Behind the ‘Line

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Ask why.

Today marks the opening of TimeLine’s 50th production! I must say, this milestone is a bit astonishing. In many ways, it seems like just yesterday the six of us who founded TimeLine were each pitching in $50 to get the company started. But since that auspicious beginning in 1997, TimeLine has grown exponentially, thanks largely to our passionate supporters. Your patronage, curiosity and desire to engage in provocative theater has inspired us to make TimeLine ...
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It’s complicated

I can’t stop thinking about Enron. As we approach the opening of our 50th production, there are a lot of sleepless nights — as there always are during tech and previews — but I think that’s even more true this week, as many of us ...
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A Pitman’s guide to the Art Institute

A few weeks ago I emailed my friend, co-conspirator and TimeLine Marketing Director Lara Goetsch to see if she wanted to go to the Art Institute of Chicago and look for all the art mentioned in The Pitmen Painters.  She agreed and we met in ...
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13 x 4 = 52

Here we are in the final weekend of the run of A Walk in the Woods! Over the past few months, whenever people asked me why we produced  A Walk In The Woods at Theater Wit, I talked about TimeLine’s need to expand our production ...
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Congratulations, Chicago theatre!

TimeLine’s Company Members (from left): Juliet Hart, David Parkes, PJ Powers, Ben Thiem, Nick Bowling, Janet Ulrich Brooks and Lara Goetsch at the 2011 Equity Jeff Awards. Last night the entire TimeLine Company, members of the Board of Directors and representatives from all four of ...
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The Hawk and the Dove

Last summer, as I prepared to take on the role of American negotiator John Honeyman in Lee Blessing’s A Walk in the Woods and researched the world of arms negotiators, no book became more valuable to my process than The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan and the History of the Cold War by Nicholas Thompson. From the Amazon.com book description: Only two Americans held positions of great influence throughout the Cold War. ...
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A terrific day in New York

Getting up at 4 am is not my idea of starting a day off right. By a longshot. But I made an exception one week ago, and it was more than worth it. Why the early rise? I was headed, along with TimeLine Managing Director ...
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Paper magic

If you’ve been following TimeLine’s 15th Anniversary season at all — received our 2011-12 subscription brochure, gotten an email, attended a show — you’ve seen the four images we’re using to promote the four plays this season:   For several years now TimeLine has used ...
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Share your thoughts

TimeLine’s 15th season opener A Walk in the Woods — the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by Lee Blessing that first premiered on Broadway in 1988 and has been revived, with a twist, by director Nick Bowling — has been playing for a few weeks. You can ...
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Lighting the artistic impulse

Written by BJ Jones In 1969 I joined the United Mine Workers. I made varnish for Mobil Chemical one summer during college. Midway through the summer the UMW went out on strike for wages and conditions and we were on the picket line. During my ...
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