Einar Schleef (17 January 1944 – 21 July 2001) was a German actor, director, dramatist, novelist, painter, photographer, and set designer.
Schleef was born and raised in Sangerhausen, a small town in the South East of Germany.
He attended a socialist painting circle led by Wilhelm Schmied from 1958 onwards.
After being expelled in 1965, Schleef switched to set design two years later and finished with a bachelor's degree in 1973.
He re-introduced the choir as a dramatis personæ and celebrated the tragic potential of the classic, ancient text.
Another production is Ein Sportstück by Elfriede Jelinek in 1998 at Burgtheater Wien; and his final piece as a director, Verratenes Volk, using texts by John Milton, Nietzsche, Dwinger and Alfred Döblin in 2000 at Deutsches Theater in Berlin.