Intermodal Immersive Art Event “Roots”

Script and direction: Andrėja Stulginskienė

Over the past decade, Andrėja Stulginskienė has been consistently and actively engaged in Lithuania’s cultural field as a theatre director, scriptwriter, educator, and initiator of cultural projects. Her creative work spans diverse genres – from experimental and documentary theatre to educational performances, liturgical mysteries, visual art projects, and large-scale events. She focuses on revitalizing local communities, preserving and reinterpreting historical memory, expanding access to art, and fostering intercultural dialogue.

Performers: Justina Kasiulytė, Algimantas Rašimas, Rasa Vasiliauskienė

Music by M. K. Čiurlionis
Duration: 55–60 minutes
For adult audiences. Up to 50 participants per session. Observers are also welcome.
Filming not permitted.

“Roots” is a sensory experience in which the audience becomes active participants: blindfolded, they journey into their inner origins – into silence and touch, into scents and sounds, into what lives not in memory but in the body.

Part I – A Sensory Journey to the Origins

The audience is blindfolded.
Through touch, hearing, smell, and taste they are invited to experience the time in which our ancestors lived.
In their hands – artifacts: a linen towel, rosary beads, photographs, scarves, embroidered handkerchiefs, coats, a wooden spoon, an aluminum cup, a prayer book…
Grains, earth, and drops of water are poured onto their hands.
Sounds created by handmade instruments fill the space: rustling, rain, thunder, wind.
Whispers, text fragments, approaches and withdrawals create an intimate illusion of connection
with the past.
A piece of bread is placed into their hands.

Part II – Opening the Eyes: Encounter with History

After about 30 minutes, the blindfolds are removed.
A scene opens before them: a puppet – Mother – and other living characters.
Figures come to life on stage, reviving the historical memory of Joniškis, bringing back childhood
recollections and elders’ stories.

Part III – Reflection

The event concludes with an inner journey into oneself: spectators are asked to express their experience with a word, a sentence, or an ellipsis…