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==Important people==
[[File:Metenier, Oscar.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Oscar Méténier]]
[[Oscar Méténier]] was the Grand Guignol's founder and original director. Under his direction, the theater produced plays about a class of people who were not considered appropriate subjects in other venues: prostitutes, criminals, street urchins and others at the lower end of [[Paris]]'s social echelon.

[[André Antoine]] was the founder of the [[Théâtre Libre]] and a collaborator of Méténier. His theater gave Méténier a basic model to use for The Grand Guignol theater.

[[Max Maurey]] served as director from 1898 to 1914. Maurey shifted the theater's emphasis to the horror plays it would become famous for and judged the success of a performance by the number of patrons who passed out from shock; the average was two faintings each evening. Maurey discovered [[André de Lorde]], who would become the most important playwright for the theater.

De Lorde was the theater's principal playwright from 1901 to 1926. He wrote at least 100 plays for the Grand Guignol, such as ''The Old Woman'', ''The Ultimate Torture'', ''A Crime in the Mad House'' and more. He collaborated with experimental psychologist [[Alfred Binet]] to create plays about [[insanity]], one of the theater's favorite and frequently recurring themes.

Camille Choisy served as director from 1914 to 1930. He contributed his expertise in special effects and scenery to the theater's distinctive style.

{{ill|Paula Maxa|fr}} was one of the Grand Guignol's best-known performers. From 1917 to the 1930s, she performed most frequently as a victim and was known as "the most assassinated woman in the world." During her career at the Grand Guignol, Maxa's characters were murdered more than 10,000 times in at least 60 different ways and raped at least 3,000 times.<ref name="FADING" />

Jack Jouvin served as director from 1930 to 1937. He shifted the theater's subject matter, focusing performances not on gory horror but psychological drama. Under his leadership, the theater's popularity waned and, after [[World War II]], it was not well-attended.<ref name=HISTORY>{{cite news|last=Pierron|first=Agnes|url=http://www.grandguignol.com/history.htm|title=History|publisher=Grand Guignol Online|access-date=2007-04-10|archive-date=2008-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719120502/http://www.grandguignol.com/history.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Charles Nonon was the theater's last director.<ref name=REALITY>{{cite news|url=http://www.grandguignol.com/time1962.htm|title=Outdone by Reality|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=November 30, 1962|access-date=2007-04-10|archive-date=2016-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024215421/http://www.grandguignol.com/time1962.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>