The proscenium arch perfectly framed ... framing the action onstage and creating a fourth wall between audience and characters. This classic stage type originated during the Italian Renaissance.

Get Access To Every Broadway Story Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click. Not all stages are created equal.

In this format, an overhead arch separates the audience from performers with the invisible “fourth wall ... whereas in a proscenium format, you’re worrying more about a stage picture ...

No real scene ever did look like a scene of the stage. That is true in greater or less degree whether the scene be a forest, waving like a set of green banners behind the proscenium, or a street ...