Theater vs. Theatre

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 8:25pm

Both a theater company and a theater publication have announced that, after years using "theater," they are switching to "theatre."
What gives?

Theater vs. Theatre, revisited

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 8:37pm

I always spell it theatre. Someone asked me why I spelled it that way in high school, and I said "I just like it better that way" and that's how I've been unconsciously spelling it since. It seemed more, "fancy"? to my pubescent self.

Updated On: 1/6/15 at 08:37 PM

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 8:42pm

Delete...saw your link.

Updated On: 1/6/15 at 08:42 PM

[binau]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 8:44pm

I always spell it theatre because the English invented English.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 9:10pm

I once went to a theater company that stressed their use of "theater" over "Theatre."

The tagline was no joke "We give you theater not Theatre."

Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 9:29pm

For some reason I go to the theatre. But I see a movie in a theater

Odd

[Fantod]

#6Theater vs. Theatre

Posted: 1/6/15 at 9:32pm

Mr. Nowack, what was that even supposed to mean?

Updated On: 1/6/15 at 09:32 PM

[Liza's Headband]

#7Theater vs. Theatre

Posted: 1/6/15 at 9:46pm

Theater vs. theatre

In most contexts, there is no difference in meaning between theater and theatre. Neither has any special definitions in general usage. The main thing that most English speakers and learners need to know is that theater is the preferred spelling in American English, and theatre is preferred virtually everywhere else.

Some Americans do make distinctions—for instance, that a theater is a venue while theatre is an art form, or that a theater is a movie theater while a theatre is a drama venue. There is nothing wrong with making these distinctions, but they are not consistently borne out in general usage. Even in 21st-century writing on the art of theater, the more American spelling now appears for all senses of the word.

The American preference for theater is a late-20th-century development (though the spelling itself is a centuries-old variant), so it is understandable that some people still resist it, and its newness means that exceptions are very easily found, but in this century the preference is entrenched. Searching a selection of 40 American news and cultural publications that put their content online, theaters appears 8,500 times from 2000 to the present, against just under 200 instances of theatres. This just suggests that theater is the preferred spelling for actual venues (the art form is a mass noun so would only rarely be pluralized), which no one seems to dispute. What’s more interesting is that the phrase theater critic appears 260 times against three instances of theatre critic, theater actor appears 43 times against zero instances of theatre actor, theater scene appears 60 times against two instances of theatre scene, and the phrase contemporary theater appears 27 times against two instances of contemporary theatre (and both of these are in names of buildings).




SOURCE Updated On: 1/6/15 at 09:46 PM

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 9:57pm

I think it was attaching a pretentious connotation to the British spelling?? Like "we're not one of those hoity-toity theater troupes" or something.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 10:11pm

The American effort to reform the English spellings, I've read, began in the early 19th century for both cultural and political reasons. Americans preferred simplicity (honor is simpler than honour, program has fewer letters than programme, theater is closer to the way the word is pronounced.) Americans also wanted to distinguish themselves from their former colonizers.
I like these origins of "theater."

Updated On: 1/6/15 at 10:11 PM

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 1/6/15 at 10:22pm

Here's an interesting article on this issue.

You Write "Theatre," I Write "Theater"
by Anthony Chase

Here's one brief excerpt:

"The New York Times, America’s foremost arbiter of theatrical judgment, uses “theater,” and even goes so far as to change the spelling of a theater’s proper name from “Theatre” to “Theater” if it is listed among other theaters."

See link for the entire article.


Theatre v. Theater

Updated On: 1/8/15 at 10:22 PM

[JMPlayer6]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 10:04am

As a rule, I use "theater" to refer to the physical structure that houses a show (or movie or concert or performance) and "theatre" to refer to the art form of plays/musicals. As in: "Last night I went to the theater in Springfield to see some theatre."

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 10:19am

Sounds like they'll be raising their prices.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 10:42am

We don't spell center "centre" so why should we spell theater "theatre"?

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 10:52am

Personally I use the ER version as a generic reference and the RE version as a proper name.

I'm going to see HEDWIG in a theater tonight.
I'm going to see HEDWIG in the Belasco Theatre tonight.

Not sure why I do that, just a personal thing.

[helvizz]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 11:26am

theater, please. I really feel like we should try to spell the words the way we pronounce them (even though english doesn't really do that). Since the word is pronounced with -ter (like in monsTER) instead of -tre (like in TREk), I'm all for theater.

[artscallion]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 1:02pm

Like jmplayer6 I use theater for the building, theatre for the concept.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 11:38pm

Every dictionary says they mean exactly the same thing, and both spellings cover all meanings (whether building or art form or or movie house or legitimate house.) That so many people make up their own distinctions is a clear indication, at the very least, of a language in flux -- but at worst it's a mess. It makes you wish that the English language was ruled as autocratically as the French language.
And I agree completely with helvizz. We don't spell Twitter Twittre, or later latre.
As I say in my post, if they're going to spell it the “Walter Kerr Theatre” why not make it consistent and spell it the “Waltre Krre Theatre”?


Updated On: 1/8/15 at 11:38 PM

[Jingjo2]

Posted: 1/8/15 at 4:19am

I have always thought Theater = physical place (like even movie theaters) and Theatre = an artform


So like the theater company would be the one owning and renting out theaters (in the states of course)
And a theatre company is the one creating theatrical productions.

But I may be wrong because english is not my first language. I just thought it sounded right that way.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 1/8/15 at 4:31am

^Same.

I always thought "A theater is the place where you see theatre."

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 1/8/15 at 7:02am

The great William Shakespeare didn't bring you 'theater', he gave us that most excellent art form of 'theatre'.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/8/15 at 8:06am

Yeah but he also spelled his own name "Shakspere," so what did he know?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/8/15 at 10:37am

"We suspect that some Americans lean toward 'theatre' because of its British associations (just as the spelling “colour” appeals to Anglophile cosmetics manufacturers). In other words, it has snob appeal.

"The truth is that the spelling of this word has fluctuated over the centuries, and 'theatre' hasn’t always been the preference in the British Isles.

"The Oxford English Dictionary says the 'earliest recorded English forms, c1380, are theatre and teatre.' But, the OED adds, 'from c1550 to 1700, or later, the prevalent spelling was theater.'

"So Chaucer, writing in Middle English in the late 1300s, used 'theatre.' Two hundred years later, Shakespeare and Spenser used 'theater.'"


Link

[girlonbroadway]

Posted: 1/8/15 at 2:27pm

I've always used "theatre" with the building and performance and "theater" only for movie theaters. Not entirely sure why.

[Larcen26]

Posted: 1/8/15 at 4:27pm

For me, one is a building, the other is a concept.