WHEN SHE DANCED, MASTER HAROLD & More Set For TimeLine Theater 2009-10 Season

TimeLine Theatre Company, dedicated to presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, announces three of the four plays of its 2009-10 season, including the Chicago premiere of Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention. A fourth play and the season's schedule are still to be announced.

"We have put together a season filled with bold ideas and tremendous heart and hope and guts," said TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers. "Through a steadfast commitment to our mission, TimeLine aspires to be a place for people to come together, to feel a sense of community and to engage in a dialogue about our place in history. The work on our stage allows audiences to lose themselves in a story from the past in order to perhaps better understand where we are today and where we might go tomorrow. During our 2009-10 season, we look forward to exploring some defining moments of the 20th Century together - moments of art and beauty, of friendship and understanding, and of innovation and exploration."

Performances take place at TimeLine's home inside the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago, near the corner of Wellington and Broadway in the Lakeview East neighborhood. Four-admission FlexPass Subscriptions are available for $85 - $112. For more information call (773) 281-TIME (8463) or visit timelinetheatre.com.

THE 2009-10 TIMELINE THEATRE SEASON INCLUDES:

WHEN SHE DANCED
by Martin Sherman
directed by Nick Bowling
Travel to the Paris of 1923 for this gorgeous and incredibly funny portrait of legendary dancer Isadora Duncan. The so-called mother of modern dance is desperate to keep herself financially solvent and to realize her dream for retirement: a school in Italy to teach young dancers her art. Through a multi-lingual script of great heart and appeal, Sherman mixes the high comedy of a colorful cast of characters with a poignant view of the importance of the arts to move and inspire us. Through the eyes of those in Duncan's life we glimpse her greatness and how she touched so many lives when she danced.

‘MASTER HAROLD' ... AND THE BOYS
by Athol Fugard
directed by Jonathan Wilson
Recipient of a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 1982, 'Master Harold' ... and the Boys is considered Athol Fugard's masterpiece, valued for both its universal themes of humanity and its skilled theater craft. Set in South Africa during the 1950s era of apartheid, it depicts how institutionalized racism can become absorbed by those who live under it. A white 17-year-old spends time with two African workers he has known all his life, and through their conversations on one rainy day we see what unites and divides them. The play's beautiful and haunting dialogue and message of hope also inspire the recognition that there is much work to be done to bring people of different races together.

THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION
Chicago premiere
by Aaron Sorkin
directed by Nick Bowling
From the creator of A Few Good Men and The West Wing comes this fascinating new play direct from Broadway. It's the story of two ambitious visionaries - Philo T. Farnsworth, an Idaho farmboy, and David Sarnoff, head of RCA - battling each other for the rights to one of the greatest inventions of all time: the television. Through corporate espionage, family tragedy, financial disaster and the thrill of discovery, these two larger-than-life men compete for fame and credit and become part of a decision that would change America, and eventually the world.

A fourth play and the season's schedule are still to be announced.

TimeLine Theatre's FlexPass subscription is an affordable, flexible and convenient option for Chicago theater-goers. Four-admission Anytime ($112) and Weekday ($85) FlexPasses are available. All FlexPasses offer up to 20% off regular ticket prices, the convenience of choosing a date for each show, the flexibility to choose when to use admissions, an easy reservation process, unlimited exchange privileges, TimeLine's Backstory magazine provided in advance, discounts on additional tickets and with neighborhood partners, and access to exclusive news and events. To purchase and for more information, call (773) 281-TIME (8463) or visit timelinetheatre.com.

Founded in April 1997, TimeLine Theatre Company's mission is to present stories inspired by history that connect with today's social and political issues. TimeLine has presented 38 previous productions, including six world premieres and 10 Chicago premieres. Praised as "a must-see company" (Chicago Sun-Times) and a "fast-rising Chicago company" (The New York Times) and recipient of the 2006 Alford-Axelson Award for Nonprofit Managerial Excellence and the 2008 Richard Goodman Strategic Planning Award from the Association for Strategic Planning, TimeLine has received 37 Non-Equity Jeff Awards, including an award for Outstanding Production in six of the past eight seasons.

Coming soon in TimeLine's current season: The Chicago premiere of THE HISTORY BOYS, by Alan Bennett, directed by Nick Bowling, April 25 - June 21, 2009 (previews 4/22 - 4/24)

TimeLine Theatre is led by Artistic Director PJ Powers and Managing Director Elizabeth K. Auman. Company members are Nick Bowling, Janet Ulrich Brooks, Lara Goetsch, Juliet Hart, David Parkes, PJ Powers and Benjamin Thiem. TimeLine is a member of the League of Chicago Theatres, Theatre Communications Group and the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce.

Nick Bowling (Director, When She Danced and The Farnsworth Invention) was the founding artistic director and is now a Company member of TimeLine Theatre. He is the recipient of four Non-Equity Jeff Awards for Outstanding Direction (Fiorello!, This Happy Breed and The Crucible at TimeLine, Another Part of the Forest at Eclipse Theatre). He also was nominated for TimeLine's Hauptmann and The Lion in Winter, and for an Equity Jeff Award for Closer Than Ever at Porchlight Music Theatre. At TimeLine, he is currently directing the Chicago premiere of Alan Bennett's The History Boys, and most recently directed Not Enough Air and Fiorello!. Other Chicago credits include Writers' Theatre's Bach at Leipzig, Shattered Globe Theatre's Time of the Cuckoo and Frozen Assets, Rivendell Theatre's Factory Girls and Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's Angels in America, among others.

Athol Fugard (Playwright, ‘Master Harold' ... and the Boys) was born in Middelburg, South Africa on June 11, 1932. Most of his plays take place in South Africa, and include universal themes focusing on humanity and racial issues. In addition to some 20 dramatic works (including collaborations with John Kani and Winston Ntshona on Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island), he has written a novel, Tsotsi, memoirs, and several film scripts (with Ross Devenish). Fugard directs and acts in his work, and appeared briefly in the films Gandhi and The Killing Fields. His first major play, Blood Knot, was written in 1961, and was promptly banned in his home country, as have been many of his other works, including ‘Master Harold' .... Fugard is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including several Tony Award nominations.

Martin Sherman (Playwright, When She Danced) was raised in New Jersey, the only child of Jewish Russian immigrant parents. He was brought up steeped in the arts, and began acting at the age of twelve. Many of his plays include themes of homosexuality, including his landmark play Bent, which was adapted into a film and earned him a Tony Award nomination in 1980. Sherman's latest work, the film Mrs. Henderson Presents, was released in 2005. Sherman resides in London, England, where he has lived since 1980.

Aaron Sorkin (Playwright, The Farnsworth Invention) first received critical acclaim after his stage play A Few Good Men opened on Broadway. The play earned Sorkin an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding American Playwright and was later adapted into a feature film. Other film and television credits include Charlie Wilson's War, The American President, Malice, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The West Wing and Sports Night. The Farnsworth Invention, his most recent play, debuted on Broadway in January 2008. Sorkin has been the recipient of two Golden Globe nominations in the Best Screenplay category, and has won five Emmy Awards in the categories of Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Special Class Program and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.

Jonathan Wilson (Director, ‘Master Harold' ... and the Boys) is a professor of theatre and drama in Loyola University's Department of Fine and Performing Arts and has also been actively involved in the professional theater in Chicago and around the country. In Chicago, his work has been seen at the Court, Goodman, Northlight, Organic, Pegasus Players, Steppenwolf and Victory Gardens theater companies. Outside Chicago, he has directed successful productions at Circle-in-the-Square in New York, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Hartford Stage in Connecticut, Alley Theatre in Houston, the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati. He directed Athol Fugard's Playland for Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1994. Wilson has received several Jeff Award nominations for his direction and received the award in 2006 for Two Trains Running at Pegasus. Wilson holds degrees in play direction from Daeman College in Buffalo, New York, the University of Cincinnati, and Northwestern University.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.