Behind the ‘Line

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A conversation with Sarah Treem

During rehearsals, Artistic Director PJ Powers (PJP) conducted this interview with The How and the Why playwright Sarah Treem (ST). Spoiler alert: Some key plot and character details of the play are discussed. An edited version of this interview appears in The How and the Why Backstory. PJP: I swear I’m not trying to be too cute with this question, but how and why did you become a writer? ST: People ask this a lot and ...
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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 ...
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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 my colleagues, I was completely knocked out, and not just by its political vibrancy and call to action. Larry Kramer crafted one of the great historical dramas of the 20th ...
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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 ...
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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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