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Jacques Copeau was born on February 4, 1879, in Paris, France. In the 1890s, he began his career as an art dealer in Paris. Between 1904 and 1906, he served as a drama critic for 'L'Ermitage', and from 1907 to 1910, for 'La Grand Revue'. He gained recognition as a prominent literary critic. In 1909, he co-founded the journal La Nouvelle Revue Francaise alongside André Gide, Jean Schlumberger, and Paul Claudel, and edited the journal from 1909 to 1911.
Copeau established his own theatre on Rue du Vieux Colombier, near Place Saint Sulpice on the Left Bank, naming it after its location. He described the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier in his publication as "the brain-child of the group of artists whose ideological understanding and collective practical inclination brought them together under the same banner." Copeau served as actor, director, playwright, and translator for the theatre. His most significant productions included plays by Molière and translations of William Shakespeare’s works. His adaptation of 'Twelfth Night' (La Nuit des Rois) premiered in 1914, starring Louis Jouvet. He also staged plays by Henri Ghéon. Copeau trained actors for his theatre and favored minimalist sets or movable stages.
The outbreak of the First World War compelled Copeau and his troupe to relocate from Paris to New York. From 1914 to 1919, he worked with his company at New York’s Garrick Theatre on West 35th Street, where he produced and directed over forty plays. Returning to Paris in 1920, he resumed seasons at the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier and collaborated with poet Jules Romains. In 1924, Copeau retired from acting and moved to Burgundy, where he gathered a company of 30 young actors and founded a theatre school in Pernand-Vergelesses. There, he developed a training program emphasizing movement, gesture, dance, and music. Notable French actors trained by Copeau included Jean Dasté, Aman Maistre Julien, and Étienne Decroux. His student Juozas Miltinis went on to establish the Panevezys Drama Theatre, a significant experimental cultural center in Lithuania.
In 1936, Copeau was appointed a producer at the Théâtre Comédie-Française, where he worked until his retirement in 1941. He passed away from cancer on October 20, 1949, in Beaune, France. Copeau’s daughter, Marie-Hélène Dasté, married Jean Dasté and founded the Association des Amis de Jacques Copeau.
