What is the common perception of a stage director? A dictator and tyrant? An aloof impresario? A self-indulgent artist? An enigmatic choreographer of words and movement? A skillful diplomat negotiating the egos and whims of producers, playwrights, and actors? The guiding force in a collaborative endeavor? In fact, the stage director is all these things and more, one who labors to present his or her dream to the world by deploying a unique ensemble of stage professionals.

The great stage director is one who creates a legacy of inspirational theatrical productions.

Stage directors come from a variety of backgrounds and employ diverse working methods. Henry Irving began his career as an actor; Martha Clarke was an acrobatic dancer; Guthrie McClintic worked as an assistant stage manager; George Bernard Shaw was a critic and playwright; and Orson Welles, a child prodigy, co-edited three of Shakespeare's plays shortly after he was graduated from high school.

Some directors attempt to imbue a "creative state" in their actors (e.g., Konstantin Stanislavsky), some dictate every movement and inflection (e.g., Richard Foreman), and others try to find the "magic point" in a production (e.g., Ingmar Bergman) to achieve their ends. But all great stage directors have the following in common: a glowing vision of the theater's possibilities; a unique temperament or persona; and an innovative, highly influential technique.

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The Great Stage Directors is one of the few comprehensive overviews of this complex artistic craft, from early masters such as David Garrick and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to contemporary talents such as Elizabeth LeCompte and Harold Prince. Each of its detailed entries contains a brief biography, a thorough career summary, accounts of major productions, and an investigation into the working methods, stage personality, and overall influence on the theatrical world of the director under discussion.

The book is international in scope and covers directors of farces, classic dramas, absurdist and avant-garde pieces, musicals, and much more. An essential purchase for theater collections, The Great Stage Directors also contains extensive further readings and 90 photographs of both historic productions and many directors themselves.