Behind the ‘Line

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Around a table

Isn’t it delicious that so often a first rehearsal involves a table read? That’s what I was thinking last night as Bill Brown gathered his cast, production team and other TimeLine family members  around for the first rehearsal of To Master the Art. In theatre, as in life, stuff happens around a table. We start to figure out the world of our play, and as Chef Bugnard says about cooking, “It is not about fast ...
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Share your thoughts

TimeLine’s Chicago premiere of Frost/Nixon has been running for three weeks now and the response has been extraordinary! Many of Chicago’s theater critics have already had their say (read all the professional critical response at our website …) but we want to give you a ...
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Carter/Hamilton

Andrew Carter as David Frost (left) and Terry Hamilton as Richard Nixon in “Frost/Nixon.” While watching actors Andrew Carter and Terry Hamilton during auditions for Frost/Nixon, director Louis Contey asked: “Do you think they, Frost and Nixon, like each other? Do you think they get ...
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Zen in the Art of Theatre

Monday, August 16 “To know and to act are one and the same.”  – Samurai Maxim Andrew Carter (from left), Terry Hamilton and director Louis Contey during a rehearsal of “Frost/Nixon” The final weeks of rehearsal are filled with mixed emotions. As the days progress, ...
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Week Two

July 21, 2010 – End of Week Two   I don’t think I have ever been more challenged or amazed during a rehearsal process.  Each day I stagger out of the rehearsal room, my head swimming with fresh ideas, my heart (or someplace near it) ...
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Week One

July 12 – End of Week One I’m already having a great time. The week has been full of stimulating conversation, laughter, and solid work. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing “table work.” Each day, we read through the script, stopping at key moments or places of confusion to ask questions and discuss the events taking place. Some of those questions are technical – “How will we stage this?” Others, more probing – “What ...
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First Rehearsal

July 5, 2010 – First Rehearsal There has been a proverbial red circle on my calendar for exactly two months. Much discussion with friends, family, artists and Frost/Nixon cast members has been leading up to this day. So far I have read Frost’s biography (written ...
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Getting the part

[Editor’s Note: Actor Andrew Carter, who portrays David Frost in our production of Frost/Nixon, has agreed to share some of the entries from the journal he is keeping about the process. Today, as TimeLine marks just one week to go before the first preview performance ...
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Current Event to Theater, via History

When do current events become history? When does history become theater? I am sitting at home after reading multiple books on the Frost/Nixon interviews, having watched the interviews and documentaries on the Nixon presidency and read biographies of Nixon and Frost. I am trying to ...
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Back at Zero

We’ve set a goal of receiving donations from 150 subscriber households in July 2010. Follow our progress here! Summertime in a theatre’s Development Department is always interesting. You’d think that things would slow down since December is traditionally known as the time of year that ...
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