Chicago's TimeLine Theatre opens brand new space
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A design rendering of TimeLine’s new home, nearing completion at 5035 N. Broadway. Photo: Courtesy of HGA
After decades of operating out of a church in Lakeview, TimeLine Theatre is moving to a new, 33,000-square-foot space in Uptown.
Why it matters: A stalwart of Chicago's storefront theater scene, TimeLine stands apart for its mission to present works rooted in history and centered on issues with contemporary social and political resonance.
Driving the news: The company's new home, at 5035 N. Broadway, opens to the public this week for a sneak peek ahead of its new season in May.
State of play: TimeLine purchased a former moving company warehouse in 2018 and launched a multi-million dollar campaign to refurbish it.
- The company received $12.9 million in state and city support as part of a broader fundraising effort totaling more than $42 million.
- In addition to a 250-seat black box theater, the spaces include a bar, café, patio, and public event space.
What to expect: Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" opens the theater's 30th-anniversary season — and its first in the new space — on May 6.
Other productions include:
- The world premiere of "The Birth of the Pill," based on Chicago author Jonathan Eig's feminist, scientific and social history of the oral contraceptive.
- "The Far Country" by Lloyd Suh, following a family's journey from China to San Francisco during the Chinese Exclusion Act, making its Chicago premiere at TimeLine.
Flashback: Six friends from DePaul's theater school founded TimeLine Theatre Company in 1997.
- The group staged its first production a year later at Second Unitarian Church in Lakeview East before moving to its longtime home at Baird Hall Theatre in the Wellington United Church of Christ.
What's next: Weekend celebrations include an open house for Uptown neighbors on Friday from 4-8pm and one for the general public on Saturday from noon-5pm, with a chance to tour the new theater.