Behind the ‘Line

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JUST history plays?!

This week we’re taking a trip down memory lane with an extensive interview with five of TimeLine’s founding Company Members, commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the meeting that started TimeLine on April 9, 1997.  You can read Part 1 here … How do we make history not dusty and foreign, but immediate, urgent, sexy and a guide for how we move forward into the future? So, this mission of doing plays inspired by history. We’ve ...
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On this day …

This is it! April 9. It was on this day in 1997 that six artists — all graduates of The Theatre School at DePaul University — held the meeting that launched what would become TimeLine Theatre Company. While the company officially would not be incorporated ...
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TimeLine Theatre: 15 years

On Friday night, TimeLine celebrated our 15th Anniversary with a huge party at the Hotel InterContinental Chicago — Step Into Time: 1962 welcomed 300 guests to reflect on the 15 incredible years that have brought TimeLine from humble beginnings to where it is today. At ...
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What’s in a name?

In early 1999, Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune covered TimeLine for the first time, reviewing our second production, No End Of Blame by Howard Barker. He led off his review with this: TimeLine Theatre is a dull name for a new off-Loop Chicago troupe ...
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Memories of 1962

We choose to go to the moon. — President John F. Kennedy at Rice University, 1962 Two weeks from tonight, on Friday, March 16, 2012, TimeLine will produce what is essentially the fifth production of our 2011-12 season — our annual Step Into Time benefit. ...
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Our 2012-13 season

Breaking news today! We’ve announced TimeLine’s 2012-2013 season — an incredible collection of plays that are all new to Chicago, including one world premiere! With a stunning new script by local playwright Susan Felder and Chicago premieres by a trio of the country’s most provocative writers — Moisés Kaufman, Naomi Iizuka and J.T. Rogers — TimeLine’s upcoming season explores eras, cultures, points of view and areas of the world that we’ve never tackled before in ...
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On technology

One of my favorite things about working at TimeLine is an idea — one that, if you were to pop into our rehearsals or production meetings, you’d hear voiced at some point on virtually every show we produce: We’ve really never done anything like this ...
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In your hands now

Clockwise from top left: Terry Hamilton as Ken Lay; Bret Tuomi as Jeffrey Skilling, Sean Fortunato as Andrew Fastow (with his “raptors,” portrayed by Benjamin Sprunger, Demetria Thomas and Matt Holzfeind); and Amy Matheny as Claudia Roe with Tuomi in TimeLine’s “Enron.” Just over a ...
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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 ...
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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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