After a period of restructuring and creative evolution, Walkabout Theater Company returns to Chicago with the production that launched the company more than two decades ago. Poor Poor Lear, written by Nina Sallinen and Katja Krohn, will run March 12 through March 15 at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.
The revival also marks the return of Walkabout’s founding artistic director, Kristan Schmidt, who assumes directorial duties for the 2026 production. The original staging was directed by Katja Krohn when the play debuted in Chicago in 1999.
Poor Poor Lear stars Sallinen and features a different mystery guest performer each evening. The total running time is approximately two hours, including intermission. Performances take place Thursday, March 12 through Saturday, March 14 at 7 p.m., with a Sunday matinee on March 15 at 3 p.m.
Tickets are priced at $20 for general admission, with $15 tickets available for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased at WalkaboutTheater.org or ChopinTheatre.com.
Founded in 1999, Walkabout Theater Company has spent more than 25 years creating and producing original work. Over that time, the company has undergone multiple artistic phases under different creative leaderships, including the recent formation of a new ensemble group, the Wender Collective. This spring’s production represents a return to Walkabout’s roots, reunifying Schmidt and Sallinen for the first time in years.
In Poor Poor Lear, Sallinen portrays a 90-year-old Grande Dame of Scandinavian theater, also named Nina Sallinen, who has chosen Shakespeare’s King Lear as the centerpiece of her final artistic farewell. Performed in her own apartment, the piece blends theatrical bravado with personal reckoning as the aging actress draws increasingly uncomfortable parallels between Lear’s fractured family and her own strained relationship with her daughters.
What begins as a defiant final performance becomes a deeper self-examination. Rather than confronting her daughters, the character is forced to confront herself, reexamining past choices, priorities, and the cost of artistic devotion.
Since its Chicago premiere at The Breadline Theater in 1999, Poor Poor Lear has traveled extensively, with performances across the United States and Europe, including productions in Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Brooklyn, Stockholm, Verona, Gdansk, Bitola, Novi Sad, and Helsinki.
“Nina Sallinen and I hope to continue revisiting this play every ten years,” said Schmidt. “King Lear is such a rich source that its themes resonate differently with each passing decade. We’re excited to share this new version as Walkabout returns to Chicago this spring.”
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