{"id":1983,"date":"2025-08-30T22:43:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T19:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kalnuslenis.lt\/?page_id=1983"},"modified":"2025-08-31T16:28:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T13:28:17","slug":"the-delicate-one-of-kalnu-slenis-justina-kasiulyte","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kalnuslenis.lt\/?page_id=1983&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"The delicate one of Kaln\u0173 Sl\u0117nis Justina Kasiulyt\u0117"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The delicate one of Kaln\u0173 Sl\u0117nis Justina Kasiulyt\u0117<\/strong>

\"Justina<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, I graduated from \u0160iauliai University with a bachelor\u2019s degree in Theatre and Film.

My first job was touring performances for younger children \u2014 work that taught me to improvise and create within given circumstances.

\u201cHey, Mouse, where\u2019s your tail?\u201d The costume didn\u2019t have a tail. \u201cSeriously?! No tail?\u201d
(I start spinning like crazy and panicking.) \u201cHmm\u2026 I must have lost it when I climbed the skyscraper.\u201d

Or when you play the first show of the day, you know three more are coming, you\u2019re still sleepy \u2014 but at the end a little girl runs up, hugs you, and says: \u201cI love you, froggy!\u201d She asks you to come sing in the morning, a bunch of them hug you from all sides (someone standing on a chair even hugs your neck \u2014 you feel you\u2019re about to topple over). And then you realize that bodyguards aren\u2019t for show \u2014 stars really do need them.

When you say, \u201cNow let\u2019s all hug a friend,\u201d they all rush onto the stage to hug us. Children\u2019s imagination always amazes me.

The most awkward moments were when you\u2019re changing and kids eagerly run in to watch. It\u2019s like you shatter that little bit of magic. But once, while I was getting dressed, a
child asked a friend, \u201cWhere\u2019s the froggy?\u201d And he, without thinking, replied: \u201cIn the suitcase.\u201d

There were also moments when they\u2019d run up for a photo and ask, \u201cWhere\u2019s the Mouse?!\u201d And when you answer that he\u2019s in America, they get upset and walk away. Or they start chanting patriotically: \u201cLietuva!!!\u201d

Once, after a performance, a shy girl came up to me and placed something in my hand, only saying: \u201cThis is for you.\u201d Through the frog head I couldn\u2019t quite see what it was. It looked like a bracelet. I froze. I asked three times if it was really for me, if she was sure. The girl just smiled timidly and ran off. When I opened my palm, I found a little watch \u2014 old, with a few stones missing, but so special. One part of me rejoiced, and the other immediately started crafting a plan for how to return it if her family noticed it was gone.

Sometimes I felt like a zoo animal \u2014 everyone walking by points at you, giggles, and you wave back\u2026 After a show, a kindergarten teacher tries to convince the kids to touch you: \u201cLook at the little frog! What a dress (they\u2019re feeling it), what a bow, what little legs \u2014 just like a real frog! Touch her, children!\u201d

It was a job through which I found the most wonderful friends. It felt like every morning I traveled across Lithuania with friends, lived through countless lovely moments \u2014 and even got paid!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2022, I\u2019ve been working at the Kelm\u0117 Little Theatre (Kelm\u0117s ma\u017easis teatras)<\/strong> \u2014 and I\u2019m incredibly happy here. As the saying goes: find a job that brings you great joy, and you\u2019ll never work a day in your life \u2014 that is exactly how I feel, and I am so grateful!

I\u2019m thrilled to collaborate: I had a joint project with the \u017demait\u0117 Public Library of Kelm\u0117 District Municipality (Kelm\u0117s rajono savivaldyb\u0117s \u017demait\u0117s vie\u0161oji biblioteka)<\/strong>, during which I recorded readings of poems by Regina Bir\u017einyt\u0117<\/strong>.
Book link: https:\/\/www.kelmeszemaitesvb.lt\/regina-birzinyte-eilerasciai\/<\/a>

In cooperation with the Tytuv\u0117nai Cultural Centre (Tytuv\u0117n\u0173 kult\u016bros centras)<\/strong> we created the performances \u201cErinijos\u201d and \u201cLiudvik\u0117lio ker\u0161tas\u201d (both directed by A. Stulginskien\u0117).

I\u2019m currently collaborating with the small partnership \u201cKaln\u0173 Sl\u0117nis\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 what are we up to? Come and see! I look forward to meeting you!

A bit more about me \u2014 I\u2019m interested in psychology, and sometimes, when inspiration strikes, I write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When the rain falls into your heart,
it falls quietly \u2014 no one hears it,
you watch the world through a shard of glass,
and it shatters, turning into mist:

When you want to run and shout out loud,
to whisper softly in someone\u2019s ear:
you are the dearest thing I have,
I love you, I value you, I cherish you,
but you must help me,
reach out a helping hand\u2026

But people\u2019s faces are all the same,
they fade, they pale \u2014 you don\u2019t get what you want,
you start to run again, quickly,
time won\u2019t wait, you have to hurry.

You look for people, but find only sand,
hot, unfeeling \u2014 and you merge with it,
you cry: I love, I want, I can \u2014
your words turn into a road,
you\u2019ve changed your fate\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your story is only beginning,
it will go on for a long time, without ceasing,
as long as rain keeps falling into your heart,
and your eyes burn, searching for something\u2026

Be yourself, but change,
don\u2019t let anyone lie to you.
If you\u2019re 25 and unmarried \u2014
it means you\u2019ve had many cats.

Dress up for a man \u2014
surely you don\u2019t want some \u201cmushroom.\u201d

Be yourself, but change,
and don\u2019t display too many feelings.

Be modest and refined \u2014
you\u2019ll get a husband without a beard.

Look straight, walk around,
but don\u2019t undress others.

Image is already half the work,
you don\u2019t want a clueless lad.

Take criticism like treasure \u2014
in line with the thickness of the wallet.

Time is ticking, hurry up \u2014
you do want to get married.

And if you don\u2019t \u2014 no problem,
such is a woman\u2019s lot\u2026

Aunts and grannies hiss,
they don\u2019t really care at all.
When the cuckoo called (or to Grandfather),
you say: then the cuckoo called.
You say she knew they weren\u2019t just being taken away.
That exile was forcing its way into the wagons,
and homes were left without the scent of people.

I didn\u2019t know you then,
but when I hear a cuckoo \u2014 my blood trembles.
As if your spring were inside me,
frozen, but not forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I dream \u2014 you walk through the forest.
The stribai cut down trees with scythes, but you stand \u2014
holding a handful of soil in your palm \u2014
your own roots.
I hear your voice:

\u2014 My child, I survived.
We survived.
No one will take that from us.

The dream fades \u2014 I try to call out once more:
I want to remember you not from photographs \u2014
but from the heart, from what you endured in silence.
Your survival \u2014 lives in me\u2026
(The dream recedes, I\u2019m still trying to push my way back into it.)
When I stand firm, when I do not tremble,
when I hear what silence meant back then\u2026

But the dream is gone. I wake with tearful eyes and whisper like a prayer \u2014
when the cuckoo calls again \u2014
let it count not the years,
let it count our memory,
for we survived!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roles in Theatre<\/h2>\n\n\n\n