87 SEASON

Above the Present. About the Vertical Flow and the Constant Human Being

In recent years, probably everyone has been watching more closely than ever the efforts of sociologists and philosophers to describe what is happening to our sense of time. Five years ago, headlines were filled with fear over the rapid pace of technological advancement and our growing alienation from one another, but today, analysts of social processes are asking why our visions are being replaced by weariness, why towers of loneliness are rising within the castles of community we have spent so long building, and how the illusion of security has instantly turned into a sense of threat. Sometimes it seems as though the present moment has plunged us into a state of ongoing crisis. It seems we will never see an end to it, and the tension and daily upheavals will continue relentlessly and never cease.

I will be frank – I have grown quite tired of sensational headlines and intriguing slogans; perhaps I no longer see their meaning and value. I believe that in today’s reality, our theater audience – discerning and open-minded people who have far more complex questions than unambiguous answers – feels the same way. That is why I invite you to understand the name of the 87th season – “Above the Present” – not as a one-time slogan, but as a theme relevant to all of us.

While working with the new LNDT Artistic Board and developing this season’s vision, we raised the question of the horizontality of time – the flow of events moving from the past to the future, in which the present seems most tangibly real. Our theater has explored that present in many ways in previous seasons – the present time has been inspiring, documentary-like, ironic, and dramatic for us. It is impossible to fold up this linear, obvious, somewhat hurried time – it is always right here, with us.

But together with the horizontal axis of time comes the vertical one, like everyday life and eternity. A moment and infinity. So, we asked ourselves: Is time really a problem? And what new horizons would open for us if, instead of abstract time, we identified the individual human being acting within it as the central theme? The 87th season of the LNDT raises questions about the cyclical nature of time and the eternally recurring present – in upcoming productions, the creative teams’ focus is directed not so much toward the signs of the present as toward the same, recurring, restless human being and their contradictions, themes of our nature and destiny.

This season, we are beginning to implement the theater’s long-term vision of presenting at least a few performances each year centered on the finest drama or prose, read not merely as a source of inspiration, but presented on our stages, seeking contemporary form while preserving classical depth. This opens another direction for the LNDT – selecting plays written nowadays and staged in venues around the world, whose themes seem timeless and related to the fundamental questions. The third, and I would say, foundational decision for the theater is maintaining a focus on national dramaturgy – we aim to ensure that this focus is not incidental; therefore, each year we will present several premieres, in which our historical and mythological narratives, our memory, and our present will be the core motive.

Together with the entire LNDT community, I am delighted that this season we will rise above daily life on more than one occasion and look at the world from a little distance. But to be above the present certainly does not mean to distance oneself, to become superior, or to ignore everyday life and what it contains. It means allowing ourselves to soar above the horizon so that we may look more intently and more sensitively at everyone, not just the ones that exist today.

Martynas Budraitis, Director General of the LNDT