List of theatre directors in the 20th and 21st centuries

This is a list of theatre directors, living and dead, who have been active in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Arabic Speaking

 * Fouad Awad
 * Mohammed Al Shanfari

Belarusian Speaking

 * Ihnat Bujnicki
 * Mikalai Khalezin

Bengali speaking

 * Montazur Rahman Akbar
 * Debesh Chattopadhyay
 * Utpal Dutta
 * Goutam Halder
 * Manoj Mitra
 * Shambhu Mitra
 * Natyaguru Nurul Momen
 * Mamunur Rashid
 * Badal Sarkar
 * Bratya Basu

Chinese speaking

 * Jiao Juyin
 * Li Liuyi
 * Wang Chong

English speaking

 * George Abbott
 * Maria Aitken
 * JoAnne Akalaitis
 * Franco Ambriz
 * Threes Anna
 * Libby Appel
 * Steven Atkinson
 * Lucy Bailey
 * Dominic Barber
 * Neil Bartlett
 * John Barton
 * Emjo Basshe
 * Julian Beck
 * Paul Berman
 * David Berthold
 * Etel Billig
 * Anne Bogart
 * Lee Breuer
 * Mark Brokaw
 * Peter Brook
 * Robert Brustein
 * Hazel Joan Bryant
 * Betty Burstall
 * Simon Callow
 * Annie Castledine
 * Joseph Chaikin
 * Rachel Chavkin
 * Ping Chong
 * Harold Clurman
 * Victor Correia
 * Edward Gordon Craig
 * James Dacre
 * Howard Davies
 * Ian Dickens
 * Marcia Milgrom Dodge
 * Declan Donnellan
 * Mehmet Ergen
 * Gale Edwards
 * Tim Etchells
 * Joel Fink
 * Richard Foreman
 * Bob Fosse
 * Bob Frith
 * Frank Galati
 * Patrick Garland
 * Joel Gersmann
 * John Gielgud
 * Katie Mitchell
 * Andre Gregory
 * Tyrone Guthrie
 * Peter Hall
 * Marcia Haufrecht
 * Jeremy Herrin
 * Jack Hofsiss
 * Michael Howard
 * Sophie Hunter
 * John Jesurun
 * Michael Kahn
 * Robert Kalfin
 * Helena Kaut-Howson
 * Elia Kazan
 * Patrick Kinmonth
 * Jim Knipple
 * Jan Kott
 * Wayne Lamb
 * Tina Landau
 * Helen Langworthy (1899 –1991)
 * James Lapine
 * Charles Laughton
 * Eddie Lawrence
 * Walter Learning
 * Elizabeth LeCompte
 * Robert Lepage
 * Robert Lewis
 * Tom Littler
 * Clare Lizzimore
 * Phyllida Lloyd
 * Joshua Logan
 * Sidney Lumet
 * Rosie Malek-Yonan
 * Judith Malina
 * Joe Mantello
 * Kathleen Marshall
 * Rob Marshall
 * Jackie Maxwell
 * Richard Maxwell
 * Michael Mayer
 * Brad Mays
 * Des McAnuff
 * Simon McBurney
 * Guthrie McClintic
 * Sam Mendes
 * Jorge Merced
 * Worthington Miner
 * Neil Munro
 * Stephen Murphy
 * Christopher Newton
 * Mike Nichols
 * Trevor Nunn
 * Laurence Olivier
 * Diane Paulus
 * Ralph Pena
 * Robin Phillips
 * Steven Pimlott
 * Hal Prince
 * José Quintero
 * Agustin Reyes
 * Lloyd Richards
 * Martin Ritt
 * Mark Rylance
 * Kate Saxon
 * Franklin Schaffner
 * Richard Schechner
 * Jay Scheib
 * Peter Schumann
 * Michael Scott
 * Peter Sellars
 * Andrei Şerban
 * Stephen Shank
 * Eve Shapiro
 * Nathaniel Shaw
 * Hassard Short
 * Leigh Silverman
 * Jeanmarie Simpson
 * Max Stafford-Clark
 * Susan Stroman
 * Rebecca Taichman
 * Julie Taymor
 * Tazewell Thompson
 * Sidney Toler
 * Russell Treyz
 * Craig Walker
 * Sam Wanamaker
 * Matthew Warchus
 * Douglas Turner Ward
 * Deborah Warner
 * David Warren
 * Orson Welles
 * James Whale
 * Bart Whiteman
 * Kate Whoriskey
 * Robert Wilson
 * Lee Wochner
 * George C. Wolfe
 * Robert Woodruff
 * Mary Zimmerman

Filipino speaking

 * Daisy Avellana
 * Lamberto V. Avellana
 * Joel Lamangan
 * Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo
 * Severino Montano
 * Mario O'Hara
 * Ralph Pena
 * Freddie Santos
 * Rolando Tinio

French speaking

 * Jean Anouilh
 * André Antoine
 * Antonin Artaud
 * Jean Louis Barrault
 * Gaston Baty
 * Patrice Chéreau
 * Jean Cocteau
 * Armand Eloi
 * Jean Giraudoux
 * Louis Jouvet
 * Jorge Lavelli
 * Robert Lepage
 * Lugné-Poe
 * Ariane Mnouchkine
 * Jeanne Moreau
 * Roger Planchon
 * Jacques Rivette
 * Jerome Savary
 * Stephen Shank
 * Jean Vilar

German speaking

 * Ruth Berghaus
 * Benno Besson
 * Bertolt Brecht
 * Hans Bunge
 * Frank Castorf
 * Dieter Dorn
 * Erich Engel
 * August Everding
 * Walter Felsenstein
 * Gotz Friedrich
 * Jens-Daniel Herzog
 * Leopold Jessner
 * Fritz Kortner
 * Harry Kupfer
 * Thomas Ostermeier
 * Martin Kušej (bilingual German/Slovenian)
 * Peter Lund
 * Erwin Piscator
 * Max Reinhardt
 * Peter Stein
 * Karl Heinz Stroux
 * Heinz Tietjen
 * Nike Wagner
 * Wieland Wagner
 * Wolfgang Wagner
 * Peter Zadek

Hindi speaking

 * Ebrahim Alkazi
 * Shamim Azad
 * Ram Gopal Bajaj
 * Manish Joshi Bismil
 * Satyadev Dubey
 * Arvind Gaur
 * Bharatendu Harishchandra
 * Safdar Hashmi
 * Rohini Hattangadi
 * Prithviraj Kapoor
 * B.V. Karanth
 * Mohan Maharishi
 * Prasanna
 * B.M. Shah
 * Om Shivpuri
 * Habib Tanvir
 * Ratan Thiyam
 * Bansi Kaul

Italian speaking

 * Giorgio Albertazzi
 * Eugenio Barba
 * Orazio Costa
 * Eduardo De Filippo
 * Dario Fo
 * Paolo Grassi
 * Glauco Mauri
 * Renzo Ricci
 * Luca Ronconi
 * Guido Salvini
 * Maurizio Scaparro
 * Luigi Squarzina
 * Giorgio Strehler
 * Aldo Trionfo
 * Luchino Visconti
 * Franco Zeffirelli

Lithuanian speaking

 * Dalia Ibelhauptaitė
 * Oskaras Koršunovas
 * Eimuntas Nekrošius
 * Juozas Miltinis
 * Rimas Tuminas
 * Jonas Vaitkus
 * Adolfas Večerskis

Nepali speaking

 * Anup Baral
 * Hari Prasad Rimal
 * Khagendra Lamichhane
 * Sunil Pokharel

Norwegian speaking

 * Tore Vagn Lid
 * Stein Winge

Persian speaking

 * Bahram Beyzai
 * Hamid Samandarian
 * Ali Nassirian

Polish speaking

 * Erwin Axer
 * Richard Boleslavsky
 * Kazimierz Dejmek
 * Jerzy Fedorowicz
 * Jerzy Grotowski
 * Adam Hanuszkiewicz
 * Stefan Jaracz
 * Krzysztof Jasiński
 * Tadeusz Kantor
 * Jarosław Kilian
 * Jerzy Markuszewski
 * Stanisława Perzanowska
 * Barbara Sass
 * Leon Schiller
 * Ludwik Solski
 * Włodzimierz Staniewski
 * Józef Szajna
 * Arnold Szyfman
 * Mariusz Treliński
 * Andrzej Wajda
 * Michał Zadara
 * Lidia Zamkow
 * Krzysztof Zanussi
 * Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
 * Aleksander Zelwerowicz
 * Feliks Żukowski

Portuguese speaking

 * Augusto Boal
 * Sergio Britto
 * Luis Miguel Cintra
 * João Garcia Miguel
 * Jorge Listopad
 * Gerald Thomas

Romanian speaking

 * Alexandru Arșinel
 * Zaharia Bârsan
 * Radu Beligan
 * Ion Besoiu
 * Toma Caragiu
 * Ion Caramitru
 * Alexandru Dabija
 * Radu Gyr
 * Ion Minulescu
 * Maia Morgenstern
 * Vlad Mugur
 * Amza Pellea
 * Elvira Popescu
 * Vlad Rădescu
 * Victor Rebengiuc
 * Mihail Sadoveanu
 * Zaharia Stancu
 * Silviu Stănculescu
 * Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra
 * Andrei Șerban
 * Gábor Tompa
 * Dorel Vișan
 * George Vraca
 * George Mihail Zamfirescu

Russian speaking

 * Nikolay Akimov
 * Yevgeny Aryeh
 * Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
 * Lev Dodin
 * Anatoly Efros
 * Kama Ginkas
 * Yuri Lyubimov
 * Alexandre Marine
 * Vsevolod Meyerhold
 * Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
 * Nikolai Okhlopkov
 * Lev Shekhtman
 * Konstantin Stanislavsky
 * Alexander Tairov
 * Georgy Tovstonogov
 * Yevgeny Vakhtangov
 * Anatoly Vasiliev
 * Vladimir Mikhailovich Zakharov
 * Yury Zavadsky

Serbo-Croatian speaking

 * Nebojša Bradić
 * Goran Gajić
 * Branko Gavella
 * Gradimir Gojer
 * Zorica Jevremović
 * Siniša Kovačević
 * Sulejman Kupusović
 * Velimir Živojinović Massuka
 * Dejan Miladinović
 * Ognjenka Milićević
 * Branislav Nušić
 * Vida Ognjenović
 * Tanja Miletić Oručević
 * Haris Pašović
 * Katja Restović
 * Zijah Sokolović
 * Mira Trailović
 * Mirjana Vukomanović
 * Milenko Zablaćanski
 * Stevo Žigon

Spanish speaking

 * Calixto Bieito
 * Alejandra Boero
 * Antonio Cunill Cabanellas
 * Orestes Caviglia
 * Armando Discépolo
 * Nuria Espert
 * Carlos Gandolfo
 * Victor Garcia
 * Juan Carlos Gené
 * Antonio Larreta
 * Inda Ledesma
 * Cecilio Madanes
 * Jorge Merced
 * Fanny Mikey
 * José Quintero
 * Jesusa Rodríguez
 * José Tamayo
 * Margarita Xirgu
 * China Zorrilla

Slovak speaking

 * Juraj Nvota
 * Roman Polák

Swedish speaking

 * Lars Amble
 * Ingmar Bergman
 * Hugo Hansén
 * Olof Molander
 * Stig Olin
 * Peter Oskarson
 * Albert Ranft
 * Alf Sjöberg

Multilingual

 * Fouad Awad (Arabic, Hebrew, English)
 * Lucien Bourjeily (Arabic, French, English)
 * Chandradasan (English, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil)
 * Mario Kovač (Croatian, English, Italian)
 * Roberto Paci Dalò (English, Italian, German, French, Chinese)
 * Stephen Shank (English, French)
 * Mihai Timofti (English, French, Italian, Romanian, Russia)
 * Rajesh Vedprakash (English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu)

Other

 * Lilia Abadjieva (Bulgarian)
 * Kemal Başar (Turkish)
 * Stancho Stanchev (Bulgarian)