TimeLine Theatre concludes its record-breaking 2009-10 season with the highly anticipated Chicago premiere of Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention, directed by TimeLine Company member Nick Bowling. The Farnsworth Invention runs April 17 - June 13, 2010 (previews April 14 through April 16) at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago.
From the creator of television's The West Wing and the play and feature film A Few Good Men comes this fascinating new play in its local premiere. Two ambitious, larger-than-life visionaries - Philo T. Farnsworth, an Idaho farmboy, and David Sarnoff, head of RCA - battle through corporate espionage, family tragedy, financial disaster and the thrill of discovery for the right to claim one of the greatest inventions of all time - the television. "These men dreamed television into existence and changed the world in the process," wrote The New York Times upon the play's premiere on Broadway in 2007. "Who dreams that big nowadays?"
"Aaron Sorkin's signature rapid-fire dialogue propels this play across decades and illuminates the dramatic story behind of one of the most influential inventions of our time," said TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers. "Our team of artists is poised to maximize the flexibility of TimeLine's intimate theatre and bring this epic story and its large cast of characters to our audience in an exciting, Chicago-style premiere of Sorkin's newest play."
The cast of The Farnsworth Invention features Rob Fagin as Philo T. Farnsworth and PJ Powers as David Sarnoff, with the remaining cast of more than 70 characters played by an ensemble including Larry Baldacci, Kurt Brocker, Paul Dunckel, Sean Patrick Fawcett, Jeremy Glickstein, Zach Gray, Maris Hudson, Zach Kenney, Tom McElroy, Bill McGough, Bridgette Pechman, Eliza Stoughton, Justine Turner and Jamie Vann.
The production also features the TimeLine debut of award-winning scenic designer John Culbert. "In addition to his prolific career as a designer, John is currently dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University, the school at which TimeLine's founding members studied," Powers noted. "So this production brings together John and many alumni of that program, including myself, director Nick Bowling, and several members of the design team and cast."
To purchase tickets or for more information, call the Timeline Theatre Box Office at 773.281.8463 x24 or buy online via timelinetheatre.com.