The term "drama" comes from the Greek word for "action." Attending dramatic performances gained popularity in ancient Greece, and the form survives--in much more elaborate form--today. The two masks commonly associated with drama represent the traditional sub-genres of comedy and tragedy. However many great playwrights--including Shakespeare--have played with the overlap of and boundaries between tragedy and comedy. Technically the term "drama" applies only to a specific type of play from the nineteenth century, but today we use the word more broadly to refer to any work of fiction intended for stage performance.