1^st century

During the first few centuries of Roman theatrical practice, no permanent theatres were constructed at all; the first such theatre that of Pompey, was not built until 55 B.C. Numerous wooden theatres, sometimes extremely elaborate ones, are known to have been built, but were always torn down afterwards. Little can be known about these stages beyond what can be deduced from the surviving plays themselves, by the Roman comic authors Plautus and Terence.

In 55 BC Pompey erected the first permanent stone theater at Rome. (http://www.kvl.cch.kcl.ac.uk/vrpom01.html)

There must, however,  have still been some opposition, for the theater was constructed in such a way that it could be seen as serving a religious purpose rather than for mere entertainment.   A temple of Venus was placed at the top of the seating area

This is the century when the roman phase began in the history of Dionysus’ theater. In 61BC Claudius Novius gave a whole new image to the stage (scaenae frons). The new image of the two-storied stage presented a very rich structure. It was decorated with thyromata (small doors or windows),temples (aediculae), pillars and statues and sculptures (of the emperor and his family).

Also the skene was united with the koilon over the parodoi and balconies were created (tribunalia).

The show was given on an elevated platform (pulpitum).

Surrounding the uppermost row of seating at the top of the cavea is a colonnaded gallery with vaulted arches. This sheltered (praecinctio  = the gangway in the cavea of a theater, circus, or amphitheater that separated the different zones of seating, diazoma in Greek theater) walkway with its of arches serves as a convenient access to the various seating sections and also contributes to the excellent acoustics. 

The vomitoria were the entrances or exits for the audience to these passageways (praecinctiones).

 

The orchestra became smaller due to the richer structure and the circular area became a petal shaped semi-circle. 

At the same time the floor was covered with marble. The marbled parapet, which came from the first century, encircled the orchestra to protect the viewers during the duels. On the other hand because of that visibility of the viewers in the first seats was limited so they built the honorable seats in higher spots. A tent (velum or velarium) was used to protect the spectators from sun or rain.