Juozas Miltinis

Juozas Miltinis was the founder and Artistic Director of the Panenvezys Drama Theatre in Lithuania.

He was born Juozas Miltinis on September 3, 1907, in Akmene, Lithuania. From 1927 - 1932 he studied acting and directing at the Lithuanian State drama School in Kaunas, then was actor at Siauliai Drama Theatre. In 1932 Miltinis went to Paris, France. There he studied at the Charles Dullin School of Theatrical Art, from 1932-1937. One of his teachers was Jacques Copeau. He also studied at the acting seminar of Michael Chekhov. Miltinis had a brief acting career in France, where he worked on stage and in film. In 1938 he studied acting in London.

In 1938 Juozas Miltinis returned to Lithuania. He assembled a group of actors and worked at the National Drama Theatre in Kaunas, Lithuania, which was then the capital of the independent Lithuania. There he continued the experimental work of his predecessor Michael Chekhov. In 1940 Miltinis took fifteen of his most enthusiastic actors to the city of Panevezys, Lithuania. There he founded the Panevezys Drama Theatre which became one of the most interesting experimental centers of culture in Lithuania.

In 1954 Miltinis was abruptly dismissed by the Soviet authorities, and was censored and was not allowed to direct for several years. However, in 1959 he regained his positions as director and chief producer at Panevezys Drama Theatre. There Miltinis produced and directed contemporary plays, as well, as many classic plays. He was acclaimed for his interpretive direction of plays by Anton Chekhov, Nikolay Gogol, William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Nikolai Ostrovsky, Georges Beaumarchais, Arthur Miller, and others. Miltinis' brilliant theatrical ideas were implemented with his hallmark mastery of timing, and his attention to every detail. His inventiveness in directing and in working with actors was legendary.

Miltinis founded the Acting School at the Panevezys Drama Theatre. There Miltinis introduced his experience from various European theatre schools. He taught classic and contemporary acting and directing with experimental approach. Miltinis was successful in introducing newer forms of expressive theatre which he learned from the French and English theatre of his time. His acting seminars were attended by many leading actors and directors from the former Soviet Union, as well, as from Europe. Among Miltinis's students were such actors as Donatas Banionis, Vaclovas Bledis, Gediminas Karka, Steponas Kosmauskas, Eugenija Sulgaite, Kazimieras Vitkus, Regina Zdanaviciute, and other Lithuanian actors. His most accomplished apprentice, Donatas Banionis, later succeeded Miltinis as the Artistic Director of the Panevezys Drama Theatre.

Juozas Miltinis also directed stage plays at the Kaunas Drama Theatre. In 1980 he left the Panevezys Drama Theatre and went into semi-retirement. He died on July 13, 1996, in Panevezys, and was laid to rest in Panevezys, Lithuania. His bibliographic heritage is preserved at the Panevezys public library. The Panevezys Drama Theatre is named after Juozas Miltinis.