The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to theatre:

Theatre – the generic term for the performing arts and a usually collaborative form of fine art involving live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event (such as a story) through acting, singing, and/or dancing before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of speech, gesture, mime, puppets, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed any one or more elements of the other performing arts. Elements of design and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience.

Theatre may be described as all of the following:

History of theatre includes:

Chronological movements of the Western tradition include:

African theatre includes:

Asian theatre includes:

There are a variety of genres that writers, producers and directors can employ in theatre to suit a variety of tastes: