Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley at DePaul University Cortelyou Commons

Following critically acclaimed runs in New York City and London, TimeLine will create a site-specific, immersive Chicago premiere of the american vicarious’ imagining of the historic debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr., on the occasion of the event’s 60th anniversary.

“Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?” This was the topic on February 18, 1965 when an overflow crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, to bear witness to a historic televised debate between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the Civil Rights Movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America’s most influential conservative intellectual. This historic clash reveals the deep roots and lasting legacy of racial conflict that continues to haunt America.

Presented in partnership with the american vicarious and The Theatre School at DePaul University