The Privilege of youth: aesthetic and social identities of the last Soviet generation of Lithuanian artists

ENThe focal point of this paper is the development of new directions in Lithuanian theater after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The paper will discuss the relationship between the democratization of the aesthetic field and the arrival of a new generation. The study will examine the works of three artists: Gintaras Varnas and his puppet theater Šėpa (1988–1992), the environmental theater Miraklis, created by Vega Vaičiūnaitė in 1995, and the work Ten būti čia (There to Be Here), directed by Oskaras Koršunovas (1990). Considerable attention is paid to the artists’ biographies, revealing the formation of the last Soviet generation in Vilnius, and changes in social ties during the transition period. Keywords: post-Soviet art; Lithuanian theater; transition; identity; social ties.