Antoine, André

Antoine, André (1858-1943), French actor and theatrical producer, who was an influential figure in theatrical reforms of the late 19th century. He was born in Limoges, France. In 1887, with the support of the French writer Émile Zola, he founded the Théâtre Libre in Paris to produce naturalistic plays, in opposition to the vogue for so-called “well-made plays”. He produced works by such French dramatists as Zola, Eugène Brieux, and François de Curel, in addition to Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, Swedish writer August Strindberg, Russian novelist and dramatist Leo Tolstoy, and German playwright Gerhart Hauptmann. Antoine managed the Odéon in Paris from 1906 to 1913. After World War I he became a drama critic.