An act is a major division of a theatre work, including a play, film, opera, or musical theatre, consisting of one or more scenes. The term can either refer to a conscious division placed within a work by a playwright (usually itself made up of multiple scenes) or a unit of analysis for dividing a dramatic work into sequences. As applied, those definitions may or may not align. The word act can also be used for major sections of other entertainment, such as variety shows, television programs, music hall performances, cabaret, and literature. Acts and scenes An act is a part of a play defined by elements such as rising action, climax, and resolution. A scene normally represents actions happening in one place at one time, and is marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a black-out, or a brief emptying of the stage. To be more specific, the elements that create the plot of a play and divide it into acts include the exposition, which gives information, setting up the rest of the story. Another element is the inciting incident, which starts all the action that will follow. Going along with the inciting incident, the major dramatic question is formed, which holds the rest of the play. The majority of the play is made up of complications, which change the action. These complications lead to the crisis, which is the final plot point. At this point, the major dramatic question has usually been answered. Finally, there is "the resolution, also known as the denouement", which is the end of the play, where everything comes together and the situation has been resolved, leaving the audience satisfied with the play as a whole. These more specific elements of plot are the main things used to divide a play into acts and sometimes scenes, Sometimes the play may not end as a resolved situation, it may leave the audience on a peak and have a sequel to it. Though there is no limit to the number of acts in a dramatic work, some may have been derived from different interpretations of Aristotle's Poetics, in which he stresses the primacy of plot over character and "an orderly arrangement of parts" and others may have been derived from Freytag's Pyramid. History Roman theatre was the first to divide plays into a number of acts separated by intervals. Acts may be further divided