History of the seminar

1928 – 1938
In 1928, the „Acting and Directing Seminar“ founded and subsequently directed by Max Reinhardt at Schönbrunn Palace Theatre was officially opened; teaching commenced in 1929. The state higher education seminar, for which the name „Reinhardt Seminar“ soon became common, offered a comprehensive two-year training course as well as the opportunity to participate in public performances of the seminar. The establishment of the Reinhardt Seminar represented a major innovation in the history of Viennese actor training. The aim was to create a close connection between teaching and experience gained from theatre practice. Group instruction, the development of scenes, in-house productions and contact with well-known theatre practitioners were among the essential characteristics of the school that distinguished it from standard private and academy tuition.

Max Reinhardt brought numerous significant theatre practitioners and pedagogues to his acting and directing seminar. They included the directors Emil Geyer, who served as director of the seminar, and Paul Kalbeck. Furthermore, teaching staff included the director, theatre director and writer Ernst Lothar, the director Iwan Schmith – a specialist in the Stanislavski method –, the acting teacher Carl Meinhard, the speech teachers Zdenko Kestranek, Margit von Tolnai, Gertrud Lasch, Leopold Hubermann and Robert Rosner, the music teacher Arthur Kleiner, and the teacher of the history of directing and dramaturgy Emil Lind. Alfred Roller and Oskar Strnad worked as teachers for stage design. Following the dissolution of the University for Music and Performing Arts, within the framework of which the seminar had been established, the seminar was continued as a private institute from 1931 onwards; the school's location remained the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn.

A detailed account of the history of the Reinhardt Seminar from 1928 to 1938 is provided in the commemorative publication „Die vergessenen Jahre“ ("The Forgotten Years"), which also chronicles the expulsion of Jewish teachers and students in 1938. The publication was released in 2004 for the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Max Reinhardt Seminar, and contains contributions by Peter Roessler and Achim Benning as well as directories of the directors, teaching staff and students.

1938 – 1945
The annexation of Austria in 1938 and the establishment of the National Socialist regime meant the personnel end of the old Reinhardt Seminar. Jewish teachers and students were excluded from classes, and the name Max Reinhardt was officially no longer mentioned. A large proportion of the teaching staff, as well as numerous students and graduates, had to flee into exile. Emil Geyer was murdered in the Mauthausen concentration camp. Paul Kalbeck fled to Switzerland in 1939; in exile, from 1942 onwards, he was able to work as a director and principal stage manager at the Stadttheater Bern, which he developed into an important theatre.

Immediately after the annexation of Austria, the long-standing secretary of the drama and directing seminar, Hans Niederführ, who had been a member of the NSDAP since 1933, took over its management. Hans Niederführ, himself a former acting and directing student, had already attained the position of deputy director in 1937. The seminar was integrated into the State Academy, later the Reich Academy of Music in Vienna, and merged with the academy's acting classes.

The name was „Schauspiel- und Regieseminar Schönbrunn“, and in 1941/42 the designation „Schauspielschule des Burgtheaters“ was introduced. In 1940, teaching operations moved to the Palais Cumberland, while the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn remained a performance venue. The seminar provided theatre performances for the NSDAP, the Nazi organisation „Kraft durch Freude“ and the „Deutsche Arbeitsfront“. In addition, it took part in propagandistic events such as the Reichstheaterfestwoche and the Nazi Grillparzer celebration.

mdw Virtual Memorial Room
The „Memorial book for the members of the mdw persecuted under National Socialism“ (2023, author: Erwin Strouhal) is now available in an online version suitable for searching for names, places, etc. This virtual memorial space is a place to remember members of the mdw who were persecuted, expelled and murdered under National Socialism, a platform for vibrant and contemporary discourse on the critical examination of its own history, and a tool for research.
Link to the virtual memorial room

Since 1945
In 1945, it was reopened under the name „Max Reinhardt Seminar“. Following Hans Thimig (1945), Oscar Deléglise (1946–1948) and Heinz Schulbaur (1948), Helene Thimig—an actress and Max Reinhardt's widow who had returned from American exile—took over the directorship of the seminar from 1948 to 1954, with Heinrich Kraus assisting her in administration until 1951. In 1951, however, Hans Niederführ was rehired and took over the administrative duties. Niederführ had been dismissed following the end of the Nazi regime and temporarily banned from working. From 1954 to 1959, he once again served as director of the seminar.

During the renovation of the Palais Cumberland in 1960, a studio stage was set up. With the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn, which was converted in 1979/80 and most recently technically updated in 2007, the Neue Studiobühne opened in 1992, the newly designed Alte Studiobühne in 2003, and the Arena, the seminar currently has four venues. The present scale of performances corresponds to that of a medium-sized theatre. Productions by the Max Reinhardt Seminar have been and continue to be invited to numerous international festivals and guest performances. The productions have won numerous awards.

At the Max Reinhardt Seminar, the programmes of study offered are acting and theatre directing, with the respective duration of studies designed as four years since 1964. The seminar belongs to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, which institutionally evolved from the Academy (1945–1970) and the Academy of Music and Performing Arts (1970–1998). It was initially run as the „Department of Acting and Directing“ and since 2002 has been the „Institute for Acting and Theatre Directing“ – the name „Max Reinhardt Seminar“ has been retained, which also stands for the special nature of this institute.

Further directors of the Max Reinhardt Seminar were Hans Jaray (1960), Helmut Schwarz (1960–1977), Bruno Dallansky (1977), Walter von Hoesslin (1977–1983), Hermann Kutscher (1983–1989), Nikolaus Windisch-Spoerk (1989–1999), Hubertus Petroll (1999–2002 and 2004–2012), Günter Einbrodt (2002–2004), Hans Hoffer (2012–2014), Tamara Metelka in a team with Peter Roessler, Grazyna Dylag and Anna Maria Krassnigg or Florian Reiners (2014–2020). Following interim management by Rector Mag.^a Ulrike Sych from March to May 2020, headed Univ.-Prof. from May 2020.ⁱⁿ Maria Happel the Institute. Since June 2023, Vice-Rector Mag.^a Gerda Müller held the interim management.

Since 1 March 2024, Sen. Art. Dipl.-Dram.ⁱⁿ Alexandra Althoff is the new head of the institute, and Univ.-Prof. Steffen Jäger is her deputy.