Friederike Caroline Neuber

Friederike Caroline Neuber
Frederike Caroline Neuber (Neuer Theater-Almanach, 1898)
Born	Friederike Caroline Weissenborn 9 March 1697 Reichenbach im Vogtland
Died	30 November 1760
Resting place	Leubener Cemetery in Dresden
Occupation	Actress, Theatre Director, Actor-manager
Nationality	German
Years active	1718-1748
Spouse	Johann Neuber

Friederike Caroline Neuber, née Friederike Caroline Weissenborn, also known as Friedericke Karoline Neuber, Frederika Neuber, Karoline Neuber, Carolina Neuber, Frau Neuber, and Die Neuberin, (9 March 1697 in Reichenbach im Vogtland – 30 November 1760 near Dresden), was a German actress and theatre director. She is considered one of the most famous actresses and actor-managers in the history of the German theatre, "influential in the development of modern German theatre." Neuber also worked to improve the social and artistic status of German actors and actresses, emphasizing naturalistic technique. During a time when theatrical managers in Germany were predominantly men, Caroline Neuber stands out in history as a remarkably ambitious women who, during her 25-year career, was able to alter theatrical history, elevating the status of German theatre alongside of Germany's most important male theatrical leaders at the time, such as "her actor-manager husband Johann, the popular stage fool Johann Müller, the major actor of the next generation Johann Schönemann, the multi-talented newcomer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and principally, their de facto Dramaturg, Johann Gottsched."

Friederike Caroline Weissenborn was born 9 March 1697 in Reichenbach im Vogtland to Daniel Weissenborn and his wife Anna Rosine Weissenborn, née Anna Rosine Wihelmine. Her father was a legal court inspector and her mother was very well-educated. From her mother, Caroline learned reading, writing, and French. Her tyrannical father beat her mother until her mother's early death in 1705. Caroline spent the rest of her childhood with her father in Zwickau where she lived from 1702-1717. Allegedly, Caroline was unloved and neglected by her father who may have also beaten her; she had a scar on her face attributed to her father's beatings. Reportedly, she attempted to escape her home as early as age 15. However, it was not until age 20, in 1717, that Caroline successfully ran away from home with , a clerk who had worked for her father. The couple married one year later in 1718. Together the Neubers "served their theatrical apprenticeship in the traveling companies of Christian Spiegelberg (1717–22) and Karl Caspar Haack (1722–25)."

In 1727, she and her husband founded their own acting troupe which became a "training ground for some of the great actor-managers to come”. That same year their company was "granted a patent by the elector of Saxony, Frederick Augustus I, to perform at the Leipzig Easter Fair." The troupe is recorded to have played in nineteen towns and cities as spread out as Warsaw, Kiel, and Strasburg, most often in Dresden, Hamburg, and Leipzig. Although no complete repertoire for the company exists there is an existing "detailed account of eight months in 1735, 8 April to 5 December" in which the troupe is listed to have performed "seventy-five 'Schauspiele' (a mixture of 'Tragödien' and 'Cömodien') in 203 performances." Additionally, they are recorded to have performed ninety-three Nachspiele (a short play usually following a longer comedy or tragedy) in 107 performances during these eight months. The Neuber troupe has been described by historians as "a training ground for later principles" such as Heinrich Koch and Friedrich Schönemann, "each of whom founded his own troupe afterwards and enjoyed far more success than his mentor."