Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Des McAnuff's Broadway production was a lot like Sarnoff — smart, relentless, powerful and overly inclined to railroad anything and everything in its way. Bowling's Chicago version is a lot like Farnsworth — smart, purist, humanist, insecure and fundamentally worthy. It does indeed fight against Sorkin's script, but it also reigns in its excesses. I think the ideal show lies in the middle, and it's only toward the end that this production begins to understand that truth."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"... In this Timeline Theatre production, PJ Powers plays Sarnoff, the tenacious founder of the National Broadcasting Company, with a caustic panache worthy of Entourage's infamous Ari Gold, while his corn-fed foil gets a passionate, sympathetic portrayal from Rob Fagin. Though they never met in real life, Farnsworth and Sarnoff narrate each other's lives with keen insight and grudging respect."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...Director Nick Bowling has done a masterful job of orchestrating the complex physical production. With all those scenes and all those characters, the narrative thread could have been lost in confusion, but Bowling keeps the storyline clear and vibrant throughout. John Culbert designed the set, Lindsey Pate the period costumes, Keith Parham the lighting, Kevin O’Donnell the sound, and Mike Tutaj the projections. Special praise goes to Emily Guthrie for designing a mass of properties that are huge aids in telling the scientific side of the birth of TV."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...Ultimately characters are not what excites Sorkin, but rather events and their epic historical sweep. He treats what most people would regard as the minor trivia of an inevitable technical innovation (lots of people "invented" television, at least conceptually) with all the gravity of the Manhattan Project and (explicitly) the Apollo Program. Watching the play, it is hard not to get caught up in the world of boy geniuses dreaming their big dreams."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...While Sorkin’s script has its problems, TimeLine’s production is bracing throughout. Recalling his succcess with last year’s triumphant History Boys, Bowling handily orchestrates the play’s 70-odd characters. Laboratories and boardrooms burst in and out of the small space’s two entrances, and key moments, such as the first demonstration of Farnsworth’s pioneering technology, offer a genuine thrill. Powers dominates as the gruff, driven Sarnoff; he captures precisely the mix of steely authority and insecurity roiling within this Russian refugee-turned-mogul. For his part, Fagin captures Farnsworth’s dreamy brilliance and fatal naiveté, his family and the larger world no match for the fascination of his lab."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...John Culbert’s impressive set design, Mike Tutaj’s old-time TV videos and Lindsey Pate’s accurate period costumes each contributed to the stellar production values of TimeLine Theatre’s The Farnsworth Invention. The play is a both character driven and a historical sketch of the back story of the invention of the world-changing television. It is exciting drama."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...The attention to physical detail in the production is indicative of Director Nick Bowling, and his intimate, crackling promenade staging comes with a number of rewards. Where theatres with larger stages and bigger production budgets might have given us a bit more visual bang, Bowling's work here is stark and unfussy, relying on only the elements necessary to tell the story. With the audience on two sides of a central stage, it often feels like a ping pong tournament. Desks, chairs, blackboards, tables and the assorted antique electronic equipment all come careening through a door and down the stage like a well drilled military parade. And the performances of PJ Powers, Rob Fagin and the large cast are likewise electric. As Powers' character of David Sarnoff observes, we are all explorers in life, and while the script leaves something to be desired, TimeLine's production is still well worth the exploration."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...Timeline explores new possibilities and builds consistently excellent productions while protecting the past that gives them their name. Recycled as it may be, the final monologue has even more power when spoken by Artistic Director PJ Powers: “We were meant to be explorers. Explorers, builders, and protectors.” After a year of unprecedented success, where will Timeline go next?"
