BIO
Žilvinas graduated from Vilnius University in his native Lithuania with a B.F.A. in Theater and Philology.
While still a student, he was invited to join the Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania, where he met the Russian director Yuriy Popov, and later joined with Popov to create the highly successful and innovative Pop-Off Show Theater. Žilvinas performed as an actor and dancer in shows for both children and adults with the Russian Drama Theater of Lithuania and the Old Town Theater of Vilnius. He was seen performing on theater stages and at clubs across Lithuania and abroad.
Žilvinas came to the USA to pursue graduate studies in Media Arts and Performance and founded his production company 182 Miles Off-Broadway. In Summer of 2011 Žilvinas and his longtime collaborator Courtney Bourque Frederick co-founded Sogmush Collective.
Žilvinas’ most prominent work in theater as a writer, director, producer, and performer includes: The Castle (The Inconvenient Suicides), a work developed during residency with Mabou Mines; The Happenings at Sogmush River or How to become Chic and Mysterious All at Once, a dance theater musical mystery with Sogmush Collective; Submerged in Blue, a collaboration with Monstah Black; George Dandin or the Deceived Husband by Molière; and Madame de Sade by Yukio Mishima.
Žilvinas received his M.A. in Media Arts and M.F.A. in New Media Arts and Performance from Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. His thesis Epistemologies of Death, Desire, and Disgust in the Films, The Psychological and Social Usefulness was published by VDM Verlag in 2008. His short play The Cleaning was included in The Best American Short Plays of 2006-2007.
In addition to his extensive theater work, Žilvinas is a screenwriter, filmmaker (of both live action and animated shorts) a film composer, graphic designer and a visual artist. Very often you can find him designing and building sets and lights for theater and film.
ARTISTIC INTENT
My life has always existed between two extremes, always on the edge of big changes and new improvements. The life between physical and creative differences made my artistic thinking evolve into a creative substance where there is a need to express myself in a new, but with the experience of the old, way.
I grew up in a small town, in Soviet-occupied Lithuania, but moved to one of the biggest and most diverse cities in the world, New York City. I have experienced what it feels like to grow up in Soviet era and know how it feels to regain independence after many years of repression. The perspective given me by different times and cultures makes me wonder how I can use that experience in my works.
Creatively I have experienced two worlds too. My experience with (old) theater and with (new) media makes my thinking unique. It is unique not only because I have worked in different fields but also it is unique in its understanding of different cultural approaches.
I have written, directed, acted, danced, filmed, and produced works in theater and in media. My goal is to use my knowledge for creating new thought-provoking, performance-oriented works aimed at questioning the interstitial - the places where the arts meet, the places where people meet, the places where ideas meet. Like other interstitial art, which falls between, not within, familiar boundaries of artistic genres, I aim to bring together differing media, culture, race, thought and skill to explore the possibilities of the new art collaborative.
CV AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Photo by Charulata Lakshmi
© 2010, ŽILVINAS JONUŠAS