Juozas Vaičkus - lietuviško teatro ir kino spiritus movens

LTJuozas Vaičkus visur ir visada buvo ryškiai matoma asmenybė, žmogus, nebijojęs ambicingų tikslų ir apie juos viešai kalbėjęs prakalbose, rašęs spaudoje. Daugelį jo keltų tikslų teatrui ir kinui galėjo įgyvendinti tik daugybė susitelkusių žmonių, valstybinės institucijos, deja, visuomenėje keltoms idėjoms dar nebuvo pasiruošusi. Vis dėlto Vaičkus pasiekė, kad tai, kas atrodė neįtikėtina, neįmanoma, tapo tikrove Lietuvos ir JAV lietuvių kultūriniame gyvenime: tai ir nuolatinė aktorių trupė, ir pirmoji vaidybos mokykla, ir profesionaliojo teatro įsteigimas, ir pastovaus lietuvių teatro JAV spektakliai, ir, pagaliau, nors ir po jo mirties, pasikeitė įsitikinimas, kad lietuviai kiną gali ne tik importuoti iš užsienio, kaip garsių markių automobilius, bet patys jį kurti. „Juozo Vaičkaus gyvenimas klostėsi labai nuosekliai - nuo pirmojo vaidinimo Mažeikiuose 1905-aisiais svarbiausias jo tikslas buvo puoselėti lietuvių kultūrą. Po netikėtos mirties 1935 m. balandžio 7 d., li kus gerai savaitei iki penkiasdešimtojo jubiliejaus balandžio 16-ąją, Vaičkaus gyvenimas imtas lyginti su teatro tragedija, o pats Vaičkus matytas kaip pa grindinis tragedijos herojus, protagonistas. Ir iš tiesų iki tragiškos atomazgos Vaičkaus gyvenimo istorijoje pynėsi daugybė žanrų - nuo herojinės dramos, komedijos iki tragedijos, o vieši jo veiklos vertinimai apima plačią stilių paletę - nuo susižavėjimo ir iš aukštinimo iki ironijos ir sarkastiškų patyčių, nuo spaudos oficiozų iki satyros laikraštėlių, iš lūpų į lūpas keliavusių anekdotų. Apie jį buvo daug rašoma ir skaitant net pačius nepalankiausius straipsnius akivaizdu, kad rašantieji labai stengėsi ir tobulindami savo tekstus išliejo ne vieną prakaito lašą. [Iš Pratarmės]

ENJuozas Vaičkus (1885-1935) was a personality who daringly sought ‘to open a new page in the history of his nation’. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he was an organiser of Lithuanian evenings, a theatre director, and a pedagogue. He achieved the establishment of a professional state-funded drama theatre in Lithuania in 1920 and directed the first production in this theatre. In the 1930s, Vaičkus fulfilled another of his goals and opened a permanent Lithuanian drama theatre in the USA. Fired by the idea of creating Lithuanian sound cinema, he travelled to Hollywood; upon his return to Lithuania, he put great effort into opening yet another new page of Lithuanian culture by laying a ‘cornerstone’ in the field of cinema. Referred to as the father of Lithuanian drama, the Don Quixote of Lithuanian culture, and a prisoner of culture, he was a true spiritus movens, an awakening and stirring spirit, of Lithuanian theatre and cinema. Vaičkus’s life was very consistent: from his first play in Mažeikiai in 1905, his most important goal was the fostering of Lithuanian culture. After his unexpected death, his life was compared to a theatrical tragedy, and he was seen as the main character of that tragedy. However, until the tragic end, a multitude of genres, from heroic drama and comedy to tragedy, intertwined in the story of Vaičkus’s life, while public opinions about his work cover a wide range of styles from admiration and exaltation to irony and sarcastic bullying, from the official press to satirical newspapers and anecdotes that travelled through the grapevine. Based on extensive and controversial archival material, press articles, and the work of theatre and film scholars, the book offers a reconstruction of Juozas Vaičkus’s biography and his diverse activities.The book opens with ‘Prologas: istorijos pradžia’ (The Prologue: The Story Begins). It tells the legend of Juozas Vaičkus, recurring in a number of memoirs, about how he organised the revolt of students at the Mintauja gymnasium against the demand to pray in Russian; it also identifies the true hero of the story, Juozas Vaičkus’s elder brother Feliksas Vaičkus. Although he remained on the sidelines of the cultural history, he, an enlightened and respected personality, played a crucial role in providing his younger brother with education; he preserved Juozas’s letters. The discussion of Juozas Vaičkus’s childhood environment highlights personal traits of his father, who took part in the 1863 uprising and sought to educate all of his children. From him, Vaičkus inherited self-respect, perseverance in pursuit of a goal, and an uncompromising nature. Attention is drawn to Vaičkus’s first performances in the gymnasium theatre. The chapter ‘Lietuviškų vakarų sąjūdyje’ (In the Movement of Lithuanian Evenings), is focused on the beginning of Vaičkus’s independent theatrical activity at the time when he was still a gymnasium student. The decades-long ban on the Lithuanian press and cultural activities imposed after the suppression of the 1863 uprising was lifted in 1904, and a genuine Lithuanian theatrical movement began in 1905. Lithuanian evenings with plays, songs, and dances were organised all over the country. This phenomenon is viewed not only as an artistic and cultural breakthrough, but also as a school of community mobilisation in which almost all future politicians of independent Lithuania received their first lessons of functioning in public. Juozas Vaičkus, the youngest theatre director, stood out in the panorama of Lithuanian evenings for his production of the comedy Velnias spąstuose (The Devil in the Trap) by Two Women (Žemaitė and Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė) in Mažeikiai.He was the only one of the large group of directors who debuted in 1905 and staged plays all over Lithuania with his troupe ‘Skrajojamasis Vaičkaus teatras’ (Vaičkus’s Flying Theatre) until the First World War. In 1916, after enrolling at the Alexandra Theatre Drama School in St Petersburg, Vaičkus launched his pedagogical work by establishing a studio where future actors of the professional Lithuanian drama theatre received the basics of acting. Vaičkus helped Petras Vaičiūnas, the would-be classic of Lithuanian drama, to discover his talent as a playwright: the troupe performed his first plays. Vaičkus’s company, which had been performing in St Petersburg theatres Krivoje Zerkało (Distorted Mirror) and Dom Artistą (Artiste’s House), became a permanent youth theatre. Vaičkus’s activities after his return from Russia to Lithuania are analysed in the chapter ‘Lietuvoje: profesionaliam teatrui kuriantis’ (In Lithuania: Evolving Professional Theatre). When Lithuania declared independence, Vaičkus and his troupe returned, performed in Vilnius and later in Kaunas. The distinctive character of Vaičkus’s theatre, one that raised and explored social and moral issues, burgeoned in St Petersburg; it received a boost in Lithuania. A repertoire of serious dramas was being formed, along with comedies enjoyed by the audience. Vaičkus’s troupe was performing Konstantinas Jasiukaitis’s drama Alkani žmonės (Hungry People), Herman Heijermans’s Du keliu (Allerzielen, All Souls), Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, and Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder and Ghosts. [...]. [From the publication]