In The Round

Theater-in-the-round or arena theater (also referred as central staging) is any theatre space in which the audience surrounds the stage area. In 1947, Margo Jones established America's first professional theater-in-the-round company when she opened her Theater ’47 in Dallas.

As developed by Margo Jones, her theater-in-the-round concept requires no stage curtain, little scenery and allows the audience to sit on all sides of the stage. That stage design was used by directors in later years for such well-known shows as the original stage production of Man of La Mancha and all plays staged at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre (demolished in the late 1960s), including Arthur Miller's autobiographical After the Fall. Such theaters had previously existed in colleges but not in professional spaces for almost two millennia. It is also a popular setup used in contemporary pop concerts in an arena or stadium setting.