TimeLine Theatre Company's 2009-2010 Season

Edited with updated season info on May 21, 2009:

Not long ago, I got a news release from TimeLine proudly announcing new chairs for their impending production of Alan Bennett's The History Boys. I cannot wait for these chairs. I don't even know if I'm going to bother paying any attention to the play. I just want to see those damn chairs.

I got a news release from the company yesterday afternoon announcing three of the four plays for next season. As with The History Boys, they have plucked a recent Broadway play that screamed "Appropriate!" for this company, and that's Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention.

There's also Martin Sherman's When She Danced, a portrait of famous dancer Isadora Duncan. It's a play with which I'm entirely unfamiliar, but my morbid side is wondering whether the play recreates Duncan's spectacularly absurd death. (For those who don't know, Duncan was driving a convertible wearing a really, really long scarf and the scarf got caught in the back wheels of her car, strangling her.)

To round out the three announced plays, TimeLine seems to be participating in Chicago theater's informal Athol Fugard Fest. Court Theatre is producing Sizwe Banzi is Dead, Remy Bumppo is tackling The Island, and TimeLine joins them with his most famous work (at least most famous to me anyway) 'Master Harold'...and The Boys.

And on May 21st, TimeLine announced a production of All My Sons as well. Following are details from a news release on that date:

ALL MY SONS
by Arthur Miller
directed by Kimberly Senior
August 31 – October 4, 2009 (previews 8/27 – 8/30)
Praised along with Death of a Salesman and The Crucible as Miller’s masterpieces, this 1947 Tony Award winner for Best Play returns to the Chicago stage for the first time since an acclaimed Broadway revival last season. A middle-class American family struggles to deal with the loss of one son during World War II and the desire of another son to now marry his brother’s fiancé. As family members and those closest to them try to move forward, an explosive secret from the father’s past threatens to unravel everyone’s hopes for happiness. This powerful drama is a haunting exploration of business ethics and one’s moral responsibility to the larger community.

WHEN SHE DANCED
by Martin Sherman
directed by Nick Bowling
November 7 – December 20, 2009 (previews 11/4 – 11/6)
Travel to Paris in 1923 for this gorgeous and incredibly funny portrait of legendary dancer Isadora Duncan. The so-called mother of modern dance is desperate to keep herself financially solvent and to realize her dream for retirement: the chance to inspire young dancers with her art. With a multi-lingual script of great heart and appeal, Sherman mixes the high comedy of a colorful cast of characters with a poignant view of the importance of the arts to move and inspire us. Through the eyes of those in Duncan’s life we glimpse her greatness and how she touched so many lives when she danced.

‘MASTER HAROLD’ … AND THE BOYS
by Athol Fugard
directed by Jonathan Wilson
January 23 – March 21, 2010 (previews 1/20 – 1/22)
Recipient of a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 1982, ’Master Harold’ ... and the Boys is considered Athol Fugard’s masterpiece, valued for both its universal themes of humanity and its skilled theater craft. Set in South Africa during the 1950s era of apartheid, it depicts how institutionalized racism can become absorbed by those who live under it. A white 17-year-old spends time with two African workers he has known all his life, and through their conversations on one rainy day we see what unites and divides them. The play’s beautiful and haunting dialogue and message of hope also inspire the recognition that there is much work to be done to bring people of different races together.

THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION
Chicago premiere
by Aaron Sorkin
directed by Nick Bowling
April 17 – June 13, 2010 (previews 4/14 – 4/16)
From the creator of A Few Good Men and The West Wing comes this fascinating new play direct from Broadway. It’s the story of two ambitious visionaries — Philo T. Farnsworth, an Idaho farmboy, and David Sarnoff, head of RCA — battling each other for the rights to one of the greatest inventions of all time: the television. Through corporate espionage, family tragedy, financial disaster and the thrill of discovery, these two larger-than-life men compete for fame and credit and become part of a decision that would change America, and eventually the world.