The writer, actor, director and theatre educator Kęstutis Nakas (b. 1953) was born and lives in the United States. He graduated from Michigan State University and New York University. During the ’80s, he became actively involved in the theatre world of East Village in New York, creating experimental theatre shows, performance and TV shows. His works were staged at the New York Shakespeare Festival, La Mama, Dixon Place, P. S. 122, 8BC, The Kitchen, Highways, Prop Theatre and many other theatres. Nakas’s play No Bees for Bridgeport appeared in Animal Acts, Performing Species Today, an anthology of contemporary plays published by the University of Michigan Press. Nakas’s TV show for Manhattan Cable Public Access, Your Program of Programs, has been purchased by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). 

When Lithuania Ruled The World (1986-2004) is a tragifarce in four parts. The history of Lithuania during the 13th and 14th centuries – the Grand Dukes, the well-known historical events – are depicted as a “pseudo classic” which acquires surprising meanings with the inclusion of historical issues of the 20th century. Highbrow style, which the author develops with the use of Shakespeare’s verse, is supplemented with jargon, as well as quotes from Lithuanian folklore and American pop culture, TV comedies and animated films. 

 The four parts of the play were written in English and directed by the playwright himself in New York and Chicago (part one premiered in 1987 at the Pyramid Club, part two at New York La MaMa theatre in 1988, part three at Jonas Mekas’s Anthology Film Archives in 1992, and part four at Chicago Cultural Center in 2003). In 2017, the play was published in Lithuania in both English and Lithuanian (translated into Lithuanian by Karilė Vaitkutė).