Withdrawal from the City: Searching For the Source of Valentinas Masalskis’s Creative Work
Ramunė Balevičiūtė
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Lithuania)
Agnė Jurgaitytė-Avižinienė
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Lithuania)
Abstract
In psychology of creativity, there has been a growing need to explore not only the individual world of the artist, but also the broader context of creative work, such as the influence of the environment on creativity. By combining the methods and insights of theater studies and psychology, this article raises the question of the impact of urban and non-urban environment on the theater artist and explores the phenomenon of “withdrawals” of Lithuanian actor, director, and pedagogue Valentinas Masalskis. The article is based on qualitative research: case study analysis, with in-depth interviews as a method of data collection. The research resulted in selection of four meta-themes that emerged from the interviewing material: “city is bustle,” “to withdraw in order to come back,” “I am no one without others,” “beyond aesthetics,” with the theme of withdrawal as the essential axis. The analysis of these meta-themes in phenomenological perspective revealed how withdrawals help Masalskis to realize his vision of the theater. For Masalskis, withdrawals are the way not only to produce a new performance, but also to go further—to deepen anthropological reflection, to develop pedagogical methods, to discover unusual perspectives, to strengthen ethical principles, and, finally, to search for the source of creativity in a calm and focused manner.
Keywords:
city, environment, theater, creativity, Valentinas MasalskisReferences
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Authors
Ramunė BalevičiūtėLithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Lithuania
Ramunė Balevičiūtė - a theater researcher and critic; Associate Professor of Theatre Studies and the Vice-rector for Art and Research at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. She is also the editor-in-chief of the main Lithuanian theater magazine Teatro žurnalas. Areas of her research include acting, artistic research, and theatre for young audiences. Besides academic articles, she has published two monographs: Henrikas Kačinskas (2006) and Rimas Tuminas: Theatre More Real Than Life. Play in Rimas Tuminas’ Theatre (2012). Together with Ramunė Marcinkevičiūtė, she edited the book in English titled Contemporary Lithuanian Theatre. Names and Performances (2019).
Authors
Agnė Jurgaitytė-AvižinienėLithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Lithuania
Agnė Jurgaitytė-Avižinienė a psychologist and psychotherapist. She is an associate professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. She is also the member of the editorial board of the journal Existentia: Psychology and Psychotherapy published by the East European Association for Existential Therapy. Areas of her research include creativity psychology, thanatology, and clinical psychology.
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