TimeLine Theatre Company is thrilled to announce its 2026–27 Inaugural Season in the company’s first permanent home at 5035 N. Broadway in Uptown. This long‑awaited milestone launches a bold new era for TimeLine, inviting audiences to experience the company’s work in a dynamic, state‑of‑the‑art facility designed to enhance artistic possibilities and deepen community engagement for years to come.
Coinciding with the company’s 30th Anniversary, this inaugural season in Uptown showcases four extraordinary productions that span continents, generations, and pivotal historical moments. Together, they invite audiences not only to engage with TimeLine’s signature mission—presenting plays that explore today’s social and political issues through the lens of the past—but to be among the very first to experience that mission come to life in TimeLine’s new home and see it for yourself.
Pictured (from left): TimeLine 2026-27 season artists include Jessica Huang, Jonathan Eig, Sandra Marquez, Laura Wade, Mechelle Moe, Lloyd Suh, Helen Young, Stephen Sondheim, and Nick Bowling.
TimeLine’s 2026–27 Subscription Season includes:
- The world premiere of The Birth of the Pill by Jessica Huang, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago author Jonathan Eig, directed by Sandra Marquez—a bold and eye‑opening story about the controversial creation that reshaped women’s lives.
- The Chicago premiere of the Olivier Award-winning Home, I’m Darling by Laura Wade, directed by TimeLine Company Member Mechelle Moe—a sharp, dark comedy examining nostalgia, marriage, and the seductive fantasy of a “simpler” past.
- The Chicago premiere of The Far Country by Lloyd Suh, directed by TimeLine Company Member Helen Young—a sweeping immigration epic and 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist exploring identity, sacrifice, and generational resilience in the shadow of exclusionary U.S. policy.
- Merrily We Roll Along, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by George Furth, based on the original play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, directed by TimeLine Associate Artistic Director Nick Bowling—a Tony Award–winning musical unfolding in reverse, tracing the shifting relationships and ambitions of three friends over two decades.
“I am thrilled beyond words to announce the first full season in our new home in Uptown,” said Artistic Director PJ Powers. “The fulfillment of a long-held dream, this dynamic new venue will elevate the work on stage, while also offering audiences the opportunity to engage further in our exhibit galleries and bar/café, to foster conversation, and to dig deeper into the timely issues explored in each of these plays.”
Powers continued: “This collection of plays and a musical, selected by TimeLine’s Company Members, exemplifies the enhanced artistic possibilities that our new home provides, allowing us to bring to life the remarkable musical Merrily We Roll Along, alongside three incredible new plays that probe history while provoking discussion, laughter, compassion, and curiosity. Welcoming award-winning, renowned artists, this inaugural season will further what’s distinguished TimeLine for the past 30 years, while ushering in a new era of theatre-making, community engagement, and conversations about the connections between past, present and future. We can’t wait to share these productions and start making new history together in Uptown.”
See it for yourself … from the best seats in the house! Save up to 25% off regular ticket prices and enjoy ultimate flexibility, priority access, and preferred reserved seating with a TimeLine FlexPass. Four options, priced from $189 to $389, are now on sale. MyLine FlexPasses (exclusively for patrons age 18-35) are also available for $85 (after enrolling in our free MyLine program). For more information and to purchase, call (773) 281-8463 x6 or visit timelinetheatre.com.
ABOUT TIMELINE THEATRE’S 2026–27 SUBSCRIPTION SEASON:
World Premiere
THE BIRTH OF THE PILL
by Jessica Huang
based on the book by Jonathan Eig
directed by Sandra Marquez
September – October 2026
The origin story of the birth control pill and an eye-opening world premiere about science, power, and the women who paid the price for progress.
In the mid‑20th century, a radical dream begins to take shape: a simple pill that would give women full control over their reproductive futures. Championing this groundbreaking idea are feminist activist Margaret Sanger, scientist Gregory Pincus, gynecologist John Rock, and philanthropist Katharine McCormick—visionaries working under intense secrecy amid legal, scientific, and religious roadblocks. Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico, clinical trials place the burden of experimentation on women like Ramona Delgado, whose lives and bodies become entangled in the quest for scientific advancement.
Commissioned and developed by TimeLine and based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Eig (King: A Life), this world premiere brings an untold chapter of global history to the stage, probing urgent questions about consent, sacrifice, and the complicated cost of social change.
The commission and development of The Birth of the Pill was supported in part by the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation.
Chicago Premiere
HOME, I’M DARLING
by Laura Wade
directed by Mechelle Moe
November – December 2026
A darkly funny exploration of marriage, nostalgia, and the allure—and delusion—of the “perfect” past.
Judy and Johnny are living their dream: the idealized 1950s suburban life. As Judy doubles down on her fully immersive retro domestic fantasy, the seams of their hyper-curated life begin to fray. What begins as a lifestyle choice becomes a revealing—and unsettling—interrogation of gender roles, identity, and what it costs to perform happiness.
A smash hit on the West End and winner of the 2019 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, Home, I’m Darling is a razor‑sharp satire that feels both timely and timeless.
Chicago Premiere
THE FAR COUNTRY
by Lloyd Suh
directed by Helen Young
February – March 2027
A sweeping, urgent, and deeply human epic about immigration, identity, and carving out a future in America.
In the wake of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Moon Gyet leaves his village in Taishan, China and travels to America, hoping to build a better life for his family. At San Francisco’s Angel Island immigration station, he enters a labyrinth of interrogation—where every answer, every detail, and every story could mean the difference between entry and deportation.
A 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Far Country is a strikingly intimate and expansive examination of survival, displacement, and the fragile lineage of memory passed from one generation to the next.
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
book by George Furth
based on the original play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
directed by Nick Bowling
April – May 2027
A bittersweet, Tony Award–winning musical about friendship, ambition, and the choices that shape a life—told entirely in reverse.
Spanning 20 years and moving backward through time, Merrily We Roll Along traces the unraveling of a once inseparable trio of friends and creative collaborators: composer Franklin Shepard, writer Charley Kringas, and novelist Mary Flynn. Beginning at the height of Franklin’s fame—wealthy, celebrated, and isolated—this innovative musical journeys back to the hopeful early days of their artistic dreams.
Featuring some of Stephen Sondheim’s most iconic songs, this cult favorite serves as a resonant capstone to TimeLine’s 30th Anniversary, echoing the company’s own origins as a group of passionate young theatre-makers asking: How did we get to be here?
Merrily We Roll Along received the 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. It first premiered on Broadway in 1981. Featuring orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, it was originally directed on Broadway by Harold Prince and originally produced on Broadway by Lord Grade, Martin Starger, Robert Fryer, and Harold Prince in association with Ruth Mitchell and Howard Haines.
IT’S TIME: ABOUT TIMELINE’S NEW HOME
For nearly 30 years, TimeLine Theatre Company has been a vital force in Chicago’s arts scene, producing socially and politically relevant work inspired by history that engages audiences across the region. Building on this legacy, TimeLine has reimagined a former warehouse, converting it into a vibrant cultural destination that honors Uptown’s rich theatrical heritage while meeting modern performance needs.
TimeLine will celebrate the Grand Opening of its new home at 5035 N. Broadway with its inaugural production, An Enemy of the People, May 6 – June 7, 2026. The new TimeLine Theatre more than doubles the company’s previous seating capacity, fosters community engagement, and creates spaces for both performances and public enjoyment.
Project highlights include:
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Total facility spanning 33,600 square feet, combining new construction and adaptive reuse
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21,000 square feet of new construction along North Broadway
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12,600 square feet of adaptive reuse of a 1920s Reebie Bros. warehouse for production support and offices
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Flexible 250-seat black box theater with seven stage configurations and advanced acoustic and staging systems
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Street-level bar and café with patio, exhibit galleries, and education/community room
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Publicly visible fourth-floor rehearsal and event space
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Back-of-house spaces organized around a central Green Room intended as a living room for staff, artists, and collaborators
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Located steps away from the newly renovated Argyle CTA Red Line station
- Adjacent space available for future expansion
Since launching It’s Time: The Campaign for TimeLine’s New Home, TimeLine has successfully raised more than $42.9 million toward the approximately $46 million project cost, including $12.9 million in public support ($2.9 million from the State of Illinois, $10 million from the City of Chicago), and funds from more than 200 generous individual donors.
ABOUT TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY
TimeLine Theatre Company, recipient of the 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, was founded in 1997 with a mission to present stories inspired by history that connect to today’s social and political issues. Now celebrating its 29th Anniversary Season, TimeLine has presented 97 productions, including 16 world premieres and 44 Chicago premieres, and launched the Living History Education Program, which brings the company's mission to life for students in Chicago Public Schools. Recipient of the Alford-Axelson Award for Nonprofit Managerial Excellence and the Richard Goodman Strategic Planning Award from the Association for Strategic Planning, TimeLine has received 62 Jeff Awards, including an award for Outstanding Production 11 times.
TimeLine is led by Artistic Director PJ Powers, Executive Director Mica Cole, and Board President Thaddeus J. Malik. TimeLine Company members are Will Allan, Nick Bowling, Janet Ulrich Brooks, Behzad Dabu, Charles Andrew Gardner, Lara Goetsch, Juliet Hart, Anish Jethmalani, Mildred Marie Langford, Mechelle Moe, David Parkes, Ron OJ Parson, PJ Powers, Maren Robinson, and Helen Young.
Major corporate, government and foundation donors providing season support via TimeLine’s Annual Fund include Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, Bayless Family Foundation, Bulley & Andrews LLC, Crown Family Philanthropies, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation, Laughing Acres Family Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and Walder Foundation. TimeLine also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
For more information, visit timelinetheatre.com, or Facebook or Instagram (@TimeLineTheatre on both platforms).
BIOGRAPHIES (in alphabetical order)
Nick Bowling (Director, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG) was the founding Artistic Director and is now Associate Artistic Director of TimeLine Theatre, where he has directed more than 30 productions. Bowling is the recipient of eight Jeff Awards for Outstanding Direction, for The Normal Heart, The History Boys, Fiorello!, This Happy Breed, and The Crucible (TimeLine); Ragtime (Marriott); Sondheim On Sondheim (Porchlight); and Another Part of the Forest (Eclipse Theatre). Other directing credits at TimeLine include the Chicago premieres of Stefano Massini and Ben Power’s The Lehman Trilogy (with Vanessa Stalling) and J.T. Rogers’ Oslo at Broadway In Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse; Falsettos; Campaigns, Inc.; Master Class; The Audience; A Disappearing Number; The Last Wife; and Blood and Gifts, among many others. Other Chicago credits include The Sound of Music, Oliver!, and The Bridges of Madison County (Marriott); A Christmas Story (Paramount); Guys and Dolls and Cabaret (Northwestern University); A Catered Affair (Porchlight); Bach at Leipzig (Writers); and Time of the Cuckoo and Frozen Assets (Shattered Globe).
Jonathan Eig (Author, THE BIRTH OF THE PILL) is the author of the book The Birth of the Pill, which was published in 2014 by W. W. Norton. Eig’s biography of Martin Luther King, King: A Life, won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for biography. His biography of Muhammad Ali, Ali: A Life, won the PEN/ESPN Award and inspired a documentary by Ken Burns, for which Eig served as consulting producer. Other literary works include Get Capone, Opening Day, and The Luckiest Man. He and his wife, Jennifer Tescher, are longtime subscribers to TimeLine Theatre Company. This is Eig’s first involvement in theatre since he played trumpet in the pit orchestra for Brigadoon at Spring Valley High School.
George Furth (Book, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, 1932-2008) was born in Chicago, graduated from Northwestern University, and did postgraduate work at Columbia University. He worked extensively as an actor, appearing in many feature films, including The Best Man, Oh God!, Doctor Detroit, Young Doctors In Love, The Man With Two Brains, Cannonball Run, Hooper, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Blazing Saddles, Shampoo, Sleeper, The New Interns and Myra Breckinridge; he also acted in many major television shows. In addition to Merrily We Roll Along, he wrote the Broadway shows Company, The Act, Twigs, The Supporting Cast, Precious Sons and Getting Away with Murder.
Moss Hart (Original Play, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, 1904-1961) began his career as a playwright, director, and producer in 1930 when, with George S. Kaufman, he wrote Once in a Lifetime. Subsequent Kaufman and Hart successes include Merrily We Roll Along, You Can't Take It with You (1937 Pulitzer Prize in Drama), and The Man Who Came to Dinner, among others. In collaboration with Irving Berlin, he wrote Face the Music and As Thousands Cheer. In solo efforts, Hart scored personal triumphs with Jubilee, The Great Waltz, Light Up the Sky, and Lady in the Dark, which he also directed. His directorial credits include My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Winged Victory, which he also wrote. Among his screenplay credits are A Star Is Born (for Judy Garland), Gentleman's Agreement, and Hans Christian Anderson (for Danny Kaye). His autobiography, Act One, topped the best-seller list for 40 weeks.
Jessica Huang (Playwright, THE BIRTH OF THE PILL) is a playwright and librettist whose award-winning work includes Mother of Exiles (Berkeley Rep World Premiere, Venturous Award, Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award), The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (Bernice Stavis Award), Blended 和 (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters (with music by Jacinth Greywoode), and 10 Things I Hate About You: The Musical (with Lena Dunham, score by Carly Rae Jepsen and Ethan Gruska). Her popular audioplay Song of the Northwoods is available on Audible. Huang has commissions with Indiana Repertory Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club. She is the Indiana Repertory Theatre James Still Playwright in Residence, a Venturous Playwright Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, Hermitage Fellow, and four-time Playwrights' Center fellow. She has been a member of Ars Nova Play Group, Civilians R&D Group and Page 73's Interstate 73. She is a graduate of the Playwrights Program at Juilliard. Visit jessica-huang.com.
George S. Kaufman (Original Play, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, 1889-1961) was a playwright, director, producer, and drama critic most noted for his many collaborations with other writers. He co-authored Merton of the Movies and Beggar on Horseback with Marc Connelly; June Moon with Ring Lardner; The Royal Family, Dinner at Eight, and Stage Door with Edna Ferber; a stage adaptation of Marquand's novel The Late George Apley with John P. Marquand; and The Solid Gold Cadillac with Howard Teichmann. Possibly his most successful collaboration in the non-musical theatre was with Moss Hart, with whom he wrote several popular plays, including Once in a Lifetime, You Can’t Take it with You (1937 Pulitzer Prize in Drama), and The Man Who Came to Dinner; and The Butter and the Egg Man alone. Kaufman also collaborated on several musicals, including The Cocoanuts, written with Irving Berlin for the Marx Brothers; Animal Crackers, also written for the Marx Brothers with Morrie Ryskind, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby; and Of Thee I Sing (1932 Pulitzer Prize for Drama—the first musical to win that award) and Let Em Eat Cake, with Ryskind and George Gershwin. The musical Strike Up the Band was based on the book he wrote alone.
Sandra Marquez (Director, THE BIRTH OF THE PILL) is an Associate Professor of Acting and Directing at Northwestern University, and an actor and director in Chicago. She is an ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theater Company and Teatro Vista Productions. Stage credits include POTUS (actor), A Doll’s House, Part 2 (actor), I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (director), and La Ruta (director) at Steppenwolf; The Iphigenia Cycle (actor) at Court Theatre; The Dream King (director), Wolf at the End of the Block (actor), and A View from the Bridge (actor) at Teatro Vista. Film and television credits include Light Years, Chicago Justice, and Chicago Med. She is a founding faculty member of Northwestern’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Acting Program and serves as its Director of Graduate Studies.
Mechelle Moe (Director, HOME I’M DARLING) is a Company Member at TimeLine, where her directing credits include The Lifespan of a Fact, Rutherford and Son, Cardboard Piano and In the Next Room, or the vibrator play. She also has appeared on stage in many TimeLine productions, including Black Sunday, Boy, The Apple Family Plays, My Kind of Town, The Front Page, The Children’s Hour, Not Enough Air, and Paradise Lost. Other directing credits include Milk Like Sugar, The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love Suicide, and columbinus. Moe is a Jeff Award recipient for Actress in Principal Role for her performance in Machinal (The Hypocrites) and received a Jeff Award nomination for Actress in Principal Role for Stage Door (Griffin). She graduated with honors from the University of Illinois Chicago with both a bachelor’s degree in Theater as well as Anthropology.
Stephen Sondheim (Music and Lyrics, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, 1930-2021) wrote the music and lyrics for Saturday Night, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, The Frogs, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into The Woods, Assassins, Passion, Road Show, and Here We Are, as well as the lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy, and Do I Hear A Waltz?, and additional lyrics for Candide. Side By Side By Sondheim, Marry Me A Little, You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow, Putting It Together, Moving On, Sondheim On Sondheim, and Old Friends are anthologies of his work as composer and lyricist. For films, he composed the scores of Stavisky, co-composed the score for Reds, and wrote songs for Dick Tracy. He wrote songs for the television production Evening Primrose, co-authored the film The Last of Sheila and the play Getting Away with Murder, and provided incidental music for the plays The Girls of Summer, Invitation To A March, Twigs, and The Enclave. Sondheim won the Tony Award for Best Score for Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and Passion, all of which also won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, as did Pacific Overtures and Sunday in the Park with George, the latter also receiving the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Lloyd Suh (Playwright, THE FAR COUNTRY) is a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Far Country. In addition, Lloyd was the recipient of the 2022 Harold and Mimi Steinberg Award, the 2020 Horton Foote Prize and the 2019 Herb Alpert Award for Theater. His play The Chinese Lady premiered as a co-production by Barrington Stage Company and Ma-Yi Theater Company and was hailed as a New York Times Critics’ Pick during its New York run. It returned to NYC in a co-production between the Public Theatre and Ma-Yi in 2022. In the 2022-23 season, The Far Country premiered at the Atlantic Theatre and was also a New York Times Critics’ Choice, and The Heart Sellers premiered at Milwaukee Repertory to rave reviews. His other plays include Charles Francis Chan Jr’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery produced by NAATCO; The Wong Kids in The Secret of the Space Chupacabra GO! produced by the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis and Ma-Yi Theatre; and Bina’s Six Apples produced by CTC and Alliance Theatre. Suh is currently under commission at The Huntington, Barrington Stage, and The Perelman Arts Center.
Laura Wade (Playwright, HOME, I'M DARLING) is an Olivier Award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her National Theatre play Home, I’m Darling premiered at Theatr Clwyd in 2018 before playing at the National and in the West End, going on to win the award for Best New Comedy at the 2019 Olivier Awards. In 2018, Wade wrote a bold theatrical adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel The Watsons for Chichester Festival Theatre, which subsequently played in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Previous plays include an adaptation of Sarah Waters’s Tipping the Velvet (Lyric Hammersmith and Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh); Posh (Royal Court Theatre, transferring into the West End at the Duke of York’s Theatre); Alice, a modern adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); and Kreutzer vs. Kreutzer, a play for voices originally performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra with music by Beethoven and Janacek (national tour of Australia, including the Sydney Opera House). Earlier plays include Colder Than Here, Other Hands (Soho Theatre), and Breathing Corpses, for which Wade won the prestigious George Devine Award (Royal Court Theatre). Wade’s screenplay The Riot Club, an adaptation of her 2010 stage play Posh, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2014, directed by Lone Scherfig and starring Max Irons, Sam Claflin,and Douglas Booth. Wade is an Executive Producer and lead writer for Rivals on Disney+, adapted from the novel by Jilly Cooper.
Helen Young (Director, THE FAR COUNTRY) recently joined TimeLine as a Company Member. Her TimeLine directing credits include Black Sunday, What the Constitution Means to Me, and The Chinese Lady, the virtual program Setting the Stage: The Chinese Lady; and TimePieces readings of The Chinese Lady and The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin. She also previously served as Associate Director of The Audience and Assistant Dramaturg of Chimerica. Other directing credits include The Heart Sellers (Northlight), The Great Leap (Farmers Alley), Wild Boar and lead director for New China Festival (Silk Road Rising), American Hwangap and Tiny Dynamite (A-Squared/Halcyon), and Tea (Prologue). Additional directing credits include work with Rivendell, Remy Bumppo, Lifeline, Strawdog, Artistic Home, Token, DePaul University, University of Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, and Goodman.