WEEKEND

by Gore Vidal
directed by Damon Kiely

AUGUST 23 - OCTOBER 12, 2008
previews 8/20 - 8/22

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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,” said TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers. “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!”

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 2001. 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.