Lithuania launches first short play competition

The Lithuanian Theatre Centre (LTC) is introducing its first-ever short play competition, a format director and actor Justas Tertelis hopes will attract playwrights and audiences alike. Tertelis, inspired by similar initiatives at international theatre festivals, sees the competition as a valuable opportunity for both emerging and established writers to "flex their professional writing muscles."

"This format allows for experimentation without high risk, testing dramatic scene solutions, topicality, and other ideas that could potentially grow into larger works," Tertelis explained. "Just as every journey begins with a small step, every 'big play' starts with the first written scenes."

Tertelis will direct readings of the selected plays with a professional acting troupe, allowing authors to hear their work performed live and gauge audience reaction. This initiative builds on the success of last year's Dramatists Symposium in Anykščiai, where live readings of new plays by dramatists including Gabrielė Labanauskaitė and Goda Simonaitytė were well-received.

Culture producer Agnė Biliūnaitė, a co-founder of the LTC, emphasized the importance of such events. "The path a play takes from the written word to a stage performance before an audience is long, slow, and complex," she said. "To foster dramatists' development and experimentation, we need more readings and events where authors can hear their text spoken by actors and see how audiences react. For the public, especially those who love literature and storytelling, these theatrical readings are an interesting and enjoyable experience."

Playwrights are invited to submit their short plays, defined as new or never-before-staged works for a small cast, between one and seven pages long, to vytaute@teatrocentras.lt by October 15. The Dramatists Symposium will take place in Anykščiai on November 6-7, with the short play readings scheduled for the evening of November 6 at the Anykščiai L. and S. Didžiulių Public Library. The full program for this year's symposium will be announced in September.