The theorist, director, and actor Jacques Copeau (1879-1949) established the Vieux Colombier--one of the most important theaters of the 20th century--in Paris to put his theories of theater reform into practice.

Jacques Copeau was born on February 4, 1879, in Paris. From his youth he was greatly interested in literature, poetry, and theater. As a young man he became acquainted with some of the leading writers and theater people of his day. As a young theorist who was impatient with the commercial theater, he became known as an advocate of theater reform. In 1909 he was one of the founders of the Nouvelle Revue Francaise, in which he published critiques and articles on the art of the modern theater.

Copeau was not only a theorist, however. In 1913 he founded what was to become one of the most important theaters of the century: The Vieux Colombier. Copeau formed a company of young...