Minna Schneier
Minna Schneier (19*-) Actress, director and producer.
Contents
Biography
Minna was married to Sydney Witkin.
Training
Career
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
Plays in the late 1930s: I Killed the Count, The Millionairess, The Corn is Green (1939). Johannesburg
She directed American playwright Robert Ardrey’s Thunder Rock for the Johannesburg Repertory Society in 1940. One of the cast members was Sydney Witkin, whom she married shortly after the run ended.
She appeared in The Flashing Stream (1943) and produced Rebecca (1944) and They Came to a City (1944). Other productions in this period were Tapestry in Gray, They Fly by Twilight, Love from a Stranger and Counsellor-at-Law.
She directed Rodney Ackland’s The Old Ladies for the Johannesburg Repertory Society in 1953.
She returned to The Reps rehearsal room in 1953 to direct Aldous Huxley’s The Gioconda Smile, but was replaced by Shirley Wakefield, her sister-in-law, when she left to give birth to her daughter Cara.
She directed Terence Rattigan’s The Sleeping Prince, for The Reps’ Festival production in 1956 starring Moira Lister and Joss Ackland. It proved to be the most successful play at the festival, and enjoyed an extended run.
She directed The Diary of Anne Frank starring Danish actress Bodil Brink and Victor Lucas for The Reps in 1957.
Directed The Coral King in 1961 and Boeing-Boeing for The Reps in 1962.
She also directed plays for the East Rand Theatre Club.
Awards, etc
Sources
The South African Theatre, Music and Dance 1(1), 1939. 34-35.
Tucker, 1997.
Go to ESAT Bibliography
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