Behind the ‘Line

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Announcing 2020-2022 Playwrights Collective

  TimeLine is pleased to announce that four new playwrights have joined our Playwrights Collective, the company’s new play incubator. Dolores Díaz, Kristin Idaszak, Osiris Khepera, and David Rhee (pictured above, from left) are now in residence with the Playwrights Collective through January 2022. Over its first 23 seasons, TimeLine has produced 10 world premieres and more than 35 Chicago premieres, making an ongoing commitment to developing, supporting and featuring new work. The TimeLine Playwrights ...
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Standing with our community

At TimeLine this week, watching and sharing in the pain and outrage being expressed across the country, we’ve remembered these words of playwright James Ijames: “Every time I think we have reached a point where maybe this play is obsolete. It’s suddenly not. And the ...
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“It’s Dinner and a Play”

During our interview with To Master the Art playwright Doug Frew and playwright and director William Brown, Bill mentioned Doug had been embracing an old tradition to pass quarantine: the classic dinner and a movie. With a group of friends, each week someone picked a ...
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A play ahead of its time

Welcome to the long overdue Chicago debut of Githa Sowerby’s Rutherford and Son. Written and originally produced to great acclaim in 1912, this was a play ahead of its time. It initially drew comparisons to dramas by Ibsen and Shaw and was hailed for its ...
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A conversation with the women of RUTHERFORD AND SON

  During rehearsals for Rutherford and Son, director Mechelle Moe (MM) and cast members Jeannie Affelder (JA), Christina Gorman (CG), and Rochelle Therrien (RT) chatted about the play and their responses to it. (MM) Hi everybody! Happy Wednesday afternoon! I’d like for everyone just to say ...
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History: It’s complicated

When I tell new friends or extended family that I’m a history PhD, they unfailingly ask: “So do you love Downton Abbey?” or “What do you think of Hamilton?” You’re a historian, so you must like historical drama. I mean, obviously! The “Oslo” dramaturgy team (from left): Maren Robinson, Deborah Blumenthal, and Holly Dayton. It makes sense: These are the touchstones most people have for historical events nowadays. But the truth is that I have ...
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OSLO: Additional Resources

Fascinated by the people, themes, and content of Oslo? Longing to learn more? We’ve got you. Dig deeper into the world in and around Oslo with these additional materials to read and watch. PUBLICATIONS From Oslo to Jerusalem: The Palestinian Story of the Secret Negotiations by ...
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Our largest production to date

I am so pleased to celebrate the opening night of our first production of the 2019-20 Season, J.T. Rogers’ Oslo. Whether you’ve followed our work in Chicago for years, or are coming across a TimeLine production for the first time, we are delighted to introduce ...
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A conversation with J.T. Rogers

During rehearsals for Oslo, director Nick Bowling (NB) spoke with playwright J.T. Rogers (JTR) about his award-winning play, the real people who inspired it, that dinner with President Bill Clinton, and much more! (NB) First of all, I want to start by saying how excited ...
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Living History: Year in review

Currently wrapping up its 12th season, TimeLine’s Living History Education Program has quickly grown from a handful of classroom residencies in a select few schools to having a presence in numerous schools throughout Chicago; several student matinees at our Wellington space per season; and last ...
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