23 August 2022

The exhibition ‘Jonas Jurašas. Value of Existence’

The exhibition of the Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum devoted to the life and work of the legendary theatre director the winner of the Lithuanian National prize for Culture and Arts Jonas Jurašas.

Jonas Juršas was born in Panevėžys on 19 June 1936.

In 1941, when Jonas was five years old, Nazi collaborators shot his parents in his presence: the teacher Sofija Jurašienė and the bank employee Jonas Jurašas.

Jonas Jurašas studied at the Marijampolė Secondary School No. 1, at the Forestry Faculty of the Agricultural Academy of Lithuania (now the Agricultural Academy at the Vytautas Magnus University) and at the Acting Department of the Lithuanian State Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre).

In 1964, he graduated from the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts with a Theatre Making degree.

In 1963–2014, Jonas Jurašas directed more than fifty performances, which were staged under the Soviet censorship in Lithuania (at the Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania, the Šiauliai Drama Theatre, the Lithuanian Academic Drama Theatre (now the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre) and the Kaunas Drama Theatre) and in Russia and countries of the West (USA, Canada, Belgium and Japan) as well as in Lithuania after it regained its independence.

In 1967–1972, Jonas Jurašas was the Principal Director at the Kaunas Drama Theatre. He was expelled from the Theatre for political reasons. In 1974, the family of Jurašases emigrated from Lithuania and could return to their home country only after Lithuania regained its independence.

Organizers: Curator Liucija Armonaitė; Exhibition Architects Ona Vėliūtė and Saulius Valius; Designers Ona Vėliūtė, Jūratė Šatūnė.

Opening at 6 September, 6 PM.

The exhibition will be open from 6 September to 30 October 2022.