Expressionism, like any of the artistic movements of the early twentieth century, did not develop or progress in the orderly fashion of a moving army, as a term such as “avant-garde” implies. Rather, in John Willett's words, it was “more like a current in the sea. Shapeless, it is at the same time continually changing shape; it has no outlines, just marginal areas where nobody can say which way it is going or if it is moving at all.” So the Expressionist era must have seemed to those artists caught up in it. Nonetheless, Expressionism ultimately assumed the coherence of a movement; and it did so in painting and literature earlier and more clearly than in the theatre. This was largely due to the formation of artists' groups such as “Die Brücke” and “Der Blaue Reiter” and literary circles like “Sturm” and “Aktion” which found an identity in the exhibitions and periodicals they sponsored.

For Expressionist theatre the only such group of any importance – within the context of commercial theatre – was the Berlin association, Das junge Deutschland; and it too was essentially a literary and theoretical vehicle. Aside from the Sturm-Bühne coterie, the actors of Expressionist drama themselves were not significantly associated with such societies, but rather found stimulation and support in the practical setting of the theatres to which they were contracted.