Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre
Repertory theatre on Freedom Square, founded by director Juozas Miltinis and known across the Baltics.
The company was founded in 1940 when Juozas Miltinis, newly returned from studies in Paris, was appointed artistic director of a new drama theatre in Panevezys. Working with a tightly drilled ensemble, he built a reputation that reached far beyond Lithuania during the Soviet decades, drawing audiences from across the union to see productions by actors such as Donatas Banionis and Bronius Babkauskas. The theatre took Miltinis's name in 1995, the year after his death.
Its home on Freedom Square, opened on 17 February 1968, was the first purpose-built theatre completed in Soviet Lithuania. Algimantas Mikenas gave it an early modernist face of glass, metal and grey granite plaster, with a metal relief by Jonas Kedainis on the northern wall and a two-storey foyer leading to a timber-lined auditorium. The repertoire mixes classic drama with new Lithuanian writing, alongside a studio stage and work for young audiences.
Highlights
- First purpose-built theatre completed in Soviet Lithuania, 1968
- Ensemble shaped by director Juozas Miltinis from 1940
- Modernist facade with the relief Creative Genius by Jonas Kedainis
- Great Hall and smaller Laboratorija studio stage
