 Its beginnings date to the 1920s, when the "Lithuanian Artists' Association" established drama and opera playhouses.The first play performed by the Kaunas Drama Theatre was Hermann Sudermann's "St. John's Day", directed by Juozas Vaičkus, premiering on December 19, 1920, in the former Russian City Theatre, in what is now the Kaunas State Musical Theatre.The company was the only professional theatre organization in Lithuania until 1931, when its branch opened in Šiauliai.