Alfred Jarry [1873 – 1907]FRENCH Pioneering work in the field of absurdist literature …Ubu Roi 1896Forerunner to the Surrealist theatre of the 1920s and 1930sAnti art establishment

Constantine Stanislavski [1863 – 1938] RUSSIANStanislavski's work was as important to the development of social realism in the Russia as it was to that of psychological realism in the United States

Vsevolod Myerhold [1874 – 1940]RUSSIAN – part of the Russian constructionists – developed Biomechanics – influenced Brecht’s work…

Erwin Piscator [1893 – 1966] GERMANPolitical dramatist…worked along side Brecht

Jacques Copeau [1879 – 1949]FRENCH theatre critic, actor and director – opened his own theatreHe eventually organized a theatre school attached to his theatre and thus influenced the development of theatre through the training of the actor.He believed that French theatre had fallen prey to the artificiality that he considered an obstacle to real artistic creation.

Bertolt Brecht [1898 – 1956] GERMAN

Edward Gordon Craig [1872 – 1966] ENGLISHCraig asserted that the director was "the true artist of the theatre" and, controversially, suggested viewing actors as no more important than marionettes. He designed and built elaborately symbolic sets; for instance, a set composed of his patented movable screens for the Moscow Art Theatre of Hamlet. .

Antoine Artaud [1896 – 1948] FRENCH

Andre Breton [1896 – 1966] FRENCH

Lee Strasberg [1901 – 1982] The Actors Centre AMERICAN

Stella Alder [1901 - 1992] Group Theatre AMERICAN

Viola Spolin [1906 – 1994] AMERICANShe created directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices through improvisation, as if in real life…

Samuel Beckett [1906 – 1989] IRISH Existentialist…who sought to reveal human preoccupation of searching for meaning in an alien and meaningless world…because we are all subject to death.

Eugène Ionesco [1909 – 1994]ROMANIAN and FRENCH playwright and dramatist …one of the foremost playwrights of the theatre of the absurd … that depicted the solitude and insignificance of human existence…and that our only response was to find it liberating…funny

The Living Theatre -Julian Beck & Judith Malina [1947] AMERICAN The Living Theatre pioneered the unconventional staging of theatre pieces

In the mid-1960s, the company began a new life as a nomadic touring ensemble

In the 1970s …a cycle of plays for non-traditional venues…the prisons of Brazil

The 1980′s saw the group return to the theater, where they developed new participatory techniques that enable the audience to first rehearse with the company and then join them on stage as fellow performers.

Joan Littlewood [1914 – 2002] ENGLISHTrained at RADA…dissatisfied…developed the left-wing Theatre Workshop…inviting people that were walking past to join in.

Jacques Lecoq [1921 – 1999] FRENCHMost famous for his methods on physical theatre, movement and mime that he taught at the school he founded in Paris The International School of Theatre Jacques Lecoq

Heiner Muller [1929 – 1995] GERMANHis "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" were/are a major influence postmodern drama and postdramatic theatre.

Peter Brook [1925 - ] ENGLISH

Jerzy Grotowski [1933 – 1999] POLISHVia-negativa

Augusto Boal [1931 – 2009]BRAZILIAN theatre director, writer and politician. He was the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed - a theatrical form originally used in radical popular education movements to discuss and express issues concerning citizenship, culture and various forms of oppression using theatrical language.

Wole Soyinka [1934 - ] NIGERIAN – Playwright and Poet Political and social dramatist - work with local communities in analyzing their problems and to

express some of their grievances in dramatic sketches - used many established myths.

Caryl Churchill [1938 - ] ENGLISHImprovisational writing – social and political themes – interrogation of gender stereotypes

Ariane Mnouchkine [1939 - ]FRENCH stage director - founded the Parisian avant-garde theater ensemble Théâtre du Soleil in 1964, which still continues to create social and political critiques of local and world cultures.

Richard Forman [1937 - ] American playwright and avant-garde theater pioneer. He is the founder of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater - seeks to produce works that balance a minimal style with extremely complex and theatrical themes

JoAnne Akalaitis [1937 - ] Mabou Mines Theatre Company - AMERICANTheatre Director and writer…

Steven Berkoff [1937 - ] ENGLISHBerkoff employs a style of heightened physical theatre known as "total theatre”…this kind of theatre is so powerful, so visceral, that it forces audiences to react: either they flee the building or they are convinced that it is the best thing they have ever seen…

Tadashi Suzuki [1939 - ] JAPANESECreator of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training…which connected the traditions of Japanese theatre training [Noh theatre] with those of the “West” – Shakespeare

Robert Wilson [1941 - ] AMERICANTheatre Artist - he has worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video artist, and sound and lighting designer – he is concerned with the languages of theatre…

Pina Bausch [1940 – 2009] GERMAN – Tanztheatre

Sam Shepard [1943 - ] AMERICAN Writer and performer…explored what was meant by identity and belonging – the American myth…

Meredith Monk [1942 - ] AMERICANMonk created multi-disciplinary works, which combined music, theatre, and dance – kinda like the American Pina Bausch.

Howard Barker [1946 - ] ENGLISHTheatre of Catastrophe: The achievement of Barker's work has been its exemplification of the obligation of choice or refusal for the audience and performers alike. This works by throwing their sense of experience into flux. Through drama which pursues to the boundaries of the tolerable and explodes them. The relentless refusal of the expected, and the excess of transforming experiences is the essence of dramatic experience, involving the bewilderment of the audience in the face of persistent dislocation. The sense of having witnessed too much is crucial. It leads not to drunkenness or a reeling exhaustion but a roaring sense of possibility and a rinsing out of accumulated expectations.

Elizabeth LeCompte [1944 - ] AMERICANThe Wooster Group – performances involved exploring the relationship between text, technology and the body…”I bring things together”

Laurie Anderson [1947 - ] AMERICANART and Theatre - experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings experimental music and rock…initially trained as a sculptor. The “concert-film” Home of the Brave.

Anne Bogart [1951 - ] AMERICANBogart developed a version of improvisational, ensemble-building technique called Viewpoints, based on the choreographer Mary Overlie's Six View Points of dance…coupled with the intense physical acting training developed by Tadashi Suzuki

Robert Lepage [1957 - ] CANADIANFilm and theatre director…Lepage founded Ex Machina [Theatre Company] in 1994, a multidisciplinary production company – known for it visual design-led productions.

Sarah Kane [1971 – 1999] ENGLISHPlaywright whose work is characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of extreme and violent stage action…post dramatic…

1. Constantine Stanislavski

2. Bertolt Brecht

3. Antoine Artuad Jerzy Grotowski

4. Heiner Muller Peter Brook Ariane Mnouchkine Robert Wilson Pina Bausch Elizabeth LeCompte Howard Barker Sarah Kane Laurie Anderson Meredith Monk