TimeLine Theatre to Stage MY NAME IS ASHER LEV, 8/22-10/18

TimeLine Theatre Company opens its 2014-15 season-the company's 18th season-with the Chicago premiere of MY NAME IS ASHER LEV by Aaron Posner, based on the best-selling novel by Chaim Potok. MY NAME IS ASHER LEV is directed by Kimberly Senior, the Chicago-based director who after this production next directs Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize-winning play DISGRACED on Broadway. MY NAME IS ASHER LEV runs at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Avenue in Chicago, August 28 - October 18, 2014 (previews August 22 - 27). Press Opening is Thursday, August 28, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for MY NAME IS ASHER LEV are now on sale via the Stage 773 Box Office. Call(773) 327-5252 or visit timelinetheatre.com.

Acclaimed as "excellent and heartfelt ... a primal scene of American drama" by The New York Times and "compellingly personal yet universal" by the Associated Press, MY NAME IS ASHER LEV unveils the conflict within one young man between his art and his heritage.

Based on the best-selling novel by the author who also wrote THE CHOSEN, and set in post-World War II Brooklyn, the play follows the journey of a young Jewish painter torn between his Hasidic upbringing and his desperate need to fulfill his artistic promise. When his genius threatens to destroy his relationship with his parents, young Asher realizes he must make difficult choices between his passion and his faith. This stirring adaptation of a modern classic presents a heartbreaking and triumphant vision of what it means to be an artist at any cost-against the will of family, community and tradition.

The three-person cast of MY NAME IS ASHER LEV features Jeff Award winner and TimeLine Associate Artist Alex Weisman (TimeLine's THE HISTORY BOYS and THE NORMAL HEART, NBC's CHICAGO FIRE) in the title role of Asher Lev; renowned actor and teacher Lawrence Grimm (Victory Garden's IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY, founding member of A Red Orchid Theater) as Aryeh and others, and Jeff Award winner and TimeLine Associate Artist Danica Monroe (TimeLine's HANNAH AND MARTIN and MY KIND OF TOWN, Uma Productions' FAITH HEALER) as Rivkeh and others.

The production staff for MY NAME IS ASHER LEV includes Brian Sidney Bembridge(Scenic and Lighting Designer), Elizabeth Flauto (Costume Designer), Andrew Hansen(Original Music), Andrew Lex (Properties Designer), Josh Altman (Dramaturg), Elise Kauzlaric (Dialect Coach), Jeri Frederickson (Stage Manager), J. Cody Spellman(Assistant Director), Sara Thornton (Production Assistant) and Austin Pettinger (Costume Design Assistant).

MY NAME IS ASHER LEV received its world premiere in January 2009 at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia and recently closed a heralded 10-month run Off-Broadway in New York City, receiving the Outer Circle Critics Award for Best New Off-Broadway play and the prestigious John Gassner Memorial Playwriting Award. TimeLine's production is the play's Chicago premiere.

Only TimeLine FlexPass Subscribers enjoy priority access to tickets to MY NAME IS ASHER LEV. 5-Admission and 4-Admission FlexPass Subscriptions for TimeLine's 2014-15 season are now on sale, priced from $86 to $246. For more information and to purchase FlexPass Subscriptions, call (773) 281-TIME (8463) or visit timelinetheatre.com.

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