Performance VERONIKA, THE BLUE BIRD

Cast: Laila Maria Saliņa, Ģirts Krūmiņš

Text: Laila Maria Saliņa and Gundars Augusts

Music: Laila Maria Saliņa and Jim Matus (USA)

Director: Liena Šmukste

Set design: Māris Ruskulis

Producer: Laila Baumane, foundation “Music and Arts Support Fund”

Running time: 1 hour.

A collage performance about the painter and writer Veronika Janelsiņa (1910-2001), her life in California after the death of her life partner, writer Anšlavs Eglītis.

Created as a collage of memories, interviews, letters, and documentary evidence, the performance reveals Veronika's world at a time when only paintings, manuscripts, and a longing for Latvia remain beside her. Living in the California sun, she continues her conversation with the past, with art, and with the people who shaped the story of her life.

A special place in this story belongs to the artist Kazimirs Laura. A friend and guardian angel who enters Veronika's life as a quiet force of presence, helping her maintain a connection with the world and with herself.

It is a performance about memory, loneliness, loyalty, and hope. About a woman who, between the California sky and the light of Latvia, spent her whole life searching for her blue bird.

Veronika: You are watching over me again.

Kaža: Someone has to…

Laila Maria Saliņa is a stage artist with extensive experience in many styles, including chamber music, opera, musical theater, folk music, cabaret, and tango. She has sung leading roles with the Zurich Opera (Switzerland), the New York Opera Ensemble (USA), the Latvian National Opera, Opera Factory Zurich, the Connecticut Opera (USA), the New Riga Theatre, and the Daile Theatre, among others. She has toured extensively in Europe, America, Canada, and Australia. Laila has been a soloist and co-founder of the following ensembles: Talamana, Ekliptika, Ballistic Cabaret, and Kolibri. Her music and theater projects have been supported by American and international organizations: the Soros Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (USA), CEC Artslink, the Experimental TV Center, HERE Arts Center, the National Music Theater Conference (USA), and the American Latvian Cultural Foundation. (lailasalins.com/biografija-latviski

Ģirts Krūmiņš is a Latvian theater and film actor and speech teacher with a broad professional career on Latvia's stage and screen. He received acting training, studying at the People's Film Actors Studio, in the piano department of the Jāzeps Mediņš Riga Music Secondary School, and in the Daugavpils Theatre acting program at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian State Conservatory, after which he worked at the Daugavpils Theatre and the New Riga Theatre as a staff actor, creating a wide range of stage roles in both classical and contemporary repertory. He has received several industry awards, including the Spēlmaņu nakts Award for Actor of the Year and the Harijs Liepiņš Award, and has appeared in films and series including Rīgas sargi, The Chronicles of Melanie, and Mother's Milk. Since the 2024/2025 season, he has been working at the Liepāja Theatre, continuing his creative presence in Latvia's professional arts scene.