Behind the ‘Line

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Opening Night

Tonight is Opening Night of the first production of our 15th Anniversary season and my 16th show at TimeLine. My first opening night at TimeLine was a little less than four years ago — the opening of Tesla’s Letters. Back then we had 1,140 subscribers and 3 full-time staff members; I certainly didn’t imagine that 15 productions later we would have more than 2,700 subscribers, 6 full-time staff members and countless part-time employees. Tonight marks the ...
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A thrilling year starts

Today — with the first preview of A Walk in the Woods at 8 pm — we welcome you to TimeLine’s 15th season, with an expanded schedule featuring more than 100 additional performances than last season and a venture outside of our home, going from ...
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Same Story, Different Century

TimeLine’s final production for the 2010-2011 season, The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, has taken audiences into the bustling 1920’s press room of Chicago’s Criminal Courts building. It is a time and place in which the likes of Walter Burns and Hildy ...
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Orchestrating a vision

What does a director actually do? This simple question formed the basis of TimeLine’s Directors Salon, an intimate fundraising event featuring food and drink intertwined with Q & A which delved into the world of the director. Hosted by Paul (TimeLine’s Board President) and Nancy ...
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Share your thoughts

The pressroom is open! TimeLine’s revival of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s quintessential Chicago classic opened last week and already ticket demand has been so strong that we have announced an extension through July 17. The audience response has been amazing, especially watching folks react ...
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Space for re-invention

One of the things TimeLine audiences often comment on is their appreciation for how our theater is continually re-invented. Our flexible seating system allows us to reconfigure where the playing area is and re-imagine the physical relationship between actor and audience. That flexibility is being showcased again for The Front Page, as the audience completely surrounds the playing space. We asked some of the The Front Page production team to discuss their approach to the ...
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From theater to reality

A few years ago I was browsing in a bookstore when a book caught my eye—The Front Page: From Theater To Reality by George W. Hilton. As a longtime fan of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s pressroom romp, I immediately picked it up and discovered ...
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On the ground in Darfur

As the production of In Darfur enters its final week, on Sunday, March 13, Timeline Theatre patrons had the opportunity to gain a dynamic insight into the realities and complexities of the Sudanese conflict via a forum with Human Rights Watch researcher Jehanne Henry. It ...
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Tracing the threads

As I left a post show discussion of In Darfur recently, one of the audience members grabbed my arm and said, “You are a theater company with a conscience and I appreciate that.” It is something I appreciate too. I feel very fortunate to have ...
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Our 15th Season!

Big news today! We’ve announced TimeLine’s 2011-12 Season — our 15th Anniversary season (amazing!) — a hot collection of plays that includes one world premiere, two Chicago premieres, a revival of a Pulitzer Prize-nominated work presented with a twist, and the TimeLine debut of two ...
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