The Piarist theatre flourished in colleges run by the Piarist Order. The Piarists set up schools at Rzeszów (1658), Chełm (before 1695), Waręż (1680), Złoczów (1731) and Lviv (1756). Theatricals were organized in each college, probably with the exception of Lviv. The Piarist theatre offered amateur performances, produced with a fairly straightforward didactic, religious or cultural purpose. They were watched not only by fellow-students, but also members of the public that thronged to see the young actors on stage. Performances were usually put on to mark the beginning and the end of the school year, Church festivals, visits of important guests, weddings or funerals of benefactors, etc. The themes were most often historical, taken from classical antiquity or the history of modern nation states (Sweden, England, Switzerland, Albania, and of course Poland). Short plays of two to three acts seem to have been the norm; longer plays (four to nine acts) were less common. The stage action was accompanied by music and singing; the acting was done by students from the higher grades. The plays were usually written by the local teachers, though in the course of the 18th century adaptations of renowned playwrights of the time (Racine, Voltaire, Bohomolec) also found their way onto the Piarist school stage.