Unė Babickaitė

Who was Unė Babickaitė?

Unė Babickaitė-Graičiūnienė was a Lithuanian actress and theater director. She was a wife of business theorist Vytautas Andrius Graičiūnas.

During World War I, Babickaitė and her family retreated to Saint Petersburg. There she met Balys Sruoga, who encouraged her to begin theater studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1916. Balys named her Unė. After return to Lithuania, she organized and theater group Daina and staged several performances. However, a woman director stirred up controversy in a conservative society and the plays were attacked by critics. In 1919, Babickaitė moved to the United States, where she simplified her name to Unė Baye. There she took parts in theaters in New York, Washington DC, Chicago, and played in three silent films. In 1928, when her husband moved to Europe for business, Babickaitė appeared in London and Paris theaters. Her husband Graičiūnas financed her artistic endeavors. In France she met with Konstantin Balmont, who dedicated at least four of his poems to her. In 1936, she returned to Lithuania and directed plays in Šiauliai.