Valstybė ir scena. Lietuvių profesinio dramos teatro pradžia
The state and the stage. On the question of the beginnings of professional Lithuanian drama theatre

Summary/Abstract: The deepest link of Lithuanian theatre in Vilnius to the future Lithuanian state should be traced to the organizational but not the artistic level. In the beginning of the 20th century the stage of Vilnius' Lithuanian amateur theatre was occupied by prominent individuals, such as M. Sleževičius, A. Smetona, K. Grinius, A. Janulaitis, M. Biržiška, K. Šakenis, and others. Most of them later became influential politicians - presidents, ministers. One could consider their desire to associate their youth activities to the national movement, and not to artistic work, as a factor that influenced the peculiar understanding of professional Lithuanian theatre. In the history of Lithuanian theatre, professional theatre is traditionally considered to be the state-supported theatre. In the article, the question of Lithuanian drama theatre periodization, the problem regarding the beginning of professional theatre is examined. The beginning of professional Lithuanian theatre is commonly assumed to be the play "Joninės" produced by Juozas Vaičkus in 1920. It is highlighted that this date found its place in theatre history rather accidentally, since the fact's emphasis is based on the organizational but not on the artistic criteria.Controversies regarding the beginnings of Lithuanian professional drama theatre once again show that, unfortunately, the artistic criterion does not always outweigh the others.

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