Mihal Luarasi was born in 1929 in Korça. He completed the artistic high school “Jordan Misja” in Tirana, while his higher studies at the Academy of Theater and Film Arts in Budapest, Hungary.

In the theater for the first time as a director, he appeared with Schiller’s tragedy “Intrigue and love” in 1957 with great success at the People’s Theater, a show that remained in the repertoire for seven years and was played more than 300 times.

Mihal Luarasi is one of the three prominent directors of the brightest and best quality period of the Albanian theater in the years 1957-1973: Luarasi – Spahivogli – Mani. For reasons that are known, Luarasi performed few pieces at the National Theater, but they were distinguished for their quality and high artistic level, such as: “Dragon of Dragobia”, “Fox and Grapes” (winner of all the first prizes in the II Festival National Theatres), “White Age”, “Inhabitants of Stair No. 6”, “Detours”, “Such a Love”. In 1966, for the first time on stage at the Migjeni Theater in Shkodra, the drama “Highland Lass” was performed. In 1973 he staged Tennessee Williams’ play “Orpheus Descent into Hell”, which was banned right after general rehearsals.

He is the director of the drama “Brown Spot” with the theatrical troupe of Korça, with which he won all the first prizes at the 4th National Theater Festival in 1969. After three days, the dictator Enver Hoxha saw the spectacle and assessed it as a hostile act. He worked at the Andon Zako Cajupi theater in Korce for five years and performed a series of unforgettable plays, such as “Invincible”, “After two years”, ” House on Fire”, etc. In 1972, in the A. Moisiu theater in Durrës, he staged the drama “The Case of Engineer Saimir” by Fadil Paçrami, a work that was condemned. With the 11th festival in RTSH 1972, Luarasi again faced the Dictator who this time did not forgive him for his continuous “faults” and ordered his imprisonment. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. After his release, he worked as a painter until 1990.

In December 1990, he left for Hungary. In 1991-1992, he staged Rexhep Qosje’s drama “Death of a Queen” in Budapest. In 1995, he was invited by the National Theater in Tirana and staged the drama “Handcuffs” by the Hungarian playwright Göncz Arpad. Mihal Luarasi is the director of several big shows at the Theater of Opera and Ballet, such as “Carmen”, “La traviata”, “Spring”, etc.

During his stay in Hungary, he published a series of articles on theater in the Hungarian and Albanian press. In 2003, his book “National Theater at the Crossroads” was published, and two years later, the second book with writings on theater and other arts, “Memory that doesn’t sleep”.

In 2001, Luarasi wrote the drama “Speedboat” which was performed at the National Theatre, in 2003, by the director Gezim Kame. In this year he finally returns from Hungary. He staged Ruzhdi Pulaha’s drama “Shelter of the Forgotten” at the National Theatre on the 60th anniversary of its establishment. In 2006, he wrote and staged the drama “White Raven”. Mihal Luarasi passed away on October 30, 2017.

/k.s/