Behind the ‘Line

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How and why, then and now

We laugh, we cry, we are born, we die, Who will riddle me the how and the why? How you are you? Why I am I? Who will riddle me the how and the why? The world is somewhat; it goes on somehow; But what is the meaning of then and now! These excerpts from the poem “The ‘How’ and the ‘Why’” by Alfred Lord Tennyson speak very much to the heart of Sarah Treem’s ...
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What a year!

What a year 2013 was! TimeLine was involved in five productions in three venues during the year, a diverse selection of plays that included Naomi Iizuka’s Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West, J.T. Rogers’ Blood and Gifts and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the ...
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Growing up in a state of indifference

We’re all going to go crazy, living this epidemic every minute, while the rest of the world goes on out there, all around us, as if nothing is happening, going on with their own lives and not knowing what it’s like, what we’re going through. ...
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Let’s make a wall of memories

Join The Normal Heart. Help us make this amazingly moving production even stronger for those who will come to see it! It’s a project unique to our production, built on your participation. We would like anyone who comes to see TimeLine’s production to bring a ...
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A potent call to action

In 2010 TimeLine’s literary manager, Ben Thiem, encouraged me and my fellow Company Members to read Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. Embarrassingly, initially I  made the mistake of assuming that it was a dated play. And then I read it, for the first time. Like ...
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A conversation about “The Normal Heart”

During rehearsals, Artistic Director PJ Powers (PJP) talked with director Nick Bowling (NB) and actor David Cromer (DC) about The Normal Heart. An edited version of their conversation appears in The Normal Heart Backstory. “The Normal Heart” actor David Cromer (from left), director Nick Bowling and TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers. PJ Powers (PJP): Here I am sitting with Nick Bowling, TimeLine’s Associate Artistic Director and the director of our production of The Normal Heart, ...
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Around the table

As To Master the Art begins its new life, courtesy of the Chicago Commercial Collective and Broadway In Chicago, I thought it worth noting just how we got to this point in a process that began an astonishing seven years ago. Ironically, the process has ...
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“This play is special”

During rehearsals for A Raisin in the Sun, TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers (PJP) talked with playwright Ron OJ Parson (ROJP) about his history with the play, his roots within Chicago theatre, and the lessons we can continue to take away from Lorraine Hansberry’s timeless ...
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Why this again

We are thrilled to launch TimeLine’s 17th season next week with Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Since we announced this play I’ve been struck by the number of people who’ve responded with “Why that play again?” This hasn’t been a majority response, but ...
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From the classroom: Connecting to history

Four high school students arrange themselves in front of the class. One of them has taken a black hoodie and put it over her head like a bag. The other two stand, fingers holding the invisible trigger of a gun, held close against their eyes—which ...
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