Theatre News Wire

TimeLine Theatre Company, dedicated to presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, announces its four-play 2013-14 season: Lorraine Hansberry's classic drama set in Chicago A RAISIN IN THE SUN, directed by Ron OJ Parson; Larry Kramer's Tony Award-winning Broadway play THE NORMAL HEART, directed by TimeLine Associate Artistic Director Nick Bowling; a third play to be announced; and the Chicago premiere of the musical JUNO, with book by Joseph Stein, music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein, based on the classic Irish play Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey, directed by Nick Bowling with musical direction by Doug Peck and Elizabeth Doran.

Again this year, one production of TimeLine's season will be presented at an alternate location to accommodate the company's more than 3,300 subscribers and growing audience. The Normal Heart - the second production of TimeLine's 17th season - will be presented at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Avenue in Chicago, with the other three productions taking place at TimeLine Theatre's home just blocks away at 615 W. Wellington Avenue.

4-Admission FlexPass Subscriptions for TimeLine's 2013-14 season are now on sale, priced from $86 to $198. For more information and to purchase, call (773) 281-TIME (8463) or visit timelinetheatre.com.

"We are thrilled to further TimeLine's reputation for exploring timely and thought-provoking topics in our intimate setting," said Artistic Director PJ Powers. "Whether by tackling one of the most important plays ever written about Chicago, heralding the return of David Cromer to a local stage in one of the 20th Century's most provocative works, or introducing a gorgeous musical to this city for the first time, we will give our audience a fresh perspective on the enduring power and resonance of these classic stories."

THE 2013-14 TIMELINE THEATRE SEASON IS:

A RAISIN IN THE SUN
by Lorraine Hansberry
directed by Ron OJ Parson
August 20 - November 17, 2013 (Press Opening 8/29 at 7:30 pm)
Presented at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave.

This award-winning drama "changed American theater forever" (The New York Times) through the striking and poignant story of an African American family living in a crowded apartment on Chicago's south side in the 1950s. When the Younger family receives a $10,000 life insurance check, the promise of a better life seems to be just around the corner. But the family struggles with conflicting ideas about how to use the money, and their plans to buy a home in the all-white Clybourne Park neighborhood are thwarted by racist intolerance. Set just before the Civil Rights and Women's movements, this powerful and beloved play celebrates faith, courage, and the human spirit while also casting a spotlight on issues that still plague Chicago more than 60 years after its premiere.

A Raisin in the Sun will feature TimeLine Company Member Mildred Marie Langford in the role of Beneatha Younger. Additional casting is to be announced.

THE NORMAL HEART
by Larry Kramer
directed by TimeLine Associate Artistic Director Nick Bowling
October 25 - December 22, 2013 (Press Opening 11/1 at 7:30 pm)
Presented at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave.

Originally produced Off-Broadway at New York's Public Theater in 1985, TimeLine's production of The Normal Heart will be the first Chicago staging of the play since its Tony Award-winning Broadway premiere in 2011. Set between 1981 and 1984, The Normal Heart is a searing drama about public and private indifference to the AIDS plague and one man's lonely fight to awaken the world to the crisis. The Normal Heart follows Ned Weeks, a gay activist enraged at the unresponsiveness of public officials and the gay community. While trying to save the world from itself, he confronts the personal toll of AIDS when his lover dies of the disease.

Newsweek wrote about the 2011 Broadway production: "Like the best social playwrights, Kramer produces a crossfire of life and death energies that illuminate the many issues and create a fierce and moving human drama." AM New York called it "a powerful example of theater at its most direct, passionate and urgent," and The New York Times declared that Kramer's watershed drama "blasts you like an open, overstoked furnace."

The Normal Heart will feature acclaimed actor and director David Cromer (Our Town Off-Broadway and with The Hypocrites, Long Day's Journey Into Night at the Goodman Theatre) as Ned Weeks, marking Cromer's return to the Chicago stage for the first time in five years.

TO BE ANNOUNCED
January 14 - April 6, 2014 (Press Opening 1/23 at 7:30 pm)
Presented at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave.
The third play in TimeLine's 2013-14 season is still to be announced.

Chicago Premiere
JUNO
book by Joseph Stein, music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein
based on the play Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey
directed by TimeLine Associate Artistic Director Nick Bowling
musical direction by Doug Peck and Elizabeth Doran
April 23 - July 27, 2014 (Press Opening 5/1 at 7:30 pm)
Presented at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave.

Juno is a musical based on the 1924 classic Irish play Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey. Originally produced on Broadway in 1959, Juno has never been produced in Chicago, until now. This epic story is a humorous and heartbreaking chronicle of the Boyle family, a destitute household struggling under the strain of the Irish Civil War in 1922. Juno Boyle, the fearless matriarch, holds her family together in the face of war, betrayal, and her husband Jack's drinking problem. When the family learns of an inheritance from a distant relative, it seems that all their problems will be solved. But as they fight to rise above Dublin's political and social unrest, they must face the tragic truth of their lives. TimeLine is pleased to introduce Chicago to this tale of survival, told through honest and powerful anthems such as "I Wish It So," "We're Alive" and "One Kind Word."

Juno will feature multiple Jeff Award-winning actress Rebecca Finnegan in the title role of Juno Boyle, marking her first appearance at TimeLine since Fiorello! in 2006 and 2008. Additional casting is to be announced.