{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.015873015873015872, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.087719298245614, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Theater without Theaters: Seeing Plays the Roman Way

summary:The Roman plays we know best, the comedies of Plautus and Terence, were first performed when we know least about where and how plays were staged. Greater attention to production values and advances in the study of Roman material culture offer new insights. This essay looks specifically at the Forum Romanum, a documented site for theatrical and gladiatorial shows in Republican Rome, combining textual and material evidence with computer-generated models to explore the possibilities for performances in this area. How the venue may have shaped the extant texts and what those texts may reveal about the venue are also considered.