Exciting day at TimeLine today as we announced that Peter Morgan’s internationally acclaimed play Frost/Nixon will kick off our 2010-11 season this August. And we’ll welcome back TimeLine Associate Artist Louis Contey (A House With No Walls, Copenhagen, The General from America) as director.
Many of you may be familiar with Peter Morgan’s story of the real-life 1977 television interviews between journalist David Frost and former president Richard Nixon via Ron Howard’s 2008 feature film version. Others may have had the chance to see the play at its premiere at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 2006, or later on the West End, or on Broadway in 2007. But this is the first time audiences here will have the chance to see the show on stage as TimeLine presents the Chicago premiere!
Here’s the story: It has been three years since Nixon resigned from office in disgrace. The Watergate scandal is still on the minds of many, but the former commander-in-chief has yet to break his silence about his role in those events. Now Nixon has agreed to be interviewed by the 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.
“A gripping study of the politics of the media,” wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian upon the play’s premiere. And Charles Spencer in The Telegraph called it “a terrific new play that is as thought-provoking as it is gripping and entertaining. What’s more, like all good history, it illuminates the present while examining the past.”
TimeLine is thrilled to be able to bring Peter Morgan’s dynamic play to Chicago audiences for the first time. This play is an ideal fit for our mission of examining the past to better understand the present. And similar to other high profile Chicago premieres like “The History Boys” and our upcoming production of “The Farnsworth Invention,” TimeLine is able to provide a much more intimate experience than a Broadway production. Our flexible theatre will bring audiences up close to this provocative story.
— Artistic Director PJ Powers
Stay tuned over the coming weeks as casting for Frost/Nixon and titles for the rest of our 2010-11 season are still to be announced. And let us know what you think about this choice for TimeLine’s 14th season!
Alfred H. Wilson (from left), Daniel Bryant and Nate Burger in "'Master Harold' ... and the Boys"
‘Master Harold’ … and the Boys is now open and we are so happy to be sharing Athol Fugard’s masterpiece, the most autobiographical of his plays, with Chicago audiences.
Many of Chicago’s professional theater critics have weighed in on the show (read what they have to say at our Web site …), but now’s your chance. Share your own review, comments or questions about the production below.
Fugard Chicago 2010 is a partnership between Remy Bumppo Theatre, Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company, in association with the League of Chicago Theaters, to launch a collaborative Web site to promote Chicago’s season of Athol Fugard. The lineup begins with TimeLine’s production of ‘Master Harold’ … and the Boys (Jan. 20 – March 21), followed by Remy Bumppo’s The Island (Jan. 27 – March 7, 2010), and concludes with Court Theatre’s production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead (May 13 – June 13, 2010). The website includes detailed information about all three plays and offers theatre-goers a chance to purchase a 3-play pass for $75. Visit fugardchicago.org.
Following is an evolving list of events related to Fugard Chicago 2010 at all three theatres: Keep reading …
A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE WORK OF ATHOL FUGARD
Welcome to January and the official beginning of Chicago’s Fugard Chicago 2010. As you may know, TimeLine, Court and Remy Bumppo theatres are collaborating in an effort to bring awareness to Athol Fugard’s important work. Last month, an introductory article about Athol Fugard’s works was sent out to theatre patrons (access is at TimeLine or Remy Bumppo if you have not yet read it). As TimeLine’s production of “Master Harold” … and the Boys and Remy Bumppo’s production of The Island are about to open at the end of January, I, as the Fugard Fest Staff Writer, wanted to probe all three of these shows’ directors to get an insight into their experiences with Fugard’s works and what they hope to achieve through their productions. Here is what James Bohnen (JB), director of The Island at Remy Bumppo, Ron OJ Parson (RP), director of Sizwe Banzi is Dead and Court, and Jonathan Wilson (JW), director of “Master Harold” … and the Boys at TimeLine, had to say. Keep reading …
Elizabeth Auman
You have fueled my obsession with numbers. Thanks to you we have reached a remarkable goal: 2,009 subscribers in 2009. This is a 50% increase over last year. We suddenly have a lot of new friends! At 2 pm last Wednesday we announced we had 41 subscriptions remaining for this season. By 4 pm we had 23 left. We reached 2,009 subscriptions on Sunday, December 20.
2009 has been a year of milestones for TimeLine Theatre Company. We could not have achieved all that we did this year without your support. And I don’t just mean the ways you support TimeLine financially with ticket purchases and donations. Your desire to challenge us, to engage the company in conversation, the counsel you provide as we grow this organization — this support is just as import as your financial support. When I think of the size of this organization when I walked in for my first day of work 26 months ago, and the conversations we were having 12 months ago about the “dynamic” economy, I am awestruck and humbled by the people I get to engage with every day. You have helped guide this organization through tremendous growth in the last two seasons. Thank you for making 2009 a year I won’t forget, and I wish you a healthy and prosperous 2010.
Liz got this ambitious 2,009 goal started back in October. See how it all began here …
It’s the end of the year, which means lists, Lists, LISTS! TimeLine’s extraordinary 2009 is being capped by recognition from several sources for our productions of The History Boys and All My Sons. We’ll keep a running, uhhhhh, list, here of it all for you:
Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal. Read the entire Wall Street Journal article …
When it comes to ensemble casts, there’s no contest: Chicago’s TimeLine Theatre put on a production of Alan Bennett’s “The History Boys” staged by Nick Bowling that was so finely acted (and directed) as to overcome most of my doubts about a show that had failed to convince me when I saw the original cast on Broadway in 2006.
“Athol Fugard has created theater of power, glory, and majestic language.”
— The New York Times
Athol Fugard
Once identified by Time magazine as “the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world,” Athol Fugard is known for his deeply rooted and controversial anti-apartheid dramas. Raised in Port Elizabeth since the age of three, Fugard deems himself the mongrel son of an English speaking father of Polish/Irish descent and an Afrikaner mother. Before becoming a playwright, young Fugard traveled through Africa, worked on a merchant ship, and served as a clerk in the pass-law court where he witnessed, first-hand, the extremities of apartheid.
As a playwright, Fugard has come into much conflict and controversy. He has been subjected to government surveillance and restricted in his play development and travel by the South African government. He has been able to collaborate with several native, black South Africans to create confrontational and necessary theatre about the curse and price of apartheid both in South Africa and abroad.
There are critics who believe that a white Afrikaner like Fugard can not speak to the tragedies and challenges faced by the black native South Africans of which Fugard writes. People “see a white man being a spokesman for what has happened to black people and they are naturally intolerant. My response,” Fugard says, “is that I haven’t been anybody’s spokesman. I’ve written very selfishly, not to be representative of anybody but myself.” (see footnote: 1) This racial identification with which Fugard and his work is often associated is exactly what Fugard has been contesting since he began as a playwright.
The ‘perception of myself as a political writer disturbs me. An attitude like that closes off an individual to an important thing I have tried to do. I’ve tried to celebrate the human spirit — its capacity to create, its capacity to endure, its capacity to forgive, its capacity to love, even though every conceivable barrier is set up to thwart the act of loving.” – Athol Fugard (2)
His works, though concerned with race and politics, should not be viewed as such, but viewed with an eye for creating a better planet, a more understanding and loving world. Keep reading …
In the last few weeks many people have been posting comments on this blog about our current production of When She Danced, and I wanted to chime in with my thanks for sharing your thoughts.
PJ Powers
It means so much to our entire company to hear feedback about our productions, even when it sometimes isn’t all praise. With every production our primary goal is to ignite some thought and dialogue, and we hope to encourage and foster that dialogue through a number of different avenues — by having one Company member or staff member present in our lobby at every performance to greet and talk with you; by hosting numerous post-show discussions and a Sunday Scholar Series for every production; through this blog; and also by sharing the contact info for me and other staff on our Web site and in various other places.
All of this is to underscore our eagerness to hear your thoughts and to chat about TimeLine’s work. Because this theatre and our productions cannot exist without you.
And through all of those avenues, we listen. And genuinely appreciate your feedback. Reading some of the comments posted here about When She Danced, it’s quite the mixed bag, ranging from the show being someone’s favorite TimeLine play ever to this being others’ least favorite.
The thing that I appreciate the most is the extent to which so many posts (or emails, or phone calls or conversations) are so thoughtful and thorough. That very fact gets me excited and makes me eager to engage in more discussion. As with all of our productions I usually get more than an earful of responses that often contradict one another, and we’re wise enough to not let the praising comments drown out the negative ones. I am always saddened to hear that parts (or all) of any play don’t connect with some people, and while I regularly (and happily) receive many positive comments about each show, I also acknowledge that there are always — always — very different opinions, even about our biggest “hit” shows. I assure you that all of those opinions are considered and weighed by not only me but also by our team of Company members who work together to select our programming.
So I really just wanted to say, once again, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Thanks for caring so much about TimeLine’s work and giving and participating in what that work is. It means the world to us. And we’re always all ears to what you’ve got to say.
On behalf of all of my fellow Company members, we are deeply grateful for and humbled by your support of TimeLine – both on a show-by-show basis and also in our larger body of work. We’re blessed to get to share four different stories with you every year, and I look forward to seeing you back here for the rest of our season to continue an ongoing dialogue.
Happy Holidays to you and yours!
This behind-the-scenes video, created by designer Susan Muirhead, has been available in our lobby for audiences of When She Danced for the past few weeks. Along with rehearsal footage, it features director (and founding TimeLine Company member) Nick Bowling and actor Jennifer Engstrom discussing the incomparable Isadora Duncan, a challenging script that includes characters speaking in six different languages, and a production design that takes us to Paris in 1923.
From the video:
“When language fails, it’s really necessary to communicate in a different way,” Jen, who plays Isadora, says. “Certain things are impossible to describe with words — Isadora’s dancing, for example. People who saw it, it changed their lives and it touched their soul in a way that can hardly be described.”
“Isadora is every bit as important to dance as Picasso was to painting,” Nick says. “She is a renegade, and influenced millions of artists to come after her. That makes her somebody worth understanding. And that is what this play is really trying to do. Trying to get at the heart of this astonishing woman.”
Alejandro Cordoba and Jennifer Engstrom in "When She Danced"
When She Danced has been open for just over a week now and with sold-out houses every night, already nearly 500 of you have seen the show!
Many of Chicago’s professional theater critics have weighed in on When She Danced (read what they have to say at our Web site …), but now’s your chance. Share your own review, comments or questions about the production below.
