Dear Irit,
I am sorry that I only now keep my promise and write you about the performance we spoke during your visit in Panevezys.
The performance “Drawing lasts only for a moment“ (Ничья длится мгновения - Вечный Шах) was produced according to the novel of I.Merаs. This novel is the lesson of humanity. It was chosen because it showed that people even in brutal conditions are able to keep the brightest features of human being.
Before playing the performance, our teachers and students got acquainted with the culture and history of the Jewish nation, with their customs, mentality, and read: “The song of songs”. To add, some excursions were organized at the places where the Jews lived in Lithuania. The students learned some things about the Holocaust and the ghetto history. These things helped to understand the novel better.
The music written by the Jewish composers was used in that performance. It helped to create and express deeper meaning.
The novel is sophisticated, therefore we had to do the big cognitive job, to analyze and discuss a lot. The world of the novel has a lot of meanings, so we had to look for a manner, which helped us to show the idea of the novel. The main characters are Abram Lipman’s son Isaac and the commandant of the Vilnius ghetto Adolph Shoger. They were playing chess. The prize of the game was the question of survival or life. There were actors on the stage that didn’t drop their eyes from the movements of players.
To express this idea, the stage was divided into a few areas: the area of the chess game, the ghetto area and the area of memories and visions. During the performance you can learn about the tragic life of the seven Abram Lipman’s children.
To show this idea on the stage, the Bertolt Brecht system was used. (The performer is just a narrator who tells the events and after some time the same performer becomes an actor.)
Two colors dominated on the stage- black and white, because life in the ghetto had only two colors life or death.
This performance was showed at schools in Panevezys, in Zarasai and among the Vilnius Jewish community.
The students of the Panevezys art school created the reflection-drawings and arranged the exhibition. The Jewish Community newspaper “Lithuanian Jerusalem” wrote about this performance, evaluated it and ended the article stating that this performance is a sort of prevention against xenophobia, anti-semitism, nationalism and religion disagreement.
This is what we wished to show.

PS: Juozas Miltinis was a very famous Lithuanian producer from Panevezys. In this vein we have theatre as an official subject in our school, where teachers and actors work together.

Best wishes
Rasa Ambraškienė