Schönemann, Johann Friedrich

(1704-1782)

   Actor, manager. Schönemann was already an established actor when he joined the Caroline Neuber troupe in 1730. After working with Neuber for nine years, he formed his own troupe and continued in traditions she had established. He hired several performers she had employed, including Konrad Ekhof, Konrad Ernst Ackermann, and Sophie Schröder. By 1743 the Schönemann troupe had become so influential in its Prussian tours that the Prussian court awarded Schönemann a general concession to perform in all Prussian provinces, as well as in the major cities except Berlin. Schönemann published the plays his company had performed in 1748, lending credence to the German theater's growing claims as an important cultural institution. Little is directly known about Schönemann's qualities as an actor, though through his leadership of the troupe as one of its premier performers, it reached the height of its renown and profitability by the 1750s. In 1752-1753, he and Ekhof attempted to found an acting academy, but by 1754 Schönemann began to lose interest both in it and in his troupe generally. He turned his attentions instead to horse breeding, and in 1757 he surrendered full control of the troupe to Ekhof.