An auditorium (plural auditoriums, or less commonly auditoria) is the area within a theatre, concert hall, or other performance space where the audience is located in order to hear and watch the performance. This article is about venues for live Theatre performances for information about venues for Film projection see Movie theater. A concert hall is a cultural building which serves as performance venue chiefly for classical instrumental music For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is also expressed as the number of screens. Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue

The term is taken from Latin; the concept is taken from the Greek auditorium which had a series of semi-circular seating shelves in the theatre, divided by broad 'belts', called diazomata, with eleven rows of seats between each. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The theatre of ancient Greece, or ancient Greek drama, is a theatrical Culture that flourished in ancient Greece between c

The auditorium of the Municipal Theatre, Regensburg, Germany

Modern auditorium structure

The audience in a modern theatre are usually separated from the performers by the proscenium arch, although other types of stage are common. Proscenium theatre is a Theatre space whose primary feature is a large Archway (the proscenium arch) at or near the front of the stage, through In Theatre, the stage (sometimes referred to as the deck in Stagecraft) is a designated space for the Performance of theatrical productions

The price charged for seats in each part of the auditorium (known colloquially as the house) usually varies according to the quality of the view of the stage. The seating areas can include some or all of the following:

• Stalls or arena: the lower flat area, usually below or at the same level as the stage.
• Balconies or galleries: one or more raised seating platforms towards the rear of the auditorium. Balcony (from Italian balcone, scaffold cf High German balcho, beam balk probably cognate with Persian term بالكانه In larger theatres, multiple levels are stacked vertically above or behind the stalls. The first level is usually called the dress circle or grand circle. The highest platform, or upper circle is sometimes known as the gods, especially in large opera houses, where the seats can be very high and a long distance from the stage.
• Boxes: typically placed immediately to the front, side and above the level of the stage. Elaborate wood box Tom TanakaJPG|thumb|An elaborate wooden box]] Box describes a variety of containers and receptacles They are often separate rooms with an open viewing area which typically seat five people or less. These seats are typically considered the most prestigious of the house. A state box or royal box is sometimes provided for dignitaries.

Etymology

In a church, the auditorium is also called the nave, where hearers stood to be instructed. In Romanesque and Gothic Christian Abbey, Cathedral Basilica and church Architecture, the nave is the

In a monastery, an auditorium is an apartment for the reception of strangers. This article concerns the buildings occupied by monastics. For the life inside monasteries and its historical roots see Monasticism.

See also

• Concert hall
• Noise mitigation
• Smoking ban
• Auditorium Building

External links

• Concert hall acoustics on-line exhibition