SHORT THEATER BIO |
Born in Lithuania, Žilvinas received his theater education at the prestigious Vilnius University. 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 show theater Pop-Off. Žilvinas came to the USA to pursue graduate studies in Media Art and Performance and founded his production company 182 Miles Off-Broadway. In Summer of 2011 Žilvinas and his long time 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 & Mysterious All at Once; 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 MFA Degree in New Media Art and Performance from Long Island University. His thesis Epistemologies of Death, Desire and Disgust in the Films was published by VDM Verlag in 2008. His short play The Cleaning was included in The Best American Short Plays of 2006-2007. |
STATEMENT OF 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 (extremes) made my artistic thinking evolve into a creative substance where there is an absolute need for expressing 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 freest 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. |