Productions & Events featuring David Parkes

My Kind of Town puts a human face on the police torture scandal that has plagued Chicago for more than three decades. Veteran investigative journalist John Conroy covered the story, challenging public indifference to become one of the leading voices drawing attention to the charges. My Kind of Town is his passionate, groundbreaking new drama revolving around one imprisoned man’s fight for justice, inspired by the stories of numerous victims, police officers, prosecutors and families whose lives have been poisoned by the allegations. With interlocking storylines that humanize the play’s issues of corruption and responsibility, My Kind of Town sets the stage for a new conversation about today’s culture of law and order.

Three years after the Watergate scandal ended his presidency, Richard Nixon has agreed to break his silence in a series of interviews with up-and-coming British broadcaster David Frost. Behind-the-scenes it’s a battle of egos for the upper hand in controlling history, but as the cameras roll, the world is riveted by a remarkably honest exchange between one man who has lost everything and another with everything to gain.

This world premiere drama Not Enough Air follows famed journalist-turned-playwright Sophie Treadwell as she is drawn into the real-life tragedy of Ruth Snyder’s 1928 murder trial. Treadwell is haunted by Ruth’s story and finds herself compelled to bring it to the stage in the form of her landmark play Machinal, acclaimed as one of the high points of expressionist theater on an American stage. In this astonishing exploration of media sensationalism and ethics as well as interpretation and manipulation in the creative process, Obolensky illuminates the lives of two women who pushed against the limitations and expectations imposed upon them by society.

TRUMBO is based on the letters of Dalton Trumbo, the legendary screenwriter who stood up to the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 and was subsequently jailed and blacklisted as one of the “Hollywood Ten.” Through his brilliant and razor-sharp letters to friends, former friends and family, Trumbo is a fascinating and often spellbinding look at how the author of Spartacus, Roman Holiday and Exodus took on Congress, Hollywood and the Red Scare — and won.

Written and set in 1892, Widowers’ Houses is a hilarious yet scathing look at the ethics of making money. When a young doctor learns that his future father-in-law has earned his wealth by renting slum housing to the poor, the doctor refuses the dirty dowry that awaits him. But he must reconsider his righteous stance when he discovers alarming news about the source of his own income. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see George Bernard Shaw’s first play — the one that launched his career as one of the wittiest and most widely produced writers of his generation.

One of the most acclaimed playwrights to emerge in Chicago in the last decade, Brett Neveu has a reputation for blistering dialogue, complex characters and haunting stories. Described as a “master at establishing mood” (Chicago Sun-Times) and “perhaps the city’s closest equivalent to a young [David] Mamet” (Chicago Tribune), with Harmless, he delivers a gripping three-character drama about a crisis unfolding on a small Midwestern college campus.

A creative writing professor is called to the office of the college president for questioning. What has been going on in his classroom to provoke a growing controversy and attract the attention of the United States military? Is there a real threat, or is it imagined?

Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Nelson’s powerful drama about the early, uncertain birth of America introduces us to the new country’s most notorious traitor, General Benedict Arnold. Betraying his reputation as a Revolutionary War hero, Arnold makes an uncharacteristic decision to defect to the British and surrender West Point, a plot that threatens to derail the war. What caused this founding father to betray his fellow colonists? The General from America delves into the complex story of one man’s life, his honor, and the stunning choice that would make him infamous.

Time praised The General from Americaas one of the 10 best plays of 2002, calling it “politically savvy, morally complex and theatrically cunning” and The Spectator praised it and its author as “a rich, rare and remarkable triumph on the stage … in play after play, Nelson has established himself as that contemporary stage rarity, a civilized, urbane, literate, acidic ironist in an age of urban thuggery.”

First staged in 1960, Robert Bolt’s masterpiece is a ferocious battle between church and state, faith and politics, and one man’s struggle to maintain his principles when he is pressured to abandon them. When England’s Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, is asked by Henry VIII to annul his marriage so he can re-marry, More is torn between serving his King or staying true to his beliefs. His defiance of Henry ignites a political firestorm and forces More to pay the price of his disloyalty.

Set in the booming 1980s, PRAVDA is the hilarious battle between an unscrupulous newspaper magnate and his idealistic editor over the integrity of the press. After Lambert Le Roux buys up London’s Fleet Street papers, he uses them to serve his political and financial whims, testing Andrew May’s willpower and principles. This hard-hitting satire by two of the most provocative playwrights of our time examines the public’s hunger for sensationalism and the objectivity of our news.

Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt is thrown into turmoil when her lover and mentor, the renowned philosopher Martin Heidegger, develops ties to the Nazi party and becomes a vocal supporter of Hitler. After the war, she returns to Germany and must weigh the consequences of forgiving Martin for his actions and question whether or not love can truly conquer all.

Art and politics collide when the government’s Works Progress Administration shuts down director Orson Welles’ new pro-union musical THE CRADLE WILL ROCK in 1937. With the theatre doors padlocked, the cast and company must work frantically to make sure their voices are heard. This fast-paced and brilliantly witty comedy brings to life a defining moment in the history of American theatre.

Back stabbing, spying, double-crossing and rampant infidelity – just a typical family Christmas for the Plantagenets, England’s royal family. This ingenious drama pits King Henry II against his strong-willed wife Eleanor of Aquitaine and their three heirs in a 12th-century struggle for love and power.

Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt is thrown into turmoil when her lover and mentor, the renowned philosopher Martin Heidegger, develops ties to the Nazi party and becomes a vocal supporter of Hitler. After the war, she returns to Germany and must weigh the consequences of forgiving Martin for his actions and question whether or not love can truly conquer all.

Winner of six Joseph Jefferson Awards.

August 28 – October 10, 2004

Clifford Odets’ masterpiece is as robust, emotional and gritty as the Great Depression itself. As Odets describes it, each of the characters share a fundamental activity — a struggle for life amidst petty conditions. Crowded together in a cramped Bronx tenement and laid low by the Great Depression, this moving portrait of a Jewish family is both funny and heartbreaking as they cope with survival and cling to dreams of a brighter future.

In 1983, the world’s most powerful nation – the United States – invaded the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere – Granada. This cunning and dark comedy takes us behind the scenes of this bizarre moment in history to the speechwriters spinning furiously to win America’s first “public relations” war. William Brown, who won the Jeff Citation for Direction for TimeLine’s smash hit Not About Nightingales returns with this comic excursion into power, ideals and American politics.

February 9 – March 24, 2002

Faith, Fear, Lust and Longing combust in Arthur Miller’s retelling of one of the strangest and most horrible chapters of American history – the Salem Witch Trials. Jeff Citation winning director Nick Bowling returns to TimeLine to illuminate the tale of a repressed town plunged into deadly panic and a family fighting to stand up for the truth at any cost.