During his years of exile in California, Max Reinhardt planned a large-scale theatre event: on the American Pacific coast he envisaged the establishment of a huge theatre stage with the aim of bringing audiences closer to the “exhilarating oneness of art” in contrast to the difficult divisions of global politics. He went so far as to propose something on the scale of the Olympic Games. The form and vocabulary of this call recalls Reinhardt’s memo on the establishment of a festival theatre in Hellbrun, as well as the establishment of the festival in Salzburg. Here, too, the director managed to get major personalities onside as supporters of the project: in 1938 the Pilgrimage Outdoor Theatre mounted a lavish set for Goethe’s drama Faust which surrounded the auditorium. Russian set designer Nicolai Remisoff was responsible for the decor. The premiere was held on 23 August and the piece was presented once again in December of the same year in San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium.

For Reinhardt, the concept of the Californian Festival was closely linked to the opening of his Hollywood acting workshop in summer 1938. In this call he wrote: “It is above all young people who should be trained here, including those with no money, as long as they have talent. All of this should happen in a playful setting, and with the full joy of play. Because the very foundation of the festival must be festive.”