66 Nordic Theatre Studies Vol. 27: No. 1 ABSTRACT from “Rooted Out” To

ABSTRACT From “rooted out” to “rootless”: Images of Emigration in Lithuanian Drama Since the early 1990s, when the Iron Curtain was lifted after over !fty years of Soviet occupation, approximately 800 000 citizens of Lithuania have emigrated, leaving a population of less than three million. "is article addresses the phenomenon of emigration from Lithuania and analyzes how the issue of emigration and the experiences of the emigrants are re#ected in Lithuanian drama. In the !rst part of the article, two plays – Without Conscience (Be sumnenės arba kaip ant svieto einasi) by Antanas Turskis and America in the Bathhouse (Amerika pirtyje) by Keturakis – will be analysed focusing on how the late nineteenth century plays shaped a critical attitude towards emigration, deconstructed the myth of the foreign land of gold and proposed a romantic image of the motherland as one’s native soil where one needs to return. "e second part of the article analyses the plays Goodbye, My Love (Antoškos Kartoškos) by Marius Macevičius and Expulsion (Išvarymas) by Marius Ivaškevičius and points out how re#ection on the contemporary experience of emigration helps to explore deeper problems of post-Soviet society and the individual such as a sense of placelessness and fragmented identity. A comparative analysis of these texts makes it possible to analyse the dynamics of the di&erent conceptions of emigration, emigrant’s identity and self-perception as well as their artistic representations. Keywords: Lithuanian drama, migration, emigration, post-Soviet identity, fragmented identity, images of emigration. BIOGRAPHY Rūta Mažeikienė, Ph.D., is associate professor and researcher at the "eatre Studies department at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania). She has published numerous scienti!c and critical articles on contemporary Lithuani- an theatre and drama and has given presentations at a number of national and international theatre conferences. Her academic experience includes researching contemporary Lithuanian theatre, focusing on di&erent forms of acting and performing as well as strategies of participation and community involvement in contemporary theatre. [email protected] 66 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 From “rooted out” to “rootless” Images of Emigration in Lithuanian Drama RŪTA MAŽEIKIENĖ Since the early 1990s when the Iron Curtain was eth century amounted to 600,000 to 700,000 peo- lifted after over !fty years of Soviet occupation, ple. Although the !rst wave of emigrants included approximately 800,000 citizens of Lithuania have some representatives of the intelligentsia and some emigrated, leaving a population of less than three priests or fugitives of the Czarist army, the majority million.1 "e high level of mass emigration from were underprivileged and poorly educated peasants Lithuania has not only turned into a dominant issue and workers, the so-called Grynoriai (Greenhorns or in the public sphere and political discourse but has new, inexperienced).6 "e second wave of emigra- also gradually entered the artistic !eld. A growing tion sprang up as forced emigration after World War number of contemporary Lithuanian artists have II when the Republic of Lithuania was re-occupied addressed the issue of (e)migration, using artistic by the Soviet Union, with people trying to escape forms to raise questions about the causes and out- the very real threat of Soviet persecutions (the repre- comes of this social problem, exploring the e&ects of sentatives of intelligentsia, politicians, artists, scien- (e)migration on ordinary life in Lithuania and rep- tists), leaving the country on a massive scale. "ere resenting the complex experiences of contemporary were more than 60,000 such Dipukai (Displaced emigrants. "e purpose of this article is to discuss persons, or emigrants located in the Displaced Per- the phenomenon of emigration from Lithuania and sons Camps of WW II and after in the Western part to analyze how the issue of emigration and the expe- of Germany), who, for some time, still cherished the riences of the emigrants are re#ected in Lithuanian belief that their emigration was temporary and that drama. they would soon be going back.7 "e third (contem- In fact, since the late nineteenth century, that porary) wave of emigration started in the !nal years is since “the age of transatlantic mass migration”2, of perestroika, and increased after the reestablish- Lithuania has provided the world with the highest ment of independence in Lithuania in 1990, and numbers of emigrants from Eastern Europe (in pro- further expanded after Lithuania’s entry into the portion to its population).3 "is indicates that, as European Union in 2004 and joining the Schen- emigration researchers suggest, contemporary Lith- gen Area in 2007. Due to the fact that these people uanian emigration should not be treated as some emigrated from the former Soviet country, earlier “uniquely post-Soviet behavior”4 or exclusively emigrants (Grynoriai and Dipukai) recognized them contemporary phenomenon. "e scienti!c literary as Tarybukai (Little Soviets or being marked by the resources on the issue of emigration generally recog- Soviet Regime).8 Although there have been three nize three major waves of Lithuanian emigration.5 major waves of Lithuanian emigration since the late "e !rst wave of emigration from Lithuania (which nineteenth century to this day, this article focuses was by then a part of the Czarist Russian Empire) on the !rst and the third waves only as both of them from the late nineteenth century and early twenti- are considered voluntary and economically based. Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 67 "e second wave of emigration that took place right soil where one needs to return. "e second part of after World War II was forced due to the political the article analyses the plays Goodbye, My Love (An- situation and its re#ection on stage is deliberately toškos Kartoškos) by Marius Macevičius and Expul- left out of the reach of this essay. sion (Išvarymas) by Marius Ivaškevičius and points Although, according to Paul White, who has re- out how the re#ection on the contemporary experi- searched the links between literature and migration, ence of emigration helps to explore deeper problems “the theme of migration per se is extremely common of post-Soviet society and the individual, such as a in writing produced over the last century”9, re#ec- sense of placelessness and fragmented identity. A tions on this social problem on the twentieth-cen- comparative analysis of those texts makes it possible tury Lithuanian theatre stage are scarce. It is not to analyse the dynamics of the di&erent conceptions that the issue of emigration was totally avoided by of emigration, the emigrant’s identity and self-per- Lithuanian theatre artists and playwrights. "e au- ception as well as their artistic representations. thors of the !rst plays on the issue of emigration (e.g. Antanas Turskis and Keturakis10) re#ected the importance of mass economic emigration by Lith- EXPERIENCES OF GRYNORIAI (GREENHORNS) IN uanians in the late nineteenth century. Subsequent- THE FIRST LITHUANIAN PLAYS ly, in the second half of the twentieth century the "e !rst appearance of plays touching on the topic painful experiences of forced political emigration of emigration is noticeable in the late nineteenth were convincingly depicted by such playwrights of century together with the !rst wave of Grynoriai Lithuanian exile as Antanas Škėma and Kostas Os- (Greenhorns), whose main aim was to earn money trauskas. At the same time, the playwrights of Soviet abroad (mostly in the USA) and return home or Lithuania (e.g. Albertas Laurinčiukas), who wrote support their own families’ journey to the foreign under the in#uence of Soviet ideology, formed a country. Most of the emigrants of this period stayed negative and ideological attitude towards emigra- in the USA, where they would cling together, form tion and emigrants. In the late twentieth and early Lithuanian parishes, friendly societies, found var- twenty-!rst centuries, as a result of the most numer- ious organizations, publish newspapers and try to ous wave of emigration ever, the issue entered Lith- preserve the Lithuanian language and ethnic tradi- uanian dramaturgy once again. Although the artis- tions. tic representations of emigration have been quite As a matter of fact, two stagings of the plays on well re#ected by literary critics, the similar issue in emigration written at the time are included now as drama has remained almost unexplored. "is article being among the most signi!cant events in Lithu- focuses on the drama texts of the late nineteenth – anian theatre history. "e play by Antanas Turskis, early twentieth centuries and late twentieth – early Without Conscience (Be sumnenės arba kaip ant svieto twenty-!rst centuries, and raises the question how einasi), performed by the Lithuanian theatre soci- the subjects, narratives and images of emigration ety in Plymouth, USA in 1889, is considered to have changed from the very !rst re#ection on this be the !rst theater production performed in Lith- social issue in early Lithuanian plays to the most uanian and marks the beginning of the theatre of recent re#ections of emigration in contemporary American Lithuanians. Moreover, the production of Lithuanian drama. Keturakis’ comedy America in the Bathhouse (Amer- In the !rst part of the article two plays – With- ika pirtyje), performed in the town of Palanga in out Conscience (Be sumnenės arba kaip ant svieto ein- 1899 while the prohibition of Lithuanian print was asi) by Antanas Turskis and America in the Bathhouse still in force, was not only the !rst public Lithua- (Amerika pirtyje) by Keturakis – are analysed focus- nian language performance on Lithuanian territory ing on how the late nineteenth century plays shaped but also an important event for the whole move- a critical attitude towards emigration, deconstruct- ment of national revival.

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