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Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld (April 14, 1887 - March 25, 1954) was a Polish theater and film director, critic and theoretician. He was also a composer and wrote theater and radio screenplays. He was born in Kraków to a family of Austrian origin that had been ennobled by Empress Maria Theresa. Schiller became famous for his 1934 staging of Adam Mickiewicz's Dziady at Warsaw's Teatr Polski (Polish Theater). This was also presented in Lwów (now Lviv; 1932), Wilno (now Vilnius; 1933) and Sofia, Bulgaria (1937).
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Early career
Schiller graduated from Kraków's Jagiellonian University in philosophy and Polish literature. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. He debuted as a singer in Kraków's Zielony Balonik (Green Balloon) cabaret (1906) and as a theater director in Warsaw's Polish Theater (Teatr Polski, 1917). He collaborated with the following Warsaw theaters:
- Teatr Wielki (Great Theater)
- Teatr Rozmaitości (Variety Theater)
- Teatr Mały (Little Theater)
- Teatr Polski (Polish Theater)
- Teatr Reduta (Redoubt Theater)
- Teatr Ateneum (Atheneum Theater).
He also collaborated with theaters in Łódź and Lwów (now Lviv). From 1930 to 1932, he was artistic and drama director of Warsaw's Wielki (Great), Rozmaitości (Variety), and Mały (Little) Theaters. In Lwów he developed his concept of "monumental theater," pertaining to the production of great Romantic works: Kordian (1930), Dziady (Forefathers' Eve, 1932) and Sen Srebrny Salomei (Salomea's Silver Dream, 1932). Schiller's connection with Lwów lasted sporadically until 1939. His directorial work included 29 dramas and some dozen vaudeville and operetta productions. In 1933 he headed the directorial department at the National Theater Arts Institute.
World War II and after
During World War II, as part of German repressive measures after the Volksdeutsch German-collaborator actor Igo Sym had been shot dead by the Polish underground (March 7, 1941), Schiller was imprisoned at the Pawiak prison and at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In May 1941 he was ransomed by his sister, Anna Jackowska, with 12,000 złotys that she received for her jewelry. After World War II, in 1946-49, Schiller was president of the National Drama School in Łódź (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna w Łodzi). In 1952 he founded the publication, Pamiętnik Teatralny (The Theater Memoir). Two years later he died, aged 66.
Works
Essays:
- Teatr Ogromny (Monumental Theater), 1961
- U progu nowego teatru (On the Threshold of the New Theater), 1978
Performance scripts:
- Pastorałka (Pastorale), 1931
- Kram z piosenkami (A Market Booth of Songs), 1977
"Monumental" productions:
- Samuel Zborowski, 1927
- Kordian, 1934
- Dziady, 1934
- Nie-Boska Komedia (The Un-Divine Comedy), 1938
Zeittheater - productions on current social issues:
- Opera za trzy grosze (The Three-Penny Opera), 1929
- Krzyczcie Chiny (Cry, China!), 1938
- Kapitan z Koepenick (The Captain from Koepenick), 1932
Musicals:
- Dawne Czasy w Piosence, Poezji i Zwyczajach (Old Times in Song, Poetry and Custom), 1924
- Bandurka (Bandora), 1925
- Kulig (Sleigh Ride), 1929
References
- Leon Schiller, U progu nowego teatru, 1908-1924 (On the Threshold of the New Theater, 1908-1924), edited by Jerzy Timoszewicz, Warsaw, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1978.
