'Weekend' by Gore Vidal at Timeline Theatre

     
TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS THE CHICAGO PREMIERE 
OF WEEKEND BY GORE VIDAL, NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 12

  
TimeLine Theatre Company began its 2008-2009 season with the Chicago premiere of  Weekend by Gore Vidal. The play, directed by Damon Kiely, runs August 23 through October 12, 2008 (previews August 20 through August 22) at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago. Tickets are now available at timelinetheatre.com or call 773.281.TIME (8463).
 
Written and set during the 1968 presidential campaign, Weekend is a witty comedy about a Republican Senator who is about to announce his candidacy for his party's nomination when his son arrives with shocking - and potentially politically damaging - news. Prejudice, blackmail, self- righteousness and opportunism become a potent mix as the candidate and his handlers conspire with well-calculated maneuvers to save the day. 

 

 
"Weekend premiered on Broadway in the heat of the 1968 presidential campaign," TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers said. "It has rarely, if ever, been produced since, and TimeLine is proud to unearth this gem from the great writer Gore Vidal. Now seems like an ideal time to introduce this play to a new generation. In many ways it feels like it was written last week - Vidal's biting political humor is remarkably prescient and should provoke a lot of discussion this fall as we're embroiled in a national election!" 

 

 
The cast features TimeLine Company Member Janet Ulrich Brooks (Mrs. Andrews), Mica Cole (Louise Hampton), Ian Paul Custer (Norris Blotner), TimeLine Associate Artist Terry Hamilton  (Senator MacGruder), TimeLine Company Member Juliet Hart (Miss Wilson), Joslyn Jones (Mrs. Hampton), Thomas Edson McElroy (Senator Andrews), Sean Nix (Roger), Joe Sherman (Beany MacGruder), Penny Slusher (Estelle MacGruder) and André Teamer (Dr. Hampton).
 
Performance Schedule/Events
Preview performances are Wednesday, August 20 through Friday, August 22 at 8 p.m. Weekend opens on Saturday, August 23 at 7 p.m. and then runs Wednesdays (9/24, 10/1 & 10/8 only) and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Sunday, October 12, 2008. Weekend will run approximately 2 hours, including one intermission. 
 
POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS: Free post-show discussions led by a TimeLine Company Member and featuring the production dramaturg and members of the cast on Thursdays, August 28, September 4 and 11; Sundays, September 14 and 21; and Wednesday, September 24.
 
SUNDAY SCHOLARS SERIES: A free hour-long post-show panel discussion with experts on the themes and issues of the play on Sunday, September 7, moderated by TimeLine Board Member Peter Kuntz.
 
 
DISCUSSION WITH TIMELINE COMPANY MEMBERS: Free post-show discussion with TimeLine Company members on Sunday, September 28.
 
 
Buying Tickets
Tickets are $25 (Wednesday - Friday) or $35 (Saturday & Sunday). Preview tickets are $15. Student discount is $10 off the regular ticket price with valid ID. Group rates for groups of 10 or more are available. Advance purchase is recommended as performances may sell out. To purchase tickets or for more information, call 773.281.TIME (8463) or visit timelinetheatre.com.
 
Audience Resources
Dramaturgical lobby displays, a production Study Guide and other information will be made available at timelinetheatre.com. A streaming video preview will be available at StageChannel.com.
 
Sponsors
TimeLine's 2008-09 season is sponsored in part by the McCormick Foundation.
 
Location/Transportation/Parking/Accessibility
TimeLine Theatre is located at 615 W. Wellington Ave., inside the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ building, near the corner of Wellington and Broadway in Chicago's Lakeview East neighborhood. CTA El stops at Diversey (Brown/Purple lines) and Belmont (Red/Brown/Purple lines) are nearby. CTA busses #36-Broadway, #76-Diversey, #77-Belmont, #22-Clark and #8-Halsted stop nearby. There is limited street parking, but several paid parking facilities are located nearby. Visit timelinetheatre.com for complete directions and parking information. There are two flights of stairs totaling 18 steps between the street and the theater space, with no elevator.
 
Production Staff
The production staff for Weekend includes Keith Pitts (Scenic Design), Rachel Laritz (Costume Design), Charles Cooper (Lighting Design), Joshua Horvath (Sound Design), Lara Musard (Properties Design), Becky Perlman (Dramaturg), Ana Espinosa (Stage Manager), Seth Vermilyea (Production Manager), Keira Fromm (Assistant Director), Richie Fine (Assistant Costume Designer), Robert Coleman (Graphic Designer), James Keister (Lobby Display Designer), Lara Goetsch (Director of Marketing and Communications), PJ Powers (Artistic Director) and Elizabeth K. Auman (Managing Director).
 
Biographies
Gore Vidal (Playwright), called "America's Foremost Man of Letters" by the American Academy of Achievement, is a novelist, essayist, playwright and social critic renowned for his urbane wit, supreme self-confidence, astute commentary about politics and literature and extraordinary body of work spanning six decades. He has written seven novels about American history, including Burr, Washington, D.C., 1876, Lincoln and The Golden Age, and several satirical novels lauded for their progressive themes, including Myra Breckinridge, Myron, Duluth and The Smithsonian Institution. Vidal is also the author of dozens of television plays and film scripts, including Suddenly Last Summer, The Catered Affair and Ben Hur, as well as three mystery novels written under the pseudonym Edgar Box. In addition, he has written hundreds of essays, gathered in several best- selling volumes published between 1962 and 2008. He received the National Book Award in 1993 for United States: Essays, 1952-1992, and has published two memoirs, Palimpsest (1995) and Point to Point Navigation (2006). Vidal's other plays include Visit to a Small Planet, The Best Man, Romulus and An Evening with Richard Nixon. 
 
Damon Kiely (Director) served as the Artistic Director of American Theater Company from 2002 to 2007. Directing credits at American Theater Company include Oklahoma! (nominated for 6 Joseph Jefferson Awards including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Orpheus Descending, Kid-Simple, A View from the Bridge, Strictly Dishonorable and The Hairy Ape. Currently he is an assistant professor of directing and acting at The Theatre School at DePaul University. Prior to moving back to Chicago he produced, directed, and taught in New York City. In New York he directed for The Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, the Ontological Theater, Adobe Theater Company, PS122, Ensemble Studio Theater, and New Dramatists. Kiely also served as the artistic director for Real Time Theater, and was a producing director at the
Ontological-Hysteric Theater, as well as the associate artistic director for the Children's Theater of Maine. He is a winner of the 2000-02 NEA/TCG Career Directing Program, the 2000 Drama League Fall Directing Program, and the 1997 Princess Grace Award. He lives in Edgewater with his wife and two children.
 
About TimeLine Theatre Company
TimeLine was founded in April 1997 by six graduates of The Theatre School at DePaul University. The company's mission is to present stories inspired by history that connect with today's social and political issues. TimeLine's first 11 seasons featured 35 productions, including five world premieres and eight Chicago premieres. Praised as "a must-see company" (Chicago Sun-Times) and a "fast- rising Chicago company" (The New York Times) and recipient of the 2006 Alford-Axelson Award for Nonprofit Managerial Excellence, TimeLine has received 37 Non-Equity Jeff Awards, including an award for Outstanding Production six of the past eight seasons: Not About Nightingales (2001); The Crucible (2002), Awake and Sing! (2003), Hannah and Martin (2004), This Happy Breed
(2005) and Fiorello! (2007). TimeLine's 2008-09 season is presented under contract with Actors Equity Association.
 
The rest of TimeLine's 2008-09 season will include:
  
- The Chicago premiere of A HOUSE WITH NO WALLS, by Thomas Gibbons, directed by
Louis Contey, November 1 - December 31, 2008 (previews 10/29 - 10/31) 
- The world premiere of NOT ENOUGH AIR, by Masha Obolensky, directed by Nick
Bowling, January 24 - March 22, 2009 (previews 1/21 - 1/23)
- The Chicago premiere of THE HISTORY BOYS, by Alan Bennett, directed by Nick
Bowling, April 25 - June 21, 2009 (previews 4/22 - 4/24)
 
Company members are Nick Bowling, Janet Ulrich Brooks, Lara Goetsch, Juliet Hart, David Parkes, Maureen Powers, PJ Powers and Benjamin Thiem. TimeLine is a member of the League of Chicago Theatres, Theatre Communications Group and the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce.

 

On the cover:  The well-laid political plans of Senator Charles MacGruder (Terry Hamilton, left) and his wife Estelle (Penny Slusher, right) are derailed with the arrival home of their son Beany (Joe Sherman, center) in
TimeLine Theatre's Chicago premiere of Gore Vidal's 1968 political comedy WEEKEND, directed by Damon Kiely

Photos by Lara Goetsch