Non-traditional theatre festival NAMAS Nr. 6

From November 13–22, 2026, Kaunas will host NAMAS Nr. 6, the only site-specific theatre festival in Lithuania. This year, it will be located in the historic LRT Kaunas studio – a building where the history of Lithuanian radio has been created for nearly a century.

Each time, the festival seeks not a traditional theatre stage, but spaces whose history becomes an inspiration and a starting point. Every year, the festival settles in a different architecturally, historically, or socially unique object, and artists create new works specifically for that location, inspired by the building's history, architecture, and atmosphere.

The beginning of Lithuanian radio broadcasting is considered to be June 12, 1926, when the words "Hello, hello, this is Kaunas speaking" were first broadcast from a telephone booth at the Kaunas radio station in Žaliakalnis. Seven years later, the Kaunas radio station moved to the city center at S. Daukanto g. 28A. It is this historic building that the organizers of NAMAS Nr. 6 have chosen for the sixth festival, inviting audiences to look at the history of Lithuanian radio through the perspective of contemporary theatre, sound art, and site-specific creation.

During the interwar period, the Kaunas radio station was one of the most important cultural institutions in Lithuania. It housed a radio theatre and a symphony orchestra, broadcast concerts, plays, and literary evenings, and employed the most prominent Lithuanian cultural figures of the time. Today, LRT continues to operate in this building, but the majority of it remains inaccessible to the public. During the festival, visitors will have a rare opportunity to explore this historic space from the inside: part of the building will become a stage for contemporary theatre for the first time.

PROGRAM November 13-15, interdisciplinary art creator duo Auksė Petrulienė and Darius Petrulis (Psilikono teatras) will present the play "Hypnosis. In Boxes and on the Palm". The play will explore the history of telecommunications, the relationship between humans and media, and will use silicone puppet animation, video projections, and a sound world created specifically for this space to tell the story.

November 14-15, composer and sound artist Arturas Bumšteinas will present a radio session – the performance "Long Opera Evening", based on recordings of the legendary show "Opera Evening" stored in the LRT archive. The composer has borrowed summaries of opera librettos retold by the show's author and host Jūratė Katinaitė from several hundred recordings and is editing them into a constantly changing stream of stories, like a kind of quintessence of classical opera.

November 20-22, director Paulius Markevičius, together with the theatre TOLYN GILYN, is creating an immersive theatre and sound experience titled "ETHER". During it, viewers will be invited to immerse themselves in the daily life of a radio studio, where different times, employees' stories, and a sensitive narrative about the search for connection intertwine.

The festival is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Kaunas City Municipality. The main media partner is LRT. More information - www.namaskurti.lt