Seyler, Abel

(1730-1800)

   Actor, manager. Seyler was a significant 18th-century Prinzipal, leading his own theater troupe to residencies in several courts and large cities in the 1760s. His troupe numbered more than 60 members, including a ballet corps, orchestra, and traveling designer. In the 1770s his troupe held residencies in Weimar, Gotha, Leipzig, and Dresden. Seyler became a director at the Mannheim National Theater in 1781, and from there went on to direct the Schleswig Court Theater. He remained in Schleswig until 1792, when he was awarded a lifetime pension from the ducal court of Schleswig. Seyler was instrumental in popularizing plays of the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) movement, maintaining many of them in his repertoire for decades.