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Jindřich Honzl (May 14, 1894 Humpolec, Czechia - April 20, 1953 Prague, Czechia) was a Czech theater and film director, theater theorist, translator and pedagogue.

= Life = Jindřich Honzl was born into the family of a Humpolec tailor and a factory worker. He visited the burgher at home in Humpolec, then decided on a pedagogical career, which he began studying at the Teacher Training Institute in Prague. He graduated in 1914, in 1914–1927 he taught chemistry and physics at burgher schools in Prague.

He devoted himself to his beloved theater not only in the Workers' Drama Choir (Dědrasbor), but especially in Devětsil, in whose anthology he was able to publish his theoretical articles, which are generally taken as the beginning of the Czech theatrical avant-garde. Already in 1926, together with Jiří Frejka and E.F.Burian, they opened the experimental stage Osvobozené divadlo (The Liberated Theater). At first, they presented poetic productions drawn from French and Czech authors, and a year later, in 1927, they accepted Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich's theater with their successful "Vest Pocket Revue". This is where one of the great chapters of Czech avant-garde theater begins. Jindřich Honzl worked as a director here in 1926–1929 and 1931–1938 and directed all twenty V&W plays.

In the years 1929–1931 he worked as a playwright and director of the Provincial Theater in Brno, in 1931–1938 he worked as a guest with the National Theater and the Municipal Theater in Pilsen, for which he edited or directed some plays. 1939–1941 he directed Divadélko pro 99. In 1945–1951 he was a member of the National Theater (1945 a member of the three-member artistic administration together with Jaroslav Průcha and Karel Dostál, 1948–1950 director of drama). He resigned as director in the spring of 1950 and left the National Council on September 3, 1951. In the period from July 1945 to July 1948, in parallel with his work in the Czech National Theater, he also managed the newly established Studio of National Theater, which he founded.

From 1945 to 1946 he lectured on acting at the Department of Aesthetics (Department of Theater History and Theory), Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University. After the establishment of the Department of Theater Studies at this university, he led a seminar here in the 1950/1951 school year. From 1946 to 1953 he was a professor of theater studies at the Theater Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and from 1951 to 1952 he held the position of head of the Department of Theater Science and Dramaturgy together with J.Kopecký.

Category: Czech theater directors Category: Czech film directors