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We congratulate director Aistė Rekašiūtė, winner of the 2025 performance work-in-progress competition, who presented “A Whale on the Shore” to festival audiences. It is a truly creative, visual, and engaging performance.

We also thank all participants of the competition. The sketches were extremely interesting and revealed themes important to young creators—relationships with people and nature. This year, directors Aivaras Micius, Orestas Razumas, Aistė Rekašiūtė, and Vaidas Jaruševičius presented their ideas in the competition.

Insights on “A Whale on the Shore” are shared by art history student Airina Oginskaitė:

“Aistė Rekašiūtė’s sketch ‘A Whale on the Shore,’ based on a play by Uršulė Toleikytė, is a sensitive story about a generation trying to free itself from the silence of the past. Although the characters grew up in the era of independence, the shadows of the Soviet period still live in their minds and bodies: parental silence, unhealed trauma, and suppressed emotions. This work reminds us that even in a free society, traces of the past can become a heavy burden that must first be acknowledged.

Stories of drowning in a bathtub during childhood. Memories of being an unwanted child. A mother appearing in projection, and a father singing in a hospital until his death. All of this comes together into a cohesive and sensitive family narrative. Every detail on stage—radio, plastic film, lullaby—shows that the influence of the past always echoes, but is responded to in different ways.

When the light goes out, only silence remains, allowing us to understand that we cannot escape the past, but we can turn it into a new beginning—a new echo—a different relationship with ourselves and others.”

Photo by Viktorija Lankauskaitė
The festival is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Kaunas City Municipality.