Art Lithuania

The history of Lithuanian theater

State, municipal and independent theaters
*** KAUNAS STATE ACADEMIC DRAMA THEATER ***LITHUANIAN STATE ACADEMIC DRAMA THEATER ***KLAIPEDA STATE DRAMA THEATER ***STATE YOUTH THEATER ***THE SMALL THEATER ***SIAULIAI DRAMA THEATER ***JUOZAS MILTINIS DRAMA THEATER ***PANEVEZYS DRAMA THEATER ***

Stage-managers and actors
*** BORISAS DAUGUVIETIS ***POVILAS GAIDYS ***KONSTANTINAS GLINSKIS ***ALGIRDAS JAKSEVICIUS ***ROMUALDAS JUKNEVICIUS ***JONAS JURASAS ***OSKARAS KORSUNOVAS ***JUOZAS MILTINIS ***EIMUNTAS NEKROSIUS ***ANTANAS SUTKUS ***RIMAS TUMINAS *** JONAS VAICKUS ***JONAS VAITKUS ***SAULIUS VARNAS *** ANDRIUS OLEKA-ZILINSKAS ***

LIFE

Awards

The press

The Cinema and Theater Information and Educatio Centre

THE HISTORY OF LITHUANIAN THEATRE

The 19th of December'1920 was the beginning of Lithuanian professional theater's formation by performing "Joninės" by Sudermann (stage-manager Jonas Vaickus) and the foundation of Kaunas State Theater - the first professional state theater (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theater at present). Three stage-managers - Jonas Vaickus, Antanas Sutkus and Konstantinas Glinskis took the leadership of the theater, the troupe was formed of their alumni. Three years later Borisas Dauguvietis had staged and acted here. In 1929, one of the most interesting Lithuanian professional stage-manager of that time - Andrius Oleka-Zilinskas - had staged here his first performance. Four artist at the theater meant four different theatrical trends and traditions and that provoked the State Theater's cleavage to several separate troupes and theaters in other cities. During 1921-1930, various tendencies and trends -from symbolism and romanticism to naturalism, From psychological realism to theatrical trend - were interlaced at the State Theater's performances. The modern and progressive searching of Oleka-Zilinskas, his reforms made at the theater were continued by his alumni - Romualdas Juknevicius and Algirdas Jaksevicius after the stage-manager had left Lithuania.

Three main periods, during 1940-1988, were excepted at the Kaunas State (Academic) Drama Theater renamed in post-war time, which were closely linked with the names of following stage-managers - Henrikas Vancevicius (1953-1966), Jonas Jurasas (1967-1972) and Jonas Vaitkus (1975-1988), they drew three distinct artistic directions by their stagecraft in the theater's formation. Vancevièius enriched the theater by the psychological, poetic-lyric performances, the young stage-manager Jonas Jurasas - the partisan of conceptual-authorial theater, the poet of the theater, the representative of political-ideological theater - enriched it by distinct theatrical, poetic and politic-philosophic performances. The stagecraft of Jonas Vaitkus after he became the stage-manager of the theater in 1977, were significant for the distinct outer form and accented genre : beginning from poetic-symbolic, opera-poem, ritual-ceremony performances full of sights to dramas and tragedies, phantasmagorial grotesques and showbooths. Eimuntas Nekrosius had staged there his first performances - "Ivanov" by Anton Chechov and "The Ballads of Duokiskis". The best artist of Kaunas Drama Theater created the most significant roles at that time. In 1990, Kaunas Drama Theater was awarded the name of Academic theater. In 1993, the leader of the theater became stage-manager and pedagogue Gytis Padegimas. The artistic politic of the new leader enabled to reveal the stage-managers of various trends, to make the debuts for new generation, to invite the foreign stage-managers. Kaunas State Academic Drama Theater is the only one in the country which has even 7 stages. In 1997, there was established the Higher School of acting art which is leaded by Gytis Padegimas.

STATE, MUNICIPAL, AND INDEPENDENT THEATERS

Kaunas State Academic Drama Theater

Lithuanian State Academic Drama Theater / National Theater
Gedimino pr.4
2001, Vilnius

The birthday of Vilnius Drama Theater is thought to be the 6th of November'1940, when "The Hope" by Heyerman staged by Romuoldas Juknevicius was performed.

Juozas Rudzinskas worked here as the chef stage-manager and as the head of the theater during 1954-1958, together with Romualdas Juknevicius he was the representative of ordinary realism that's why this trend would be deep-rooted in Vilnius Drama Theater (The State Academic Theater). After Juozas Rudzinskas has left, Henrikas Vancevièius becomes the chief stage-manager of the theater, he came here from Kaunas Drama Theater. He was the stage-manager and the supporter of psychological and psychological-realistic trends In addition, he tried to enrich the repertoire of the theater by the documentary,Lithuanian prose staging and the poesy stagecraft where a great number of the artists realised an interesting acting. Because of its' conservatory ideas and fidelity to the only one psychological trend, Vilnius Drama Theater had lost the popularity in the eighth decade, meanwhile Kaunas Drama Theater was famous for the new-fashioned searching and modern experiments. But it must be mentioned, that in addition Vilnius Drama Theater was unsurpassable and not one performance became the example of traditional psychological theater. The theater's isolation from the new winds becomes the reason for foundation of The Small Theater (it was founded in 1990); the leadership of The Small Theater took Rimas Tuminas - the stage-manager of the Academic Theater, he was the leader during the period of 1981-1990.

Vilnius State Academic Drama Theater especially renewed during 1989-1994, when Jonas Vaitkus became the chief stage-manager of the theater and brought together the young generation of his alumni from the Music Academy. The losses were experienced during this period as well. Vaitkus faced a hard problem -how to infuse the traditional theater supporting group with the mordent acting and the elements of the sharp and significant conceptual stage-managing; his performances enriched the history of the Academic Drama Theater. Vaitkus was the first among Lithuanian stage-managers who tried to reorganise the stagnant troupe of the theater .A lot of actors were forced to leave the theater, instead of them came a new generation; the changes were made during the same year. The alumni of Jonas Vaitkus - actors and stage-managers - are the main artistic force of the theater till now; the most famous among them - Oskaras Korsunovas. A complicate personality of Jonas Vaitkus provoked the demand of the new leader of the Academic Drama Theater. In 1994, this post was entrusted to Rimas Tuminas, who has leaded both theaters existing in the same building. At the first year of his leadership he tries to return the experienced actors who had left the theater and at his new stages one could see the old generation.

The 1998th were the year of changes not only at the theater but at the theater's politic as well. The Academic Drama Theater was announced the National Theater according to the decision of Lithuanian Government in 1998.

Performances:
"A Waking up" by Skema. 1989
"Once More about The Same" by Vaitkus (Diploma stagecraft of acting course graduates). 1989
"Antose And The Starling" by Vaitkus (diploma stagecraft of acting course graduates). 1989
"All Saint's Day" by Mickewicz. 1990
"The Ghetto" by Sobolis. 1990
"The Lamb of The God" by Bajoras. 1991
"Marquises de Sad" by Mishima. 1992
"Persona" by Bergman. 1994
"The Dream" by Strindberg. 1996
""Migelis Manjara" by Milasius. 1997
"The Landed Property of Stepanchik" by Dostojevsky. 1998

Klaipeda State Drama Theater
Teatro 2
5800, Klaipeda

First years of Klaipeda Drama Theater existence were closely related to the establishment of Siauliai Theater (The North Lithuanian Theater) and its' first performances. After Siauliai Drama Theater resettled to Klaipeda in 1935 and Romualdas Juknevicius staged "The Hope" by Heyerman here, which was performed on the 19th of December'1936 , the theater was thought to be an extraordinary and overcoming the State Theater. In the post-war and especially lately (after 1957) period, the Klaipeda Drama Theater suffered a lot of misfortunes with the troupe's forming, the migration of stage-managers and the exchanging of theatrical trend. In 1957, the leader of the theater became Vytautas Jasinskas - the inertia and superficial stage-manager, whose best stagecraft were comedies. But the artistic heritage of the designer Juta Èeièytė, who was working here at that time, were of great value; she had a subtle feeling of the scene work's genre and was acquainted to the artistic nature of the theater; she made a great deal in perfection the relationship between stage-managing and decoration by propagating the more universal and more additional artistic thinking, which forced to expose the most intellectual and important poetic details of a play. The second period of the theater was related with the name of the stage-manager Povilas Gaidys. Povilas Gaidys came to Klapėda Theater from Kapsukas in 1963(after Kapsukas Theater felt to a ground in 1962). Together with him a young generation of actors - the graduates of the State Conservatoire - came to the theater, the repertoire became more stabile, the plays more stylistic and vivified to compare with previous. The second stagecraft of Povilas Gaidys -"The Optimistic Tragedy" by Vsevolod Vishnevsky, the most paradoxical play of the Soviet time authors -was untraditional and humanely realised. Povilas Gaidys is the leader of Klaipeda Drama Theater till now. Thanks to him the theater realised itself in the context of Lithuanian Theater by the deep and conceptual drama and tragedy stagecraft and especially by the stylistic, playful and sensible performances of comedy and tragicomedy. The theater is under the pressure of some kind of "amplua" system but it can't be the barrier for actors to create the interesting and significant roles.

State Youth Theater
Arkliu 5, 2024 Vilnius

Valstybinis jaunimo teatras Vilniuje buvo ásteigtas 1965 m., o jau 1966 m. gegužės 27 d. parodyta ir jo premjera - Shakespeare"o "Romeo ir Dþuljeta". Teatro vyriausiàja reþisiere tapo Aurelija Ragauskaitė, buvusi Kauno dramos teatro aktorė ir 1962 m. baigusi reþisûros mokslus Maskvos teatro meno institute. Ið pradþi¸ (iki pat 1982 m.) teatras dirbo Respublikini¸ profsàjungos rûm¸ pastate, po to persikėlė á Vilniaus teatro pastatà, o jau 19 m. á specialiai jam restauruotus teatro rûmus Arkli¸ gatvėje. Pirmasis teatro gyvavimo periodas, susij¿s su Aurelijos Ragauskaitės vardu, buvo teatro ieðkojim¸ - savo krypties ir repertuaro - laikas. Vienerius metus (1967) po teatro pastoge dirbo Pantomimos trupė, vadovaujama Modrio Tenisono. 1968-1970 m., Aurelijai Ragauskaitei pasitraukus (1974-1979 m. ji vadovauja Ðiauli¸ dramos teatrui), teatro vyriausiuoju reþisieriumi tampa Vytautas Èibiras; 1970 m. á teatrà, baigusi reþisûros studijas Maskvos teatro meno institute, atvyksta Dalia Tamulevièiûtė, su kurios vardu siejamas antrasis teatro pakilimo laikotarpis - 1975 m. teatro trup¿ papildo Konservatorijos diplomantai, Dalios Tamulevièiûtės auklėtiniai. Pedagogės ir reþisierės talentas iðugdo nemaþai talenting¸ lietuvi¸ scenos meno meistr¸, jos spektakliai pradeda traukti á teatrà vis daugiau þiûrov¸. 1980 m. savo pirmàjá spektaklá Jaunimo teatro scenoje pastato ir èia dirba reþisieriumi iki 1991 m. Tamulevièiûtės auklėtinis, Maskvoje reþisûrà studijav¿s Eimuntas Nekroðius. Atėjus á teatrà Nekroðiui, Dalia Tamulevièiûtė jam suteikia kûrybines privilegijas: su Jaunimo teatro aktoriais Nekroðius pastato tarptautiná pripaþinimà pelniusius spektaklius "Kavadratas", "Piromani, Pirosmani...", "Meilė ir mirtis Veronoje", "Ilga kaip ðimtmeèiai diena", "Dėdė Vania". Eimunto Nekroðiaus spektakliai susilaukia tokio populiarumo Lietuvoje ir uþ jos rib¸, kokio prieð dvideðimtmetá buvo susilauk¿s Juozo Miltinio Panevėþio dramos teatras. 1991 m. Nekroðius palieka Jaunimo teatrà, ir jo meno vadovu nuo 1997 m. tampa Tamulevièiûtės mokinys, aktorius ir reþisierius Algirdas Latėnas, o direktorumi - aktorius Kostas Smoriginas, pastat¿ ne vienà ðiandienos Jaunimo teatro repertuaro spektaklá. Tarp ðiame teatre statanèi¸j¸ - ir Jonas Vaitkus, ir teatro aktorius Remigijus Vilkaitis ir kt. Dalia Tamulevièiûtė atneðė á teatrà ne tik teatraliðkà psichologizmà, stilizuotà realizmà su þaidybiðkumo elementais, bet ir padėjo pamatus poetinei metaforinei krypèiai, kuri vėliau iðgarsino Eimunto Nekroðiaus reþisûrà.

Performances:
"The Doll's House" by Ibsen. 1996
"Father" by Strindberg. 1997

Vilnius Small Theater
Gedimino pr. 4
2001, Vilnius

Vilnius Small Theater was established in 1990 after a group of artists with the stage-manager Rimas Tuminas split from Vilnius Academic Drama Theater's troupe. The theater never has had its' own apartments, that's why the troupe rehearses and performs in the hall of the Academic Drama Theater. The stagecraft by Tuminas with the actors of the Academic Drama Theater in 1989 - "The Death Will Never Be There" - was the pretext to found the new troupe. The sensible poetic and subtle stagecraft of "The Death Will Never Be There" had more additional psychological acting and was based on the poetic, lyric elements; it demonstrated the stage-manager's intention to search for his own theatical language and experiments. The second performance of the troupe - " Cherry-tree Garden" by Chechov - was an undoubted success of the stage-manager and the troupe; it overcame the conservative trend of traditional psychological-realism propagated by the Academic Drama Theater. The Small Tehater was named so as it was performing at the small hall of the Academic Drama Theater; it announced the innovatoric trend and didn't try to become a modern and vanguard theater. The existence near by the Academic Drama Theater as if forced an artistic failure of the mentioned theater by its own accord as the plays of the Small Theater gathered more and more spectators. In 1992, the leader of the Academic Drama Theater became Jonas Vaitkus; he wasn't friendly to the theater existing on the lodger's right. But for some time both theaters shared the large and the small stages of the Academic Drama Theate. After Jonas Vaitkus has deserted his post the most real pretender to it became Rimas Tuminas who knew the theater and its troupe since 1979, no matter of his different artistic outlook and theatrical trend. The Small Theater is the municipality's theater partly supported by the Ministry of Culture. The Small Theater was joined by the graduates of the Music Academy who came together with Rimas Tuminas. During the shot existence the Small Theater has formed its character; the performances staged by Rimas Tuminas are the poetic odes of a looser who was awarded by the unique soul, the stage-manager is attentive to the individuality of actor. The Small Theater is the actor's theater. On the other hand it's a merit of the wonderful stage-manager, pedagogue and undoubted leader. The performances of the Small Theater are poetic-lyric but melodramatic at the same time, its are the abundant of the actors' improvisation and psychological acting with some kind of isolation based on Brecht.

Siauliai Drama Theater
Tilzes 155, 5400 Siauliai

On 23 of September'1931 in "Kapitolijus" Cinema Theater in Siauliai, the curtain of Siauliai Drama Theater (the department of the State Theater then) was raised - "Princess Turandot" by Carlo Gozzi under Borisas Dauguvietis direction was performed.

In 1934, the theater's department in Siauliai was renamed - the North Lithuanian Theater and became independent from Kaunas Drama Theater but it was forced to remove to Klaipeda and returned to Siauliai after German occupation of the port in 1939. During 1934-1939, while Borisas Dauguvietis was working in the theater in Klaipeda, Antanas Sutkus came here, later on - Romualdas Juknevicius, the number of professionals and actors from the State Theater had increased. The North Lithuanian Theater cooperated with northern Latvian theaters, a lot of tours were made through Lithuania: during 1931-1939 there were performed 1095 plays in 53 regions. The guest performance in Kaunas during 13th - 16th of May'1937 were especially successful where one of the most interesting plays - "The Hope" by Heyerman staged by Juknevicius was performed.

The new period at Siauliai Drama Theater began in1960 after the graduates of Acting Mastery Department of the National Conservatoire came here. The vigorous stage-managing development is related with such names as Aurelija Ragauskaite - the director of the theater during 1974-1979, Saulius Varnas - with his creative searching during the period of 1980-1988, Gytis Padegimas's stagecraft during 1988-19? In spite of the theater's tradition linked to realistic scene art as comedy and melodrama, Aurelija Ragauskaite resolutely infused the theater with psychological but very poetic-lyric trends and combined it with constructive elements. In the repertoire of the stage-manager dominated the works by Lithuanian authors. Saulius Varnas turned the" wheel" of the theater to the intellectual dramaturgy and the rational, philosophic, conceptual stage-managing and acting. This stage-manager as if continued the tradition of Juozas Miltinis and Panevezys Drama Theater; anybody can't deny his educational contribution by staging original world dramaturgy. Jonas Jurasas' and Jonas Vaitkus' first performances were staged at Siauliai Drama Theater. Since 1996, the stage-manager Rolandas Atkočiūnas has leaded the theater; young stage-manager Cezaris Graužinis and others tried their skills hereas well. In 1997, graduates of the Music Academy (National Conservatoire) enlarged the group of the theater. At present the Art Director of the theater is its actor Sigitas Jakubauskas.

Juozas Miltinis Drama Theater
Laisvės a. 5
5300, Panevezys

The official date of Panevezys Drama Theater (Juozas Miltinis Drama Theater at present) establishment is thought the 15th of Mart'1940, when " A Silver Valley" by Pogodin staged by Juozas Miltinis was performed. The theater's main body was formed of the participants of the theater lover's troupe, which existed in the Workers' Cultural Palace Club in Kaunas and was established under the initiative of Juozas Miltinis. The first performance staged by Miltinis was naturalistic and ordinary without any artificial acting what was new at Lithuanian Theater's life of that time.

Panevezys Drama Theater became a studio - the laboratory of actors' training and preparation - that was a new and the first phenomenon in Lithuanian stage theater's history. For even thirty years Panevezys Drama Theater was the theater of one leader, who constantly realised his ideas in practice. The main accents in the theater's development were the training of actor's personality - a some kind of "philosophic acrobat" - by putting to practice improvisation elements and searching for modern means of acting; the psychological true and the concentrated attitude to the inner world of a character were of the main importance during the first year of the theater's existence. Panevezys Drama Theater was the beginner in staging the modern plays - the intellectual, philosophic, existential works, the realisation of them was a part of the theater's program.

The development of Panevezys Drama Theater can be devoted to several periods. The first two are linked with the name of Juozas Miltinis: 1940-1954 - the theater's formation and growth period which ended by the forced withdrawal of its leader (at the time the theater was leaded by the actor and stage-manager, the alumni of Miltinis - Vaclovas Blėdis); 1959-1980 - the period of the theater's maturity and general recognition, the best performances staged by Juozas Miltinis appeared at this period and glorified the name of the theater as the experimenting and new-fashioned theater all over the Soviet Union. The philosophic, intellectual theater of Juozas Miltinis with strict form and expressive acting has trained a great number of famous theater and cinema artists.

The third period of the theater is linked with the stage-manager Saulius Varnas' name, since 1988 he has staged the performances here and became its leader in 1993.Varnas didn't break the tradition of his predecessor but enriched it with the original staging decisions full of expressive, surrealistic, playful theatrical and at the same time aesthetic, abstract forms. But in 1996, the stage-manager was forced to leave the theater after an inner reorganisation, Rimantas Teresas- the actor and stage-manager of the theater became its leader.

Panevėþio dramos teatras

Panevėþio dramos teatro raida skirstoma á keletà gyvavimo tarpsni¸. Pirmieji susij¿ su Miltinio vardu: 1940-1954 m. - teatro formavimosi ir brendimo laikotarpis, pasibaig¿s priverstiniu jo vadovo pasitraukimu (tuo laiku teatrui vadovavo Miltinio auklėtinis, aktorius ir reþisierius Vaclovas Blėdis); 1959 - 1980 m. - teatro brandos ir visuotinio pripaþinimo metai, nes ðiuo laiku pasirodo iðkiliausi ir vertingiausi lietuvi¸ ir ne tik teatro kontekste Juozo Miltinio spektakliai, iðgarsin¿ teatrà kaip eksperimentuojantá ir novatoriðkà visoje Taryb¸ Sàjungoje. Filosofinis, intelektualus, tikslios formos ir raiðkios vaidybos Juozo Miltinio teatras subrandino gaus¸ bûrá nepralenkiam¸ teatro ir kino aktori¸.

Naujas teatro periodas siejamas su kito reþisieriaus - Sauliaus Varno - vardu, staèiusio èia spektaklius nuo 1988 m. ir tapusio jo vadovu 1993 m. Varnas nelaužė savo pirmtako suburto teatro tradicij¸, taèiau papildė jas originaliais reþisûriniais sprendimais, nestokojanèiais ekspresyvios, siurrealistinės, þaismingai teatraliðkos, o kartu ir estetizuotos, abstrahuotos formos. Deja, reþisieriui nepavyko iki ðiandien likti ðio teatro meno vadovu, ir nuo 1996 m., ávykus vidinei teatro reorganizacijai, já pakeitė ðio teatro aktorius ir reþisierius Rimantas Teresas.

STAGE-MANAGERS AND ACTORS

Borisas Dauguvietis (1885-1949) - the actor of the State Theater, the stage-manager, pedagogue, publicist and critique, Lithuanian dramatist of the Soviet time, the creator with huge temperament and inexhaustible energy. On the stage of the State Theater he tried to propagate decadence and mystery characteristic to Russian theater of that time, that was made bright and tasty what was new and unexpected in the repertoire of the State Theater. He showed the sharpness of stage-managing, the originality and independence in his stagecraft while interpreting the text or characters and searching for distinct means or opportunities of expression; he used to realise his ideas with the help of stage designers and composers. In his performances a lot of famous actors - among them Konstantinas Glinskis - had opportunity to realise themselves. Dauguvietis is thought to be the partisan of Lithuanian Royal Theater, a swift experimenter and interesting stage-manager in spite of staging in a slipshod manner, sometimes too artificial and eclectic - graphically strict or realistic even naturalistic. The stage-manager was under the great influence of the searching at Russian Theater of that time - the stage works of Stanislavsky, Vachtangov, Tairov, Mejerchold, His learners - the graduates of the State Theater's Studio - are known as famous masters of scene art. Dauguvietis had staged a lot of performances in Siauliai Drama Theater, which appeared as the department of the State Theater.

Povilas Gaidys (1930-) - the stage-manager - the post-graduate of Lunachiarsky Institute of Theater Art in Moscow. One of his first most famous stagecraft was the play by Nikolaji "A Rice Corn" ("Let's Be a Man, Chelestin") performed at the newly established Kapsukas Drama Theater (it was existing in the period of 1956-1962). In 1963, the actors and stage-managers of Kapsukas Drama Theater among them Povilas Gaidys resettles to Klaipeda. At the same year he became the chief stage-manager of Klaipeda Drama Theater In his very first stagecraft the organic combination of comic and tragic elements was visual. The stage-manager used to sharpen the conflict situations and to deepen the characteristics of acted roles in his staged comedies ,these means revealed its exact expression according to the stage-manager; while staging a comedy he combined theatrical elements with elegance, parody with tricks; he was iinterested in the satyr genre, grotesque and tragicomedy. Inexhaustible ideas and a great number of expression means - dances, songs, anecdotes, improvised etudes- distinguish even all his stagecraft of comedy. The stage-manager combines the vivified and theatrical tradition with the principles of commedia dell'arte, though the features of a common and custom comedy are visual in his performances.

Konstantinas Glinskis (1886-1938) - the pedagogue, stage-manager, actor, the founder of Vilnius Theater Studio in 1919, the premier and stage-manager of the State Theater. He made his debut as an actor in 1921 and was awarded with honour by the critique. As a stage-manager Glinskis followed the traditional realistic non-staging Russian school's example, characteristic feature of the plays staged by him were an outer refines and beauty, especially in melodramatic plays by foreign and Lithuanian authors, where the main roles he used to play by himself. The main part in the play Glinskis attached to actor and author, a stage-manager, according to Glinskis, was only an assistant, he was a famous expert and supporter of Lithuanian stage language, the master of a scene word and significant narrator in addition. In spite of Glinskis' strict support of conservative attitude and neglect of new ideas, he has put the bases to the younger generation of professional theater.

Algirdas Jaksevicius (1908-1941) - the actor, stage-manager; during 1929-1932 was studding in Andrius Oleka-Zilinskas Acting School in the State Theater, after a shot career at the State Theater and "The Theater of Young Artists", in 1935, he left for the stage-managing studies to Vachtangov Theater in Moscow and after a year - to New York; in 1937, returned to Lithuania. Jaksevicius was fond of Stanislavsky's work and his searching; he translated "Actor's Self-Studding" by Stanislavsky, he made a great deal as the intellectual and talented pedagogue; in 1938, O'Neil's play "The Millions of Mark" staged by Jaksevicius has opened one more page and showed the new direction - the constructional and theatrical trend - in searching at Lithuanian theater. Algirdas Jaksevicius as well as his school-mate and like- minded person Romualdas Juknevicius were the supporters of more deep realism; in his stagecraft he attempted to show artificially the elements of experience and expression characteristic to the tradition of Vaktangov's theatrical theater.

Romualdas Juknevicius (1906-1963) - the stage-manager, the graduate of Andrius Oleka-Zilinskas' Acting Course, the founder and leader of Vilnius Drama Theater. He was born in St. Petersburg; during 1926-1929 was studding at humanity department in Kaunas University. In 1931, while second year student in the Acting School was invited to the Sate Theater but as he wasn't satisfied with its' routine and stagnation left thinking about his own theater. In 1934, after "The Theater of Young Artists" felt to a ground (it existed only one year), he left for studies of the stage-managing to Moscow, he worked as the assistant manager under the guidance of Vsevolod Mejerchold, he got acquainted to the stage works of Russian stage-managers and actors. In 1936, he staged "The Hope " by Heyerman in Klaipeda, which succeeded a great interest of publicity and critique. In 1940, he became the head and leader of just established Vilnius Theater. The characteristic features of performances staged by Juknevicius were the new-fashion and reality of expressive means, the compact unity, the psychological true and the variety of characters; the stage-manager was interested in common artistic ideas of author, stage-manager, scene designer, actors and audience. Juknevicius was an innovator on Lithuanian scene, who revealed the concept and genre of tragicomedy. The actors of "The Theater of Young Artists" - the alumni of Andrius Oleka-Zilinskas -splendidly revealed themselves in his performances and later on became the body of Vilnius Theater.

Jonas Jurasas - the stage-manager, the leader of Kaunas Drama Theater of a long time standing; he enabled the return of the theatrical trend to Lithuanian theater after the prohibitions of the Soviet time and the direct policy promoting the realistic scene art. He has legitimated Ezoupe's language tradition in Lithuanian Theatre, it was characteristic till the end of the Soviet period and is used in nowadays as an element of metaphoric, symbolic theater. In 1962, he has graduated the Institute of Arts in Moscow; in 1963 he staged the diploma play "The Appointment" by Volodin at Russian Drama Theater; in 1966, he worked at Siauliai Drama Theater; in 1967, he staged two performances - "A Tango" by Mrozhek and "The Melody of Warsaw" by Zarin - at Vilnius Drama Theater. In 1968, he resettled to Kaunas and became the chief stage -manager of Kaunas Drama Theater, during 1968-1975, where staged eight plays which shocked society by its' innovation and conceptualism. In 1975, the stage-manager emigrated to the West - for the first rank to Germany later on to USA - as he couldn't withstand the meddling of the Soviet Authorities to his artistic affairs, their censorship and restrictions. The artist continued the career in abroad; he staged at New York, Belgium, Germany, Canada theaters, participated at the international festivals. After a shot return to Lithuania in1990 and the stagecraft of "The Keyboard on Sand" by Ausra Marija Sluckaitė and "The Death and The Lass" he returned to USA as he wasn't able to integrate to the exchanged theater. Jonas Jurasas - the supporter of the conceptual, ideological-politic theater, he co-ordinates the principles of Vachtangov's, Mejerchold's and Tairov's Theaters; not once he was forced to manoeuvre among the restrictions and censorship, that's why he was changing his stagecraft a lot of times and that afforded him the mastering of Ezoupe's language. He is a founder of the actual, provoking, theatrical, playful, and expressive and at the same time poetic, subtle psychological theater where the visual culture of the play, musical partitures and the expressive plastic acting are of the great importance. He was always interested in the artistic ideological aspect of performance and it's influence upon the audience. Jonas Jurasas was the first by his stagecraft to show the way and means for getting rid of literal basis in Lithuanian theater. The earlier professional stage-managers in Lithuania as well as the latter ones such as Juozas Miltinis, Henrikas Vancevicius, Aurelija Ragauskaite cherished the literal theater by various means . His non-literal but independent theater was an artistic creature and became the basic point to Jonas Vaitkus; the stage-manager Eimuntas Nekrosius interpreted this trend according to his own manner.

Oskaras Korsunovas (1969-) - the stage-manager; during 1989-1993 was studding a stage-managing under the guidance of Jonas Vaitkus in Lithuanian Music Academy. Since 1990, he has been the stage-manager at the State Academic Drama Theater (the National Theater at present). In 1998, he has found his own troupe - "The Theater of Oskaras Korsunovas".

He is one of the most talented and productive stage-manager among Lithuanian artists. He became famous after the original stagecraft of "There to Be Here" by Daniil Charms (1990) ,where he broke the rules of the traditional psychological theater. The works by Daniil Charms and Aleksandr Vvedensky - Russian avangardists of the fourth decade - inspired the stage-manager to search for the more modern means of expression and non-traditional acting. The stage-manager staged the trilogy - "There to Be Here", "The Old Woman" ("The Old Woman 2") and "Hay, Sonia, It's New Year" - according to the works by the mentioned authors; these stagecraft are the mixture of expressionism and surrealism, the brechtish acting with elements of dance and plasticity. His performances became the best-sellers among the youth almost in 1990-1994 as its reflected the critical standpoint to the Soviet system and ideology. Since 1997, the stage-manager has co-operated with the young Lithuanian poet and dramaturgy Sigitas Parulskis, together they staged a play - "P.S.Case O. K." ,which received a lot of attention and criticism from the conservative apologists of the National Theater. The young dramatist and the young stage-manager use to shock the audience by an unexpected themes and expression means, which reflects the view point of a young man during the changes in politic and social situation. The new stage work by the stage-manager is "Roberto Zucco" by Bernard-Marie Koltes; it became an exclusive stagecraft as well - the artist turned back to the concrete dramatic situation of a young man and used the realities of life on the stage, which were some kind of taboo in a theater till then.

In 1994, Lithuanian critique announced Oskaras Korsunovas the best young artist of the season; in 1996, he was awarded by the special premium for the cherish of original Lithuanian dramaturgy in the competition "The Stagecraft of Lithuanian Authors". His performances were shown at many international theater festivals in Europe and won a lot of awards.

Juozas Miltinis (1907-1994) - the patriarch of Lithuanian theater, he has realised the creative program of one artist's theater, he was the stage-manager and the art director at the same time. He was the founder and for a long times the leader of Panevezys Drama Theater - the first theater-studio - which overcame all Lithuanian and Soviet Union theaters by its new-fashioned manner and creative achievements. During 1928-1931, Juozas Miltinis attended the Acting School of the State Theater and was the alumni of Borisas Dauguvietis. He was the actor in Siauliai Drama Theater during 1931-1932.Unsatusfacted with the artistic politic of the State Theater he left to France for his studies in 1932; at the way to France he stayed for some time in Berlin were attended the performances staged by Maks Reinhard; while in Paris he attended the courses at Sorbona University; during 1933-1936 he studied at "Atelier" theater studio under the guidance of Charles Dullin in famous "Le Cartel" in Paris, at the same time acted at "Pathe Nathan" film studio's movies and Capuchin Avenue Theater. He was on friendly terms with Jean-Louis Bartlett and became interested in ideas of Antonio Artaud, he participated the intellectual bohemia's parties in Paris; in a word, Juozas Miltinis was involved to the vortex of French theater's vanguard. During 1938-1939, he went to England and got acquainted to the searching at British Theater of that time. During 1939-1940, he guided the Acting Studio of the Workers Palace in Kaunas and on the 21st of November'1940,he was officially assigned the stage-manager of the new Drama Theater in Panevezys and went on with his duties here till 1954. During 1954-1959,he worked at Lithuanian Film Studio as the dubbing manager and actor, later on, in 1959, returned to Panevezys Drama Theater where began his duties as the chief stage-manager and stayed here till1983. In 1948, Juozas Miltinis was awarded the name of Lithuanian artist in honour; in 1965, he got the name of Lithuanian National Artist and The National Premium; in 1973, he became The National Artist of the Soviet Union; in1977, the highest reward - The Order of National Peace was awarded to him. In 1995, French Government awarded Juozas Miltinis with The Order of Knight for his achievements in art and literature.

The extraordinary erudite, wonderful psychologist, the expert of the World art and literature, the translator of many plays and philosophy works, the theater theorist and experimentor, the actor, stage-manager, pedagogue - Juozas Miltinis -not fortunately reformatted and innovated the post-war Lithuanian theater; he has created the psychological intellectual theater -"the theater of idea" -and withdrew the rudiments of realism and every day life scenes from the performances. He fully devoted himself to the theater and by the hard and constant realisation of creative program, which lasted for thirty years, he had formed the separate modern trend in Lithuanian Theater, he created the background to the acting system. His performances - staged plays by foreign and Lithuanian authors - became the part of Lithuanian Theater's Gold Fund. Juozas Miltinis has accumulated a large bibliography of great value; his rehearsal notes are interesting as an acting methods and drama analysis and was published in a separate books.

Eimuntas Nekrosius (1952-) - the stage-manager; in 1978, he has graduated the Lunachiarsky Institute of Theater Art, he specialised on stage-managing. After returning to Lithuania, he worked at Vilnius State Youth Theater; during 1979-1980, he resettled to Kaunas and staged "The Ballads of Duokiskis" by Saulius Saltenis and "Ivanov" by Anton Chechov in Kaunas Drama Theater. In 1980, he became the stage-manager of the Youth Theater and worked here till 1991. Together with his classmates he had staged six performances, which were the best stagecraft of the Youth Theater in the ninth decade. The theater and the stage-manager were recognised to be the most interesting not only in the Soviet Union but lately in the Baltic States and West Europe as well. In 1991, Eimuntas Nekrosius has left the theater and became the stage-manager of the International Theater Festival in Lithuania - LIFE. The stagecraft produced by the stage-manager were performed in a lot of foreign countries and theatre festivals. In 1998, Nekrosius has established the independent art centre "The Fort of Art".

The performances staged by Eimuntas Nekrosius has popularised the new trend in Lithuanian theater - the poetic-metaphorical theater, where the main attention is devoted to the psychologically exact, emotional and plastic acting, the special and unique usage of the scene properties which gets a multi-layer meaning in the play .Chechov's "The Uncle Vania" staged by Nekrosius in 1986 had an especial resonance; the stage-manager refuted existing tradition of the Chechov's play staging which was based on Stanislavsky. This stage-manager and stage-poet is a supporter of the theatrical and independent theater, he uses the literature work as an impulse to create the scene story; his especially playful, dynamic and full of visual decisions performances absolutely destroyed the conception of literal theater and became the example to young stage-managers while organising the scene space for acting.

In 1994, Nekrosius was announced the best stage-manager of the year by Lithuanian critique for his stagecraft of "Mozart and Saljery. Don Chuan. Black Death." ; in the same year, the stage-manager was awarded for The New Reality in Europe Theater by the Europe Theater Union and the Taormina Art Committee; in 1996, he was awarded by the UBU Premium (Italy). In 1998, he became the winner of Lithuanian National Premium for his stagecraft of 1994-1997. His stagecraft of "Hamlet" was awarded as the best performance of 1997/1998 season by Lithuanian critique and Eimuntas Nekrosius was announced the best stage-manager of the year and awarded by "Kristoforas". Since 1994, the stage-manager frequently toured Europe, performed his plays at the international theater festivals in Europe and America.

Antanas Sutkus (1892-1968) - the stage-manager and pedagogue, the theoretic and experimenter of the theater. The alumni of Fiodor Komisarzhevsky's Acting Studio during 1913-1918, the participant of Lithuanian theater's troupe in Moscow and the membership of Moscow's Lithuanian Theater Company. After returning to Lithuania Sutkus became the organizer of Lithuanian State Theater in Kaunas; in 1919 he became the director of "Tautos teatras" and the leader of "Vilkolakis" - the theater of satiric miniatures improvisation. Sutkus tried to create the national theater - based on national-symbolic trend - by his stagecraft in "Tautos teatras", his performances were full of drama and acting elements from Lithuanian mythology and folklore, he propagated symbolic and additional trend. The comic parody miniatures and theatrical improvisation deriding social and moral evils dominated in "Vilkolakis" theater. That was the prototype of satiric theater which hastily reflected actual problems, performances were staged collectively without written text or adapting classical works, the main role was given to actor's improvisation. "Vilkolakis" theater, which existed till1925, was a some kind of Lithuanian commedia dell'arte with acting national prototypes and interlaced elements of mimodrama, song, music, choreography, drama, tragedy, satire and comedy.

Rimas Tuminas (1952-) - the stage-manager and pedagogue; in 1974, he has graduated the State Conservatoire in Vilnius and left for his studies to Moscow - Lunachiarsky Institute of Theater Art; in 1979, he returned to Lithuania and became the stage-manager in the State Academic Drama Theater. In 1990, he established the Small Theater. He distinguished himself by the first stagecraft in the common repertoire of the Academic Drama Theater ; the unit of theater and every day life was shown in the new manner in his performances - the realism was risen to the poesy in the theatrical manner; the roles were created very sensibly. Rimas Tuminas is a good psychologist, a romantic stage-manager ,a wag and a lyric in one person. His stagecraft are not monolithic as dramatic composition, he isn't a conceptualist or an innovator who searches for the new means in stage-managing and acting. His performances are more traditional but very emotionally effective stage works; its are the prosaic interpretations with dominated acting and playful improvisation. In spite of that ,Rimas Tuminas is fond of the theatrical means of expression which are used sparingly but inventively; his stagecraft are distinguished for a sequence narration and the unique co-ordination of the life's and scene's time. One of his newly stagecraft (1997) - "The Masquerade" by Michail Lermantov - revealed the stage-manager as the organiser and creator of independent scene text, as the romantic of old melodramatic theater. The stage-manager has opportunity to stage in abroad; his plays staged in Lithuania were performed at many countries and international festivals. In 1994, he was awarded by the Lithuanian Premium for his stagecraft of "Galilee", "The Cherry-tree Garden", "Please, God, Give Us a Smile". In 1994, the performance "Please, God, Give Us a Smile" was announced the best play of the season and Rimas Tuminas was awarded as the best stage-manager by Lithuanian critique. In 1997, the same awards were attributed to his stagecraft of "The Masquerade" by Michail Lermantov. Since 1994, Rimas Tuminas has been the leader of Vilnius Academic Drama Theater, which in 1998 was renamed the National Theater.

Rimas Tuminas frequently staged abroad, his stage works were performed at international theater festivals and various Europe countries.

Jonas Vaickus (1885-1935) - the founder of the amateurish Fluttering Theater; he had propagated and cherished Lithuanian language and scene art while wandering and performing plays and theatrical shows throughout Lithuania. He made the debut in 1905 and continued the summer tours with his troupe till 1915. During the period of 1915-1918 he was learning in St. Petersburg Royal Theater School, there he found common minded persons who later on helped him in formation of Lithuanian professional theater. In 1918, Jonas Vaickus came back to Lithuania and became the leader and stage-manager of the Drama Troupe, which later on developed to the State Theater. During 1924-1931 Jonas Vaickus was living in USA and after returning in 1932, he established the first Cinema and Theater Studio in Lithuania and film company "Lietfilmas", which soon after felt to the ground. The performances staged by Jonas Vaickus wasn't innovative; he used to choose the contemporary literal works with sharp social content but staged them in rich realistic, grotesque, naturalistic manner, his performances were full of effects and properties. In spite of that, Jonas Vaickus had put the background of Lithuanian professional theater and had trained a lot of famous actors of Lithuanian theater.

Jonas Vaitkus (1952-) -

Saulius Varnas (1948- ) -the stage-manager, pedagogue; during 1967-1970 he was the participant of Panevezys Drama Theater's Studio guided by Juozas Miltinis and during the period of 1973-1978 worked there as an actor. In 1973-1978, he studied the stage-managing at the State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinema in St. Petersburg; after returning to Lithuania (1978) he became the chief stage-manager of Siauliai Drama Theater in 1980, before leaving this theater he worked here as a producer for last two years and in 1993, became the leader of Panevezys Drama Theater. The most interesting period in creative biography of the stage-manager was his work at Siauliai Drama Theater -there he has staged 19 plays varying in their form and style, which exchanged the realistic direction of the troupe and were awarded at various festivals. The constructive and expressive form and style of the stage-managing was new to Siauliai Drama Theater but the actors corrected the strict and sharp form by fulfilling it with the sensitiveness and accuracy of psychological acting. At the meanwhile the stage-manager was just looking for his own style but he was fond to use the intellectual drama and literary works with strict artistic structure and philosophic implications, the plays-debates where the dramatic conflict between personality and survey conditions as well as the inner conflict between the forces of god and evil are discussed .The stage-manager propagated this trend at Panevezys Drama Theater, but cold and ascetic visual form of the plays wasn't meet enthusiastically by the alumni of Juozas Miltinis, who used to choose more traditional - realistic-psychological way of acting after the master had left. Since 1996, Saulius Varnas has been the stage-manager at Vilnius Russian Drama Theater.

Andrius Oleka-Zilinskas (1892-1948) - the actor and stage-manager, since 1912 was studding at the Art Theater Studio in Moscow, since 1917 was acting in the Art Theater Studio later on renamed II MDT. In 1929, became the stage-manager at Kaunas State Theater and made the artistic upheaval when staged "Sarunas" by Vincas Kreve together with the dramatist Petras Vaiciunas, the designer Galdikas and the composer Gruodis. The new period of the State Theater was begun after this stagecraft. The reforms made by Oleka-Zilinskas in the theater, his new program and direction, the innovatory while learning and working with actors influenced the development of the theater's professional and artistic level. Oleka-Zilinskas took care to create the department of the State Theater in Siauliai - Siauliai Drama Theater. The performances by this stage-manager were significant for the new acting and concord, the staging style's identity and harmony, the conceptual decision, the expressive details and the interpretation's fidelity of staged literary work, the original performance of crowd scenes. One of the famous artists - Mikhail Chechov, the participant of the Konstantin Stanislavsky's Studio was invited to the State Theater by Oleka-Zilinskas and during 1932-1933 staged here "Hamlet" and "The Twelve Night" by Shakespeare and "The Inspector" by Googol. Oleka-Zilinskas and Mikhail Chechov acquainted the theater's troupe with the Konstantin Stanislavsky's and Moscow Art Theater's system and tradition - psychological realism based on strict acting and emotional fullness, as well with the consequent role creating rules and the acting technique and skilfulness. Because of the disorders at the theater and exchanged political situation at the state, in 1934, Oleka-Zilinskas leaves the Sate Theater; he goes to Riga later on to USA.

LIFE
Jono Basanavièiaus g. 5, 2600 Vilnius
tel.: 370 2 625158; faks.: 370 2 621082

The first international theater festival in Lithuania - LIFE - was organised in 1993; the chief manager of the festival - the theater critique Ruta Vanagaitė. The festival is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, the Open Fund of Lithuanian ,other non-State institutions and private firms. In the beginning LIFE was thought to be organised every two year, but almost two second festivals were carried out yearly. Such plays as "Mozart and Saljery. Don Chuan. The Black Death." by Pushkin (1994), "Three Sisters" by Chechov (1995), "The Love and The Death in Verona" by Antanėlis and Geda (1996) produced by Eimuntas Nekrosius were performed at this festival.

LIFE'93 participants:
"Xarxa" street Theatre. Spain
Royal Dramatic Theatre. Sweden
Katona Joszef Theatre. Hungary
Dausan Erotica. Japan
Lilla Theatre. Finland
The National Negroes Travelling Troupe. USA
Compagnie Markus Zohner. Switzerland
Theatre A. Russia
Theatre de Complicite. Great Britain
There were organised the retrospectives of films by Ingman Bergman and Krzystov Zanussi, creative laboratories and evenings of Aleksandr Kaliagin, Ala Demidova, Aleksej Petrenka (Russia).
LIFE'95 participants:
Turbo Cacahuete Street Theatre. France
People Show. Great Britain
Diamanda Galas. USA
Cosmos Kolej. France
Les Ballets C. de la B. Belgium
Stanislavsky Theatre. Russia
Zvuki Mu. Russia
"Xarxa" Street Theatre. Spain
LIFE'96 participants:
Les Ballets C. de la B. Belgium
Compagnie Maguy Marin. France
Volksbuhne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz. Germany
The National Theatre of Island. Island
Teatr Studio. Poland
LIFE'97 participants:
Victoria Chaplin and Jean Baptiste Thierree
"Oh Les Beaux". Peter Brook/Natasha Parry
T.G.Stan. Belgium
Credo Theatre. Bulgaria
Opera Circus. Great Britain

REWARDS

On the 27th of March yearly the theater artists are awarded by the "St. Kristoforas" statue for the best achievements of the season. The candidates for nomination are announced by the members of Lithuanian Theater's Critique Association after they got acquainted with the best performances of that season. The statue was awarded since 1995, its' author is Stanislovas Kuzma.

The nominators of "Kristoforas":

Stage-managers:
Rimas Tuminas.1995, "Please, God, Give Us A Smile"
Jonas Vaitkus.1996, "A Dream", "The Doll's House"
Eimuntas Nekrosius. 1998, "Hamlet"
Rimas Driezis.1998, The Puppet Theater's performances

Actors:
Egle Mikelionyte.1995
Gediminas Girdvainis.1995
Dalia Overaitė.1996
Valentinas Masalskis.1996
Sigitas Jakubauskas.1996
Vytautas Paukste.1998
Viktorija Kuodyte.1998

Composers:
Faustas Latenas.1995
Vidmantas Bartulis.1996
Gintaras Sodeika.1998

Designers:
Jurate Paulekaite.1995
Jonas Arcikauskas.1996
Zilvinas Kempinas.1998

Awards of thanks:
The theater's critic Dana Rutkutė.1995
The historian of theater Antanas Vengris.1996
The actress Ruta Staliliunaite.1998

Awards of a young artist:
Oskaras Korsunovas, the stage-manager.1995
Sigitas Parulskis, the dramatist.1996
Gintaras Liutkevicius, the stage-manager.1998

THE PRESS

Theater magazine "Lietuvos teatras" published since 1998, printed in 1000 copies.
Address :Bernardinu 10, 2001 Vilnius
Tel\fax :62 65 02

Theater magazine "Teatras" published since 1997.

Cultural weekly "7 meno dienos" (painting, music, literature, theater, cinema) published since 1992, printed in 2800 copies, on Thursdays.
Address :Bernardinu 10, 2001 Vilnius
Tel: 61 30 39 ,61 74 47; fax: 61 19 26

Lithuanian Writer's Union's weekly "Literatura ir menas" published since 1946, printed in 3200 copies, on Saturdays.
Address :Universiteto 4, 2600 Vilnius
Tel :61 25 50, 61 25 86; fax :61 08 31

Cultural and philosophic weekly "Siaures Atenai" published since 1990, printed in 2500 copies, on Saturdays.
Address : Maironio 1, 2600 Vilnius
Tel : 61 44 31; el.post :siaurat. Post.5ci.lt

Cultural addition of daily "Lietuvos rytas" - "Muzu malûnas" published since 1992, printed in 68347 copies, on Tuesday
Address : Gedimino pr. 12 A, 2001 Vilnius
Tel :61 00 38, el.post : daily lrytas. lt, http:\\www.lrytas.lt

Cultural and art addition of daily " Kauno diena" - "Santaka" printed in 60500 copies, on Saturdays.
Address : Vytauto pr. 27, 3687 Kaunas
Fax : 7 22 74 04, 2 79 13 79, http:\\www kaunodiena.lt

The Cinema and Theater Information and Education Center

You are welcome to open the first page of our theater, which was published by The Cinema and Theater Information and Education Center. You will find here only a part of accumulated information. Later on You would find here the data about all our theaters not only the State Theaters, the information about its' function, performances and the most interesting shows or stagecraft. There are no information about Theater's Union, The Music Academy , other studing institutions and associations still. But You will have opportunity to get acquainted with our theater's history from the theater's foundation till nowadays. You can choose the table "History" - there You'll find the review of our theater's development and the names of the most famous artists; or "The State Theater" - there You'll be acquainted with the first professional Lithuanian theater. After pushing down the names in the text , You'll find the data and biography of every artist.

On the left side of the page You'll find the menu and choose even now the information You needed according the references : The State Theater (here You'll find the information about every theater's development), Festivals( the data about the greatest international theater festival in Lithuania), Awards (the information about the main show of Lithuanian artists, where the best artists of the year are announced ), The Press ( the presentation of the main Lithuanian cultural weekly and daily additions which has a separate theater's page or specialized theater's publication).

The Theater and Cinema Information and Education Center begin to accumulate the data about every artist who successfully works in theater's sphere. A little bit later You'll find all information about ever performance, stage-manager or artist You are interested in.

So, welcome to Lithuanian Theater's World.