Max Reinhardt, orig. Max Goldmann, (born Sept. 9, 1873, Baden, near Vienna, Austria—died Oct. 31, 1943, New York, N.Y., U.S.), German theatrical director. After studying drama in Vienna and acting in Salzburg, he joined Otto Brahm’s company in Berlin in 1894. Reinhardt directed his first play in 1902 and managed a small theatre from 1903. He had directed more than 40 plays by 1905, when he became famous for his creative staging of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He bought Berlin’s Deutsches Theater and remodeled it with the latest innovations in scenic design and lighting. Known for the extravagant theatricality and stunning visual effects of his productions, he won much praise for his staging of the religious spectacle The Miracle (1911). In 1920 he cofounded the Salzburg Festival, where he staged Jedermann (an adaptation of Everyman) in the cathedral square. He left Germany in 1933 and eventually settled in the U.S. A major influence on 20th-century drama, he helped increase the creative authority of the director.
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