The Apple Family Plays
That Hopey Changey Thing and Sorry

Chicago Premieres

Jan 13, 2015 - Apr 19, 2015

Richard Nelson’s celebrated series of four Apple Family Plays—first commissioned by The Public Theatre in New York where they premiered on the day they are set—explores politics, change, and family dynamics. TimeLine presents the Chicago debut of two of these remarkable works (the first and third in the series) on an alternating schedule.

Set in the American town of Rhinebeck, New York, That Hopey Changey Thing takes place as the polls close on the 2010 mid-term elections, and Sorry is set on the morning of the presidential election in 2012. Both explore how a family sorts through personal and political feelings of loss and confusion in the shadow of history as it is being made.

Juno

Chicago Premiere

Apr 23, 2014 - Jul 27, 2014

Originally on Broadway in 1959, this timeless musical has never been seen in Chicago, until now!

During the Irish Civil War in the 1920s, the fearless matriarch of a destitute household holds her family together in the face of her husband’s carousing. With fortunes about to turn, the family strives to rise above the political and social unrest around them. This epic, humorous and heartbreaking tale of survival is told through honest and powerful anthems such as “I Wish It So,” “We’re Alive” and “On a Day Like This.”

The Normal Heart

Oct 26, 2013 - Dec 29, 2013

Originally premiered Off-Broadway in 1985, TimeLine’s production is the first Chicago staging of this landmark play that “blasts you like an open, overstoked furnace” (The New York Times) since its Tony-Award winning Broadway production in 2011. Set at the height of the public and private indifference to the AIDS plague in the early 1980s, this searing drama will feature acclaimed actor/director David Cromer in his return to the Chicago stage as a passionate activist leading the fight to awaken the world to the crisis. Along the way he, and the community he leads into the battle, must face the deeply held fears that led so many to remain silent for too long.

33 Variations

Chicago Premiere

Aug 24, 2012 - Oct 21, 2012

TimeLine’s 2012-13 season opener is an elegant waltz between past and present, fact and speculation, a mother and daughter, and art and life. One of classical music’s enduring riddles is why Ludwig van Beethoven devoted four years of his diminishing life writing 33 variations of a mediocre waltz. Two hundred years later, a modern-day music scholar is driven to solve the mystery even as her own health and relationship with her daughter crumbles.

The result is an extraordinary new American play — accompanied throughout by a live pianist playing the variations themselves — about passion, parenthood, and the moments of beauty that can transform a life.

My Kind of Town

World Premiere

May 1, 2012 - Jul 29, 2012

My Kind of Town puts a human face on the police torture scandal that has plagued Chicago for more than three decades. Veteran investigative journalist John Conroy covered the story, challenging public indifference to become one of the leading voices drawing attention to the charges. My Kind of Town is his passionate, groundbreaking new drama revolving around one imprisoned man’s fight for justice, inspired by the stories of numerous victims, police officers, prosecutors and families whose lives have been poisoned by the allegations. With interlocking storylines that humanize the play’s issues of corruption and responsibility, My Kind of Town sets the stage for a new conversation about today’s culture of law and order.

Frost / Nixon

Chicago Premiere

Aug 17, 2010 - Oct 10, 2010

Three years after the Watergate scandal ended his presidency, Richard Nixon has agreed to break his silence in a series of interviews with up-and-coming British broadcaster David Frost. Behind-the-scenes it’s a battle of egos for the upper hand in controlling history, but as the cameras roll, the world is riveted by a remarkably honest exchange between one man who has lost everything and another with everything to gain.

"Master Harold"...and the Boys

Jan 20, 2010 - Mar 21, 2010

Acclaimed for both its universal themes of humanity and its unforgettable dialogue, this widely admired masterpiece explores life in South Africa during the 1950s era of apartheid. When a white 17-year-old and two black workers he has known all his life connect on one rainy day, their wide-ranging discussions illustrate all that unites us, and the gulf of what still divides us.

A House with No Walls

Chicago Premiere

Oct 29, 2008 - Dec 21, 2008

From the author of Bee-Luther-Hatchee and Permanent Collection comes this inspired-by-real-life drama. Philadelphia wants to build its new American Museum of Liberty on the grounds of George Washington’s Philadelphia home and slave quarters. Soon a conservative academic star and a liberal political activist are confronting each other with polarizing questions of African-American legacy and identity. Elegantly juxtaposed with this contemporary conflict is the true story of one of Washington’s slaves as she contemplates escape. The result is a thought-provoking drama that asks vital questions about race in America, both where we’ve been and where we go next.

Paradise Lost

Aug 21, 2007 - Oct 21, 2007

Reportedly considered by Odets himself to be his best and most significant work,Paradise Lost is an intense family drama set amid the vast landscape of social and economic challenges faced during the Great Depression. How will financial misfortune affect the values, personalities, relationships and aspirations of the well-educated, middle-class Gordons and their close circle of friends?

Odets’ passionate characters speak with a fast-talking language that sings with big dreams and optimism for the future, despite daunting odds.

Lillian

Nov 12, 2006 - Dec 18, 2006

Based on the autobiographical writings of Lillian Hellman, Lillian premiered on Broadway in January 1986 starring Tony Award-winner Zoe Caldwell.

The play is set in the waiting room of a New York hospital where Hellman awaits the death of her longtime companion Dashiell Hammett. As she waits, she reflects on her memories — growing up in New Orleans and New York, her successes and failures as an artist, her testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and the myriad people and incidents that shaped her life.

Described as “ribald, poignant entertainment” by Time and a “beautifully constructed union of intellect and emotion” by The Washington Post, Lillianis a compelling portrait of an artist and woman who made unforgettable contributions to the worlds of theatre, literature and politics in America.

The General from America

Chicago Premiere

Aug 22, 2006 - Oct 8, 2006

Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Nelson’s powerful drama about the early, uncertain birth of America introduces us to the new country’s most notorious traitor, General Benedict Arnold. Betraying his reputation as a Revolutionary War hero, Arnold makes an uncharacteristic decision to defect to the British and surrender West Point, a plot that threatens to derail the war. What caused this founding father to betray his fellow colonists? The General from America delves into the complex story of one man’s life, his honor, and the stunning choice that would make him infamous.

Time praised The General from Americaas one of the 10 best plays of 2002, calling it “politically savvy, morally complex and theatrically cunning” and The Spectator praised it and its author as “a rich, rare and remarkable triumph on the stage … in play after play, Nelson has established himself as that contemporary stage rarity, a civilized, urbane, literate, acidic ironist in an age of urban thuggery.”

Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom

Chicago Premiere

Feb 7, 2006 - Mar 26, 2006

Originally produced to great acclaim in London in 2004 and a subsequent hit Off-Broadway, Guantanamo is based on interviews with the families of men detained in Guantanamo Bay. This stirring drama weaves together riveting personal stories, legal opinion and political debate, putting a human face on the world’s headlines and examining the divisive line between maintaining national security and protecting human rights.

Copenhagen

Aug 23, 2005 - Oct 9, 2005

One of the most celebrated new plays of the last decade, Copenhagen is a powerful drama that explores an enduring mystery of modern scientific history. In 1941, German physicist Werner Heisenberg made a mysterious trip to Copenhagen for a meeting with his Danish mentor, Niels Bohr. What was said during their meeting is unknown, but their relationship, and the course of World War II was changed forever.

This Tony Award-winning play that dares to imagine their meeting – the discussions of friendship, developing an atomic bomb and the ultimate moral responsibility of scientific discovery.

Pravda

Chicago Premiere

Feb 8, 2005 - Mar 26, 2005

Set in the booming 1980s, PRAVDA is the hilarious battle between an unscrupulous newspaper magnate and his idealistic editor over the integrity of the press. After Lambert Le Roux buys up London’s Fleet Street papers, he uses them to serve his political and financial whims, testing Andrew May’s willpower and principles. This hard-hitting satire by two of the most provocative playwrights of our time examines the public’s hunger for sensationalism and the objectivity of our news.

It's All True

Chicago Premiere

Apr 27, 2004 - Jun 6, 2004

Art and politics collide when the government’s Works Progress Administration shuts down director Orson Welles’ new pro-union musical THE CRADLE WILL ROCK in 1937. With the theatre doors padlocked, the cast and company must work frantically to make sure their voices are heard. This fast-paced and brilliantly witty comedy brings to life a defining moment in the history of American theatre.

Paragon Springs

Chicago Premiere

Feb 10, 2004 - Mar 28, 2004

Greed and corruption run rampant in this American adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, transplanted to the Midwest in the 1920s. When one man attempts to expose a major water pollution scandal in his town, the community is faced with the economic and moral turmoil of setting things right.