Gintaras Varnas was born on September 7, 1961. In 1988-1993 he studied theatre direction at the Lithuanian Academy of Music, Faculty of Theatre (course supervisors – Jonas Vaitkus and Rimas Tuminas). In 1994-1997 he studied in Master and artistic post-graduate studies at the Lithuanian Academy of Music, Faculty of Theatre where he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1997.
Between 1980-1983 G.Varnas worked as a stage worker and assistant director at the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theatre, in 1984-1986 – a director of an amateur theatre studio, and in 1987-1988 – as an assistant director at Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre. G. Varnas became prominent after he established Šėpos Theatre in 1988, which he headed till 1992.
In 1989–2004 he was a freelance artistic director. G. Varnas created performances at the state Youth Theatre, Vilnius Small Theatre, Lithuanian and Kaunas Academic Drama Theatres, at the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet Theatre, Latvian National Opera as well as in Nitra Drama Theatre in Slovakia. He was a trainee abroad, participated in independent projects. Since the spring of 2004 he has been the artistic director of Kaunas State Drama Theatre.
Performances
2008 “Decalogue” (theatre Utopia)
2008 Claudio Monteverdi "Duel of Tancredi and Clorinda" (madrigal, Vilnius theatre Lėlė)
2008 Claudio Monteverdi "Dance of the Ungrateful" (madrigal, Vilnius theatre Lėlė)
2008 Dea Loher "Roosevelt Square" (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2007 “Hail of Stars” (authors of scenario Gintaras Varnas and Gabrielė Labanauskaitė, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2006 Rainer Werner Fassbinder "Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" (artistic director of the performance Gintaras Varnas, director Rokas Ramanauskas, Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2005 Dea Loher “Innocent” (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2005 Timothee de Fombelle “Lighthouse” (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2005 Agatha Christie “10 Indians” (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)
2005 Dea Loher “Relations of Clara” (“Klaras sakari”) (Latvian Art Theatre)
2004 Fyodor Dostoyevsky “Crime and Punishment” (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
2004 Tankred Dorst, Ursula Ehler “Devastated Land” (joint project of Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre, Arts Printing House and SEAS)
2003 Federico Garcia Lorca “Dona Rosita, or Language of Flowers” (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
2002 Marina Carr “Portija Koglen” (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
2001 Jean-Luc Lagarce “Distant Land” (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
2000 Pedro Calderon de la Barca “Life is a Dream” (Lithuanian National Drama Theatre)
2000 August Strindberg “Dream” (Nitra A. Bagaro Drama Theatre, Slovakia)
1999 Eugene O'Neill “Mourning Becomes Electra” (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
1998 Henrik Ibsen “Heda Gabler” (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)
1997 Pedro Calderon de la Barca “Great Theatre of the World” (project of specific space “Observatory”)
1997 Botho Strauss “Time and Room” (Lithuanian State Academic Drama Theatre)
1996 Federico Garcia Lorca “Audience” (Lithuanian State Academic Drama Theatre)
1995 Albert Camus “Stranger” (Lithuanian State Academic Drama Theatre)
1993 Federico Garcia Lorca “If Five Years Passed” (Vilnius Small Theatre)
1990 Jovita Žabaitė “Communist Nostalgias” (Šėpa Theatre)
1989 Liudvikas Jakimavičius “Lullaby of Revolution” (Šėpa Theatre)
1989 “Valiant King” (according to Lithuanian folk tales) (Lithuanian State Youth Theatre)
1987 “Bezdukas” (according to Lithuanian folk tales)
1986 William Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet”
1986 Aleksandr Blok “Clambake”
1984 Ljudmila Petrushevskaja “Luggage of Rubbish”
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Operas
2003 Giuseppe Verdi “Rigoletto” (Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre)
2002 Giuseppe Verdi “Mask Ball” (Latvian National Opera)
2001 Piotr Chaikovski “Queen of Spades” (Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre)
2000 Giuseppe Verdi “Don Carlos” (Latvian National Opera)
1999 Richard Strauss “Salome” (Latvian National Opera)
Trips and Festivals
2007 “Raduga” (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
2007 “Rowan” (Lithuania)
2004 “Sirens” (Lithuania)
1999 “Divadelna Nitra“ (Slovakia)
1999 “Homo Novus“ (Riga, Latvia)
1998 “Contact“ (Torune, Poland)
1997 “Baltoscandal“ (Rakvere, Estonia)
1991 Theatre trip in Norway, Canada, USA
1991 “Baltijskij Dom“ (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
1990 International theatre action (Moscow, Russia)
1990 “Baltoscandal“ festival (Piarnu, Estonia)
1986 Students’ theatre festival (Tartu, Estonia)
International projects and traineeships
2004 SEAS – international contemporary art project
1997 EURALIEN – international project of specific space in Stockholm (episode “Bus”)
1992 Session of London National Theatre in Lithuania, seminar of playwrights and directors
1991 Creative laboratory “Theater der Welt” (Germany)
Awards:
2008 "Fortune" prize for direction of the play "Roosevelt Square" by Dea Loher
2006 "Fortune" statue for the best performance of the season in Kaunas – Dea Loher “Innocent”
2006 Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize
2005 Golden stage cross for the best direction (“Crime and Punishment”, “Devastated Land”, “Lighthouse”)
2005 “Fortune“ award for the best direction in Kaunas (“Crime and Punishment”)
2005 Main prize of the festival “Lithuanian Theatre Spring” (“Crime and Punishment”)
2004 Golden stage cross for the best staging of opera (“Rigoletto“)
2004 Prize of Kaunas Art Creators’ Association (“Crime and Punishment”)
2001 “Christopher” along with the conductor for the best staging of opera (“Queen of Spades”)
2002 “Christopher” for the best direction (“Distant Land”)
2000 “Christopher” for the best direction (“Heda Gabler”)
1999 “Fortune“ award for the best direction in Kaunas (“Mourning Becomes Electra”)
1998 “Fortune“ award for the best direction in Kaunas (“Heda Gabler”)