Poor, Poor Lear - 100% European Production

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ilona Piotrowska
651 442 9400
[email protected]

POOR, POOR LEAR AT THE PAUL G. GLEASON THEATRE FEATURING NINA SALLINEN.

LOS ANGELES – Renowned Finnish actress, Nina Sallinen, brings back her acclaimed one-woman production of Poor, Poor Lear at the Paul G Gleason Theatre.

In this astonishing dark comedy, Nina Sallinen portrays a 90-year old Grande Dame of the Scandinavian Theater. For her farewell performance, the actress has brazenly chosen Shakespeare’s King Lear. Staged in her own apartment, the diva gradually recognizes the parallels between her life and that of King Lear’s, and ends up questioning her priorities and past choices.

Originally from Finland, Sallinen honed her acting skills as a regular on popular Finnish television shows, performing sketch comedy. Always having a love of the stage however, Sallinen has appeared in over 70 plays worldwide. Sallinen often steals the show in character roles and was nominated for an LA Weekly award for Best Supporting Female Performer in The Conquest of the South Pole.

Poor, Poor Lear was created in 1998 by Sallinen and Finnish writer/director Katja Krohn, and has enjoyed a long life, much like its main character. Sallinen feels more comfortable calling it a play rather than a one-woman show. “This isn’t a typical showcase, where the person is doing a series of monologues. This is a play. I wrote it as a play. It’s just the other actors didn’t show up.”

When performed in the Windy City, The Chicago Reader raved, “For anyone of any age to deliver an intelligent, tragicomic rendition of King Lear with no supporting cast is astonishing. That Sallinen can do it within the persona of a heartbreaking old woman is beyond extraordinary…clear, original writing presented with artistry and integrity.”

Poor, Poor Lear @ Hollywood Fringe Festival

Starring Nina Sallinen
Produced by Ilona Piotrowska
Performance: Saturday, June 19, 8:30PM.

PAUL G. GLEASON THEATRE
6520 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA