Behind the ‘Line

During rehearsals for Blood and Gifts, TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers (PJP) talked with playwright J.T. Rogers (JTR) about his genesis as a playwright, the extensive research that informed the writing of Blood and Gifts, and the lamentable lack of plays with a global perspective premiering on American stages. An edited version of this interview was included in the Blood and Gifts Backstory. This is the full version. Read on: Playwright J.T. Rogers (photo by ...

Over the past 11 weeks of Wasteland, we’ve watched as audiences step into the theater and are immediately drawn into the world of the play before one word of the script is uttered. The lights and haze, the sound of insects and wildlife, and most strikingly, an unsettling and realistic scenic design transport them underground somewhere in the Vietnam jungle. Often at the end of the show, people stop to inspect the set—peering up into the ...