PJ Powers

PJ was a co-founder of TimeLine Theatre Company in 1997 and became Artistic Director in 1999.

Since then, he has overseen the production of more than 80 plays, including 12 world premieres and more than 38 Chicago premieres. During his tenure, TimeLine has garnered 60 Jeff Awards, including 11 for Outstanding Production, as well as awards for excellence in arts management, including the 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

PJ was instrumental in establishing TimeLine’s home on Wellington Avenue in 1999; expanding the company’s programming to include productions in numerous other venues, including the Broadway Playhouse; creating the TimePieces play reading series and First Draft Festival of new work; launching the Living History Education Program in Chicago Public Schools under the direction of TimeLine co-founder Juliet Hart; and planning for TimeLine’s new home in Uptown.

As an actor, he has appeared in 18 productions at TimeLine, including THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS: THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING, THE FRONT PAGE, THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION, FIORELLO!, and HAUPTMANN. He also has appeared at Writers, Northlight, and Shattered Globe, among others.

A graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, PJ has served on the Board of Directors for the League of Chicago Theatres, was awarded the Meier Achievement Award for mid-career artists, and received a Goldman Sachs Senior Fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. He directed the one-night-only Chicago premiere of J.T. Rogers’ ONE GIANT LEAP: THE APOLLO 11 MOON LANDING at the Broadway Playhouse.

Member of Actors' Equity Association