page_title: Povilas Višinskis
section_title: First theater performances
hierarchical_section_title: Povilas Višinskis / Biography / First theater performances
caption_attribution_description: Organizers of the first Lithuanian-language theater performance Amerika pirtyje in 1899 in Palanga. From left, sitting: Žalnieriukynas, Jadvyga Juškytė, Liudas Vaineikis, Stanislava Jakševičiūtė-Venclauskienė, Feliksas Janušis. From left, standing: Vladislovas Mongirdas, Empacheris, Augustinas Janulaitis, Povilas Višinskis, Gabalis and Stanislovas Kuizinas.
context_page_description: Povilas Višinskis was a Lithuanian cultural and political activist during the Lithuanian National Revival. He is best remembered as a mentor of literary talent. He discovered Julija Žymantienė and advised Marija Pečkauskaitė, Sofija Pšibiliauskienė, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė, Jonas Biliūnas, Jonas Krikščiūnas, helping them edit and publish their first works.
  As a biology student at the Saint Petersburg University, Višinskis conducted anthropological research on Samogitians which included detailed anthropometric measurements. After the university studies, he returned to Lithuania earning a living as a private tutor in various locations. Višinskis directed and played the main role in staging the first Lithuanian-language play America in the Bathhouse in 1899. When advertisements for another play printed in Lithuanian using Latin alphabet were confiscated by police as violating the Lithuanian press ban, Višinskis sued and obtained a favorable judgment from the Governing Senate in 1903.
context_section_description: In spring 1899, Višinkis returned to Lithuania. He first visited Šiauliai where he met members of the intelligentsia and developed a friendship with Augustinas Janulaitis, at the time law student at the University of Moscow. He then went on to visit Petkevičaitė-Bitė who recruited him to organize the first Lithuanian-language theater performance in Palanga, which was part of the Courland Governorate where anti-Lithuanian Russification policies were less strictly enforced. Therefore, Liudas Vaineikis was able to obtain an official permit for the performance. They settled on a comedy America in the Bathhouse (Amerika pirtyje), which required only nine actors and simple props and was already performed in Saint Petersburg and thus had been approved by the state censors. Višinkis played Vincas, the main villain, who conned the naive Agota, played by Stanislava Jakševičiūtė, who dreamed of immigration to America. Other actors included Jadvyga Juškytė and Augustinas Janulaitis. The performance on 8 August 1899 was a critical and commercial success. After the performance, Vaineikis took Višinskis and Avižonis to Tilsit in East Prussia, the major publishing center of the illegal Lithuanian press. On their way back, they visited Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas in Kuliai and Sofija Pšibiliauskienė near Tryškiai.
  Višinskis did not return to Saint Petersburg and obtained a tutoring job at a manor near Pašvitinys. In November 1899, he received a certificate that he had completed the full course at the Saint Petersburg University. As a Lithuanian and Catholic, he could not obtain a job at a government institution and was forced to continue working as a tutor. He continued to devote his energy to the Lithuanian cultural life. He resumed writing correspondences to Varpas and worked to organize the next Lithuanian play. He wanted to find a different work to stage, particularly since Žymantienė and Petkevičaitė-Bitė tried their hands at comedies. He pushed them to write Velnias spąstuose (The Devil in A Trap) in a week. Vaineikis obtained a permit to stage America in the Bathhouse in Liepāja during the winter break on 16 January 1900. The actors were mostly the same as in Palanga; Višinskis also recruited Jonas Biliūnas to play the role of the matchmaker.
  In spring 1900, Višinskis responded for a call for Lithuanian exhibits to the world's fair held in Paris by sending 70 photographs and 16 items, including kanklės. Vaineikis was arrested in May 1900, but Janulaitis managed to obtain a permit to stage Velnias spąstuose on 21 July in Liepāja and on 23 July in Jelgava. The posters and programs were published in both Russian and Lithuanian languages. Since the performance was legal, Višinskis decided to hang the posters in Pašvitinys. The police soon tore it down as an illegal Lithuanian-language sign. He then posted them again in Joniškis for which he was put on trial. The permit for theater performances was revoked and several Lithuanian activists, including Janulaitis, were arrested. Many others were searched or questioned, including Višinskis on 23 August, Petkevičaitė-Bitė on 13 October, Avižonis on 7 September, Bilūnas on 13 October, Pečkauskaitė on 5 December 1900. A total of 24 people received various sentences (mostly a few years of exile in the interior of Russia) in February 1902. Nevertheless, Višinskis continued to contribute articles and reports to Varpas using a multitude of pen names, including some of those used by the arrested people, to confuse the police.
caption: Organizers of America in the Bathhouse in Palanga. Višinskis stands third from right. Liudas Vaineikis sits in the middle with the poster.
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