Leon Schiller or Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld (14 March 1887 – 25 March 1954) was a Polish theatre and film director, as well as critic and theatre theoretician. He also wrote theatre and radio screenplays and composed music. He was born in Krakówunder the Austrian rule during the foreign Partitions of Poland, to a family of Jewish and 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 Theatre). This was also presented in Lwów (now Lviv; 1932), Wilno (now Vilnius; 1933) as well as in Sofia in Bulgaria (1937).
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 own concept of "monumental theatre," 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.
On 29 June 1908 Schiller initiated a correspondence with the English actor, theater director, scenic designer, and theoretician of drama, Edward Gordon Craig. Together with his letter Schiller sent Craig, in Florence, his essay, "Dwa teatry" ("Two Theaters"), translated into English by Madeline Meager. Craig responded immediately, accepting the essay for his international theater magazine, The Mask.[3] This was the beginning of a productive collaboration between the two prominent theater directors, who introduced each other's theoretical writings to foreign readers.[4]
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 (7 March 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 the war, 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).
^Jerzy Timoszewicz, "Mała kronika życia i twórczości Leona Schillera, 1887–1924" ("A Brief Chronicle of the Life and Works of Leon Schiller"), in Leon Schiller, Na progu nowego teatru, 1908–1924 (On the Threshold of the New Theater, 1908–1924), edited by Jerzy Timoszewicz, Warsaw, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1978, p. 9.
^Jerzy Timoszewicz, "Mała kronika życia i twórczości Leona Schillera, 1887–1924" ("A Brief Chronicle of the Life and Works of Leon Schiller"), in Leon Schiller, Na progu nowego teatru, 1908–1924 (On the Threshold of the New Theater, 1908–1924), passim.
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.
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