The field of Lithuanian drama has undergone significant changes in recent decades. While 20th century drama was dominated by male names and the search for historical or political narratives, the 21st century has seen an increasingly strong female voice, characterized by a different sensitivity, intimacy, but also critical reflection on social phenomena. Women playwrights are opening up topics that have long been marginalized — the fragility of everyday life, the female body and its social status, the paradoxes of family and love, as well as reflections of collective traumas and global challenges. Their work combines poetry, documentary, social criticism, intimate psychologism, and experimental forms.
The readings presented at Romaeuropa festival by no means will give a broad overview of Lithuanian dramaturgy, but it will boldly introduce significant names in contemporary writing for theatre in Lithuania, and hopefully will spark interest of professionals as well as general audiences in the dramaturgy that is being born in a small yet brave country, written in one of the most archaic languages in Europe.
During the readings extracts of three plays will be presented as stage readings:
– A Stand-up for Meaning and Meaninglessness by Birute Kapustinskaite
– Real Estate Drama by Gabriele Labanauskaite
– Patina by Virginija Rimkaite
Plays are being translated by Toma Gudelyte.
Birute Kapustinskaite
Born in 1989. For her Vilnius was the city to raise and liberate her professionally as well as nurture her curiosity for the world, whereas Neringa, a magic land between two waters – taught her to enjoy, play and take on a slower rhythm. She graduated from the Lithuanian Theatre and Music Academy with a BA in Film dramaturgy and earned a masters degree in the Intermedial literature studies at Vilnius University. Her debut in theatre goes back to 2011 when her play Marius and the Plague was presented as a stage reading at the Contemporary Dramaturgy Festival VERSME at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. A full-scale performance based on her play Therapies premiered at OKT / Vilnius City Theatre in 2017. The main themes she dwells in her oeuvre are attempts for dialogue, everyday existence, as well as humour and tragicomic aspects of life. Birute is equally active in cinema: she writes scripts and directs films, for which she has received numerous awards. She is also a professor at the Lithuanian Theatre and Music Academy where she teaches script writing and is a leading mentor of the Film dramaturgy studies.
Gabriele Labanauskaite
www.galdrama.lt
Born in 1980. She names Klaipeda, Vilnius, New York, Berlin, and London to be the cities that had a huge impact on her personal and professional life. In 2003 she graduated from Klaipeda University with a BA in Lithuanian and Finish philology, and in 2005 acquired an MA in the history and theory of literature from Vilnius University. She holds a PhD in drama theory from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Gabriele had her debut in theatre in 2008 in London where her play The One that Hurt the Most premiered in Southwark Playhouse Theatre (dir. Svetlana Dimcovic). Her main themes are gender equality, queer, identity in its broadest sense, poetry, as well as other existential questions. Gabriele is an active member in the Lithuanian cultural field: she started an audiovisual festival TARP, for many years was part of the audiovisual poetry group AVASPO with whom they released three albums, initiated a drama reading festival DRAMOKRATIJA, is the author of creative writing courses and camps IS TYLOS. Since 2009 Gabriele has been teaching at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and as a visiting lecturer at various higher education institutions in Lithuania and abroad. Up until 2025, she has worked on almost thirty drama and dance performances, musicals, operas, and short films across Lithuania and in Argentina, Spain, USA, UK, Latvia, Finland, and Sweden.
Virginija Rimkaite
Born in 1991. Three biggest cities in Lithuania – Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipeda – has been her home at some point in her life. In Klaipeda she discovered theatre, and after eleven years spent there, now lives and works in Kaunas. Virginija graduated from Klaipeda University with a BA in Lithuanian philology and directing in 2014, and with an MA in theatre studies in 2016. She debuted in theatre at the contemporary dramaturgy festival VERSME at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre in 2016 with her first play Boiling temperature 5425. The same play came out as a full production a year later at AAT | Arturas Areima Theatre. In her writings Virginija goes deep into the themes of consumerism, alienation, and yearning for meaning. She is one of the most active dramaturges in the field of puppetry and visual theatre, maintains a long-term creative relationship with a puppet theatre artist Gintare Radvilaviciute. In 2017 she won a first book contest organised by the Lithuanian Writers’ Union and published a short story book 21st cent. She has worked for various theatre festivals as a curator, board member, text author.
