Antanas Škėma

Antanas Škėma (; November 29, 1910 – September 11, 1961) was a Lithuanian writer, playwright, stage actor and director. His best known work is the novel Balta drobulė (White Shroud).

Life and career

Antanas Škėma was born on November 29, 1910 (according to his birth certificate in 1911) in Łódź, Poland, where his father was sent to work as a teacher. During World War I he lived in Russia with his parents. In 1921 they all returned to Lithuania.

He attended high schools in Radviliškis and Kaunas. In 1929 he entered the University of Lithuania Medical faculty, but in 1931 he transferred his studies to the Faculty of Law. At that time the school was renamed as Vytautas Magnus University.

In 1935 he joined the theatre studio led by V. Sipavičius-Fedotas and was later accepted to the Lithuanian State Theatre in Kaunas. In 1936 Škėma started acting on the inter-war Lithuania's main stage. While he was living in Kaunas he married Janina Ciolkevičiūtė. From 1940 to 1944 he worked at Vilnius State Theater, now also as a director. In 1944, upon the second Soviet occupation of Lithuania, he left for Germany,

His short story Izaokas (Isaak) was made into a major motion picture of the same name in 2019.

His play The Awakening saw its American debut posthumously in 1985 at the Courtyard Playhouse in New York's West Village.