Born Max Goldmann to Jewish parents in Baden, Austria and nicknamed “the Magician” by the press, Max Reinhardt was pivotal in establishing theater directing as an art form in the early twentieth century. Although he apprenticed as an actor in naturalist productions directed by Otto Brahm at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin from 1893 to 1903, he built his reputation by championing expressionism and other antirealist theatrical movements in productions that toured throughout Europe and the United States. Reinhardt’s eclectic roster, from spectacular stagings of Shakespeare to intimate productions of plays by Frank Wedekind and August Strindberg, brought innovative production methods and experimental drama to a mass audience, while training major figures in modern theater and film, including Bertolt Brecht, Erwin Piscator, and Ernst Lubitsch.