Internalized Theories of Love by Vera Kiiskinen
LOCATION
The Road on Lankershim – GALLERY
5108 Lankershim Boulevard
North Hollywood, CA 91601
(Street parking or paid lot parking at 5125 Lankershim Blvd)
Internalized Theories of Love
By Vera Kiiskinen
Directed by Taylor Nichols
CAST
RUTH- Nina Sallinen*
ADAM- Brian Graves*
CHRISTINE- Ann Hearn*
THERAPIST/OLGA – Rhonda Aldrich*
GEORGE/OLIVER- Tom Knickerbocker*
ADAM’S MOM/EDITH/WAITRESS- Michelle Gillette*
LARSEN/REAL ESTATE- Ray Paolantonio*
LITTLE GIRL/GIRL- Brooke DuPont
STAGE DIRECTIONS-Bart Tangredi*
*Appears courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association
SYNOPSIS
Ida and Leo are expecting their second child when, in a flash, their idyllic marriage collapses. The frenzied search for the guilty party is on. The crisis forces them to think about the purpose of their marriage. Who are they, and why do they even live together? They turn to Couples Therapy to find the reasons why they live together. The quest for answers turns to discussions with earlier generations of the family, both living and dead – Ida’s mother from the era of free love, Ida’s jazz loving father drowned in his own drink, the toothless Aunt Ingeborg, a ‘spinster’ from the fifties. Do they have to separate in order to survive family life?
TICKETS
No reservations or advance tickets. Admission is by donation ($15 suggested).
MEET YOUR PLAYWRIGHT
VERA KIISKINEN (b. 1970 in Helsinki) is a Finnish actress, screenwriter, playwright and director.
She graduated from the Helsinki Theatre Academy in 1996 with an MA in Theatre and Drama, and from the University of Salford, UK in 2009 with an MA in Film Screenwriting.
Since 1991 Vera has worked as an actor in various theatre projects, films and TV series. She has also directed and written for her own theatre groups, and written for TV and film since 2000.
In her writing Vera focuses on female lead characters and names American playwright Beth Henley as one of her main inspirations.
MEET YOUR DIRECTOR
TAYLOR NICHOLS’ 6th SPF and it is the opportunity to work with the talented playwrights and actors that keeps him coming back. Other directing credits include David Mamet’s Oleanna with Darby Stanchfield and Stephen Caffrey, the West Coast premiere of Plunge by Chris Kyle, World premiere of North Beach as well as Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy. Taylor is an award winning short-film maker having directed Two Heterosexual Men… and Last Train which he also wrote. As an actor Taylor recently starred in Chappaquiddick and is currently shooting PEN15 for HULU. He is developing a streaming series about Earth Liberation Front titled ELF.
An Interview with Playwright Vera Kiiskinen
1: What is the name of your play?
Internalized theories of love
2: What was your first job in the theatre?
Acting. I was also doing some cleaning and constructing aside, because it was a new theater.
3: Do you ever model characters after real life people?
Often. I just use the most interesting and dramatic parts of them.
4: As an artist, what subjects tend to draw your interest?
Relationships, family, love, traumas, dark sides of human beings. I seem to write about possibility of growth, awareness and forgiveness. Those issues will be, I guess, always part of my writing.
5: Do you have other passions aside from playwriting?
I am still actor and doing some directing, too, so I think those are my passions as well. Especially directing actors has become my big interest. Outside work, I am interested in dance (improvisation) and buddhist meditation.
6: Are you currently working on any new projects?
Yes, I am writing a TV-series with the co-writer Anna Heinämaa. It´s very powerful to find another writer to work with. We are writing a love story of a normal couple with a child, where eventually the man ends up killing his wife, his loved one. It´s a story about an ultimate codependency. Domestic violence against women is still an big issue Finland.
7: Here’s a fun question! What is your favorite dessert?
An Italian ice-cream. Handmade coconut or strawberry without milk. It´s not a sorbet, but it´s without milk and still very creamy and heavenly. I don´t understand how do they manage to make it? (That was a long answer!)
8: Any acknowledgements or words of encouragement?
I don´t have one of my own. So I borrow one from Pema Chödrön. “ To be fully alive, fully human and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.”
9: Describe your play in 3 words!
Intense, funny, forgiving