Vilnius Small Theater closes the season and presents future plans Culture

“Last season had a general feel, it talked regarding the instincts that we all have inside us – last year it was uncomfortable to talk regarding, but today it’s our new reality that we’re learning to live with. This reality has manifested itself in different forms on the stage of our theater. I’m glad that the audience is discovering the Little Theater once more and once more,” says the theater director.

Gabrielė Tuminaitė, the head of the VMT art department, has no doubts – the basis of the theater remains the person, the eternal themes, the light – it is a place where people are invited to an open meeting with performing arts professionals. “I know a very good quote: ‘The best soups are made in old pots.’ The small theater is what it is, a real household item – unbreakable, reliable, useful, solid construction. It’s nice that next to the classical line of performances, young creators are working in the theater, communicating on topics that are close to them and bringing their viewers to the Mažajai Teatr”, says G.Tuminaitė.

According to the director, the theater is constantly looking for a powerful idea that shocks, changes perception, gives a new look at old, ordinary things.

Farewell to Maestro Rim Tumin

In March, the theater community said goodbye to the founder and long-time artistic director of VMT, the director of bright memory, Rim Tumin.

The director breathed the spirit into the great VMT, trained generations of talented actors and moved the hearts of theatergoers for years with the performances he created, which are still being shown in full theaters.

R. Tuminas directed more than 70 performances in Lithuanian and foreign theaters – Iceland, Italy, Israel, China, Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden.

“The memory of the maestro will remain alive both in works and memories of how R. Tumin saw the world, accompanied people through his creative expression and extraordinary ideas. It’s very sad that a developer of this magnitude is gone. Now it remains to enjoy the performances, students and extraordinary insights left by one of the most important creators of Lithuanian theater, which will inspire future generations as well”, shares S. Keblas.

A variety of topics for the 35th season

The first premiere of the season “Unfaithful” (producers – VMT and VšĮ “Darbininkai”), which took place on December 8, 9, invited the audience to think regarding love and infidelity.

“Indeed, the classics do not fit everywhere because of a certain context, and Bergman and VMT have a common aesthetic sensibility through which they can connect. At the moment, it really seems to me that people live very sadly, their quality of life is poor. I want to understand the reason for this. It seems to me that several things are important here: first, there is a certain cultural and religious aspect, a kind of reference to how we should live, and often this is an unquestioned reality. This is why we don’t talk regarding very important things. One of them is infidelity,” said the director of the play, Naubert Jasinskas.

In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Immanuel Kant, the pioneer of German classical philosophy, VMT together with director Oskars Koršunovs on February 21. invited the audience to a sketch-reading of the play “Kantas” by playwright Mariaus Ivaškevičius, in which a large group of actors loved by the audience participated.

“M. Ivaškevičius’s play Kantas is very open to ideas, it is kind of non-Ketic, reminiscent of the work of existentialists and absurdists. There is strong humor here, sometimes black. I think that in an intellectual sense we have not had such plays in the Lithuanian language yet. This is a truly unique work”, said the director O. Koršunovas.

His fellow traveler M. Ivaškevičius added: “It’s been a long time since I experienced such pleasure watching the rehearsals of my play, maybe something similar happened with “Madagascar” or “Išvarymu”, which means – a long time ago.”

In the new season, VMT viewers will see the premiere of director O. Koršunov’s “Kantas” in March.

In late spring, on April 26, 27, VMT hosted the premiere of “Orpheus” (dir. Žilvinas Vingelis) based on the play by French playwright Jean Cocteau. She dragged the audience into dreamy, surreal, absurd labyrinths of mixed imagination and reality.

“While working at VMT, I care regarding the aesthetic and sound levels of the performance, close interdisciplinarity, the strong influence of visual arts, the search for interesting personalities, understanding the relationship between the media and the actor as polyphonic, complementing each other, communicating with people from other professions, from philosophers to engineers,” he said. Ž. Vingelis.

DramaTest Residency and Awards

“DramaTest Residency” is a necessary and relevant project that provides an opportunity for directors to reside and create VMT. This year, the winner of the competition is director Augusta Gornatkevičius’ sketch “Rats. The play examines the typical themes of G.Hauptmann’s work, which is rarely performed on the stages of Lithuania – social and class inequality, the division of society, collapsing family values ​​and the issues of the role of art in modern society.

During the DramaTest Residency, creators from Ukraine also worked intensively at VMT. In the basement of the theater, director and teacher Jevhenijs Rezničenka presented a sketch of the play “The Stone” based on Marius von Mayenburg’s play (“Der Stein”; translated by Jūratė Pieslytė), theater director and teacher Tetiana Hubrii presented a sketch of Olhos Anenko’s dystopian drama “Present Perfect” (translated by Andrius Merkevičius ). The directors worked under the program of the Goethe-Institut Culture Moves Europewhich is supported by the European Union with the help of the Lithuanian Cultural Council.

It is a pleasure to see that DramaTest Residency’s performances, which have turned from sketches into repertory, are receiving awards. in 2023 November 27 The closing of the XII international theater festival COM•MEDIA took place in the Alytus City Theatre, during which the play “L. YRA S.” director Greta Štiormer was awarded the Best Director award. The play “L. YRA S.” was nominated in 4 more categories: Best artistic decision – costume designer Valdemara Jasulaitytė; The best actress – Eglė Mikulionytė; Best actor – Matas Sigliukas; The best COM•MEDIA performance – “L. IS S.”.

March 8 In the Great Hall of the Government Palace, an event was held honoring the winners of the Government’s culture and art prizes, among which the actor and director of the State VMT Troupe, Arvydas Dapšys, was awarded. Prizes are awarded to creators and actors of Lithuanian culture and art in Lithuania, as well as in the world, for significant contributions to culture and art and special merits in this field. Also among the award winners is the actress Eglė Mikulionytė, who plays two roles at the VMT in the plays “L. YRA S.” (dir. Greta Štiormer) and “Scilė wants to be human” (dir. Gabriele Tuminaitė).

This year, 2024 March 12 the performance “Unfaithful” (dir. Naubertas Jasinskas) was noticed by the “Golden Stage Crosses” commission – the actress who played the main role, Alvydė Pikturnaitė, was nominated in the category of Female role.

What to expect and not to miss in the new season?

In the new 36th season, VMT on October 3, 4, 5. will invite the audience to the premiere performance of contemporary German director Christian Weise (b. 1973), distinguished by his unique character and style, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, based on a vintage play by American playwright Tennessee Williams. This is one of T. Williams’ most famous works, revealing the desire for close relationships and the suffering of passions. In many of Christian Weise’s plays, the stories are constructed using a sort of “inverted”, multi-layered, absurd, ironic, comic way of telling.

“The upcoming season will maintain a sense of general anxiety, excitement. Theater should give people hope, inspiration for reflection, joy, and not preach – culture always becomes a pillar in difficult times. German creators will be the first to start, having decided to “unlock” T. Williams’s classic play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in their own way, the second production with director Oskars Koršunovs will return to Mažaj, which will premiere in March. Later, there will be a performance based on the play “Rats” by the German author G. Hauptmann (directed by Augustas Gornatkevičius). We will continue “DramaTest Residency”, in October we will have a touring one-man play “Lovefool” by director Gintarė Parulytė. We are planning a new format initiative in the box office space of the theater – “Dramateka”, well, and of course the revived space of the theater’s basement cafe – a new place in Vilnius – “Rūta”, whose content is curated by actor Marius Čižauskas, will operate. The first stage of the “Villa Trilogy” by Carlo Goldoni, one of the most famous Italian playwrights, will also begin. We are very happy that the Goethe Institute of Lithuania and the Institute of Italian Culture in Vilnius contribute to the processes of creating performances by new teams of foreign creators”, says S. Keblas.

Prepared for the Vilnius State Small Theater in cooperation with the Lithuanian Goethe Institute, the Institute of Italian Culture, and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.