* Definition: A play that is designed to make the audience laugh.
* Examples: William Shakespeare's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, Aristophanes' _The Clouds_, and George Bernard Shaw's _Pygmalion_.
Tragedy
* Definition: A play that is characterized by serious and somber events, and often ends with the protagonist's death.
* Examples: William Shakespeare's _Romeo and Juliet_, Sophocles' _Oedipus the King_, and Arthur Miller's _Death of a Salesman_.
History
* Definition: A play that is based on real historical events or figures.
* Examples: William Shakespeare's _Henry V_, Bertolt Brecht's _Mother Courage and Her Children_, and Robert Bolt's _A Man for All Seasons_.
Musical
* Definition: A play that incorporates music, singing, and dancing.
* Examples: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's _Jesus Christ Superstar_, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin's _Porgy and Bess_, and Stephen Sondheim's _Sweeney Todd_.
Drama
* Definition: A play that is serious in tone and deals with important social or moral issues.
* Examples: Arthur Miller's _The Crucible_, Tennessee Williams' _A Streetcar Named Desire_, and Henrik Ibsen's _A Doll's House_.
Farce
* Definition: A lighthearted and exaggerated comedy that is full of physical humor and slapstick.
* Examples: Molière's _Tartuffe_, Georges Feydeau's _A Flea in Her Ear_, and Carlo Goldoni's _The Servant of Two Masters_.
Melodrama
* Definition: A play that is characterized by exaggerated emotions, sensational plot twists, and a clear division between good and evil.
* Examples: Dion Boucicault's _The Poor of New York_, Douglas Jerrold's _Black-Eyed Susan_, and Mary Pix's _The Spanish Wives_.