The goal of this introductory course is to describe the development of practical and theoretical conceptions of Drama, Theatre and Performance between the middle of the 19^th century and the 1930s of the 20^th century. We shall explore the close interaction between these aesthetic phenomena and the broader artistic and extra-artistic contexts in which they are embedded, on which they react, and which they – to a considerable extent – generate. We intend to define the notions of "Modernity", "Modernism", "Postmodernism" and "Avantgarde", as well as scrutinize the creators, and analyze the aesthetic and philosophical movements and schools subsumed under these meta-concepts, regarding their accustomed denotations as relative, and considering them as phenomena that entertain a constant reciprocal correspondence of action and reaction among them. Another issue that will be discussed is the gradual transition from the hegemony of the written, "literary" drama to that of its theatrical enunciation, and from the text-based theatre production to the "performative event" and "Performance Art".