1879 – February 4th : Birth in Paris, Faubourg Saint-Denis.
1887-1896 Secondary education at the Lycée Condorcet, Paris.
1902-1903 Lives in Denmark, where he marries Agnès Thomsen.
1903-1905 Beginning of a friendship with André Gide, Jean Schlumberger, Henri Ghéon. Works at the Galerie Georges-Petit and for several journals as a theatre critic.
1907 Succeeds Léon Blum as theatre critic for La Grande Revue.
1908 Founds the Nouvelle Revue Française with Gide, Ghéon, Schlumberger and André Ruyters.
1911 – April : First performance at the Théâtre des Arts : The Brothers Karamazov, based on Dostoyevsky’s novel, written with Jean Croué, staged by Arsène Durec. Copeau meets Charles Dullin and Louis Jouvet.
1913 – October 23rd : Founds the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris.
1915 Meets Edward Gordon Craig in Florence, Adolphe Appia and Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva.
November Establishes educational workshops with children of Paris alongside Suzanne Bing.
1917-1919 The Vieux-Colombier company settles in the United-States: two seasons at the Garrick Theatre in New York, where Louis Jouvet stages a new theatrical set-up.
1920 – February : Reopening of the Vieux-Colombier, provided with the fixed set-up conceived with Jouvet.
Mars Suzanne Bing opens diction and drama courses.
1921 – November : Official opening of the Vieux-Colombier School.
1924 – May : Presentation of the exercises of the School and of Kantan, by Zeami, staged by Suzanne Bing. Closure of the Theatre.
September Creation of a theatre community in Burgundy, in Morteuil, which gathers most of the School’s students. The Burgundian farmers name them ‘the Copiaus’.
1925 The Copiaus settle in Pernand-Vergelessess, in Côte-d’Or. Return to Catholic religion.
1927 Copeau stays in the United-States. The Copiaus go on tour in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
1928 The Copiaus go on tour in Italy.
1929 – May : Dissolution of the Copiaus. Press campaign for Copeau’s nomination as the administrator of the Comédie-Française. Copeau starts writing Le Petit pauvre, a play about St. Francis of Assisi.
1931 Publication of the Souvenirs du Vieux-Colombier.
1933 – May : Stages Le Mystère de Santa Uliva in the cloister of Santa-Croce, in Florence.
1935 – May : Stages Savonarole on the Piazza della Signoria, in Florence.
1936 Appointed ‘‘staging technical advisor’’ at the Comédie-Française by the Popular Front government, with Charles Dullin, Louis Jouvet and Gaston Baty, under the administration of Edouard Bourdet.
1940 – May : Appointed administrator ad interim of the Comédie-Française, as a replacement for Edouard Bourdet, who is hurt. Under the pressure of the German occupiers, he accepts the resignations of the Jewish comedians.
1941 – January : Confirmed in his post by the Vichy government, he is ousted of the Comédie-Française under the pressure of the German occupiers.
1943 Stages Le Miracle du Pain Doré in the yard of the Hospices de Beaune.
1944 Publication of Le Petit Pauvre.
1949 – October 10th : Copeau dies at the Hospices de Beaune.