TimeLine’s Theatre Company’s landmark 29th season is now fully in place, with the announcement today that its Chicago premiere of Eureka Day, Jonathan Spector’s sharply funny new satire of progressivism, parenting, and public health—honored on Sunday with the 2025 Tony Award® for Best Revival of a Play—will be presented at Broadway In Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.
Lili-Anne Brown directs TimeLine’s new production of Spector’s Broadway hit, hailed by The New York Times as “the perfect play for our age of disagreement. Deadline called it a “shiny, insightful and damn funny little gem.”
TimeLine 2025-26 season artists Sandra Delgado, Kimberly Senior, Jonathan Spector, Lili-Anne Brown, Amy Herzog, and Ron OJ Parson.
Now with a confirmed venue as well as announced dates for two of its three 2025-26 productions, TimeLine Theatre is offering a variety of FlexPass subscriptions that bundle discounted tickets to Eureka Day, set to run January 13 – February 22, 2026, with two more must-see TimeLine productions:
- TimeLine’s 29th season will open October 8 – November 9, 2025 with the world premiere of Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars by Sandra Delgado, one of Chicago’s most celebrated “triple-threat” artists, directed by TimeLine Associate Artist Kimberly Senior, hosted by Lookingglass Theatre Company in the historic Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson Street at Michigan Avenue. Delgado’s captivating new drama mixes family dynamics with otherworldly wonder to shine a light on American identity.
- TimeLine’s season will culminate in May 2026 with the long-awaited inaugural production in its new theatre currently under construction at 5035 N. Broadway in Uptown: the Chicago premiere of An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, a new version by Amy Herzog, directed by TimeLine Company Member Ron OJ Parson. This Tony Award®-nominated take on Ibsen’s historic masterwork—the talk of Broadway last season—brings a 144-year-old literary classic forward to today, speaking directly to our times about what it means when citizens stand up to power. Entertainment Weekly called Herzog’s bristling new adaptation of An Enemy of the People “eerily prescient.” Deadline called it “smart, sharp and relevant.”
“For 28 years, TimeLine’s mission has brought to life stories that examine our past, grapple with our present, and strive to improve our collective future,” said TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers. “As we embark on a milestone year—opening our long-awaited new home in Uptown—our 29th season deepens our commitment to that mission, at a moment when examining an unvarnished history feels essential.”
Powers continued: “This collection of stories furthers our belief in the importance of uplifting everyone’s history, while creating a space for contemplation and respectful discourse about complex issues. Individually and collectively, these plays—led by three of Chicago’s most accomplished directors— showcase the power of three playwrights working at the top of their craft. These are probing stories about how communities engage with one another, navigating thorny issues amidst periods of historic significance. With this collection of new, provocative, and timely plays, we are proud to embark on an exciting next chapter for TimeLine.”
“This season is a striking reflection of TimeLine’s enduring mission and relevance, and we’re opening a new theatre that is an extension and expansion of our goal to foster connection, conversation, and reflection about the world we live in,” said TimeLine Executive Director Mica Cole.
"We're thrilled to welcome TimeLine Theatre to Uptown,” said Chicago 48th Ward Alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth. “Uptown has long been known for its world-class entertainment venues and shows, and TimeLine Theatre will be a great addition to this tradition.”
“Uptown has a long history as an entertainment destination and we are thrilled to add TimeLine Theatre to the growing list of venues calling Uptown home,” added Sarah Wilson, Executive Director, Uptown United & Uptown Chamber of Commerce. “They are connecting two of Uptown’s historic districts: the entertainment district with the Asia on Argyle district. We are excited to work with TimeLine to connect their momentum with businesses and neighbors in the community.”
Save as much as 25% off regular ticket prices, enjoy impressive flexibility, and meet the moment of TimeLine’s 2025-26 season with a TimeLine FlexPass. Four options, priced from $134 to $278, are now on sale. For more information and to purchase, call (773) 281-8463 x6 or visit timelinetheatre.com.
Remember The Past. Embrace the Future. Meet the Moment.
Screen TimeLine Theatre's 2025-26 season sizzle video.
THE 2025-26 TIMELINE THEATRE SUBSCRIPTION SEASON IS:
World Premiere
HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS
by Sandra Delgado
directed by TimeLine Associate Artist Kimberly Senior
October 8 – November 9, 2025
hosted by Lookingglass Theatre Company
in the historic Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave., Chicago
Like millions of Americans, Clara is doing her best to hold everything together—working hard, raising her tween daughter Stella, caring for an aging father, and supporting her under-employed ex-husband. But when she applies for U.S. citizenship ahead of a mother-daughter trip to Paris, her application is unexpectedly flagged, exposing minor infractions in her past and threatening the only home she’s ever known. Blending grounded family drama with otherworldly wonder, this Chicago-set world premiere is a moving and provocative exploration of our country’s most fundamental values.
Originally commissioned by the Chicago Park District’s Theatre on the Lake In the Works project, in partnership with The Chicago Dramatists, previous development of Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars included stagings as part of Goodman Theatre’s New Stages Festival in 2018 and Northeastern Illinois University’s thINKtank Series, co-produced in partnership with Teatro Vista, in 2024.
Chicago Premiere
EUREKA DAY
by Jonathan Spector
directed by Lili-Anne Brown
January 13 – February 22, 2026
presented at Broadway In Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse
at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St, Chicago
At Berkeley, California’s ultra-progressive Eureka Day School, every decision is made by consensus. But when a mumps outbreak hits, the school's carefully cultivated culture of inclusiveness spirals into chaos. As parents and board members clash over vaccines, personal freedoms, and viral misinformation, a community built on open-minded ideals implodes. TimeLine’s Chicago premiere of Spector’s Tony Award®-winning play tackles one of the defining questions of our time: how do you build consensus when no one can agree on the truth?
Acclaimed as “a powder keg of debate, liberal niceties, and hidden agendas” by The Daily Beast, Eureka Day is that rare combination—a “gaspingly funny” (New York Magazine) satire that captures the absurdity of modern discourse in ways that are intelligent, insightful, and real.
Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2024 Broadway production of Eureka Day was nominated for two Tony Awards®, winning for Best Revival of a Play, and also earned the Drama League Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play. The play had its world premiere at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, Calif., in 2018, premiered Off-Broadway in 2019, and at the Old Vic in London in 2022.
Eureka Day marks the fourth time Broadway In Chicago and TimeLine have partnered to present TimeLine productions at the 550-seat Broadway Playhouse. Previous collaborations, all highly successful both critically and at the box office, started with the Chicago Commercial Collective’s remount of TimeLine’s smash hit world premiere To Master the Art about Julia Child in 2013, followed by TimeLine’s Chicago premiere of J.T. Roger’s international political thriller Oslo in 2019, and TimeLine’s epic Chicago premiere of The Lehman Trilogy in 2023.
Chicago Premiere
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
by Henrik Ibsen
a new version by Amy Herzog
directed by TimeLine Company Member Ron OJ Parson
May – June 2026
presented at TimeLine Theatre’s new home, 5035 N. Broadway, Chicago
When a respected doctor in small-town Norway makes a deadly discovery that threatens the health of the entire village, he raises the alarm. But as local leaders—including his own brother, the mayor—scramble to protect their own interests, the truth becomes inconvenient, and the doctor finds himself the target of the very community he's trying to protect. Winner of the 2024 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation, this vibrant new version of Ibsen’s thunderous masterwork asks: what happens when doing the right thing means losing everything?
Hailed by The New York Times as “crackling and persuasive … a bitter satire of local politics that soon reveals itself as a slow-boil tragedy of human complacency,” Amy Herzog’s new Tony Award-nominated version of An Enemy of the People is “brilliant” (The Daily Beast) and “a rousing adaptation of a story that carries a discomforting contemporary relevance” (The Guardian).
An Enemy of the People had its premiere on Broadway at Circle in the Square Theatre in March 2024, in a star-studded and headline-grabbing production directed by Sam Gold and featuring Jeremy Strong (Succession) and Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), among others.
ABOUT TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY
TimeLine Theatre Company, recipient of the prestigious 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, was founded in April 1997 with a mission to present stories inspired by history that connect with today's social and political issues. Currently celebrating its 28th season, TimeLine has presented 92 productions, including 14 world premieres and 42 Chicago premieres, and launched the Living History Education Program and TimeLine South summer arts program, which bring the company's mission to life for students in Chicago Public Schools and beyond. 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.
The company departed its longtime home on Wellington Avenue in August 2024 and moved into new administrative offices at 5539 N. Broadway, Ste. B, a few blocks north of the site of its future new home, located at 5035 N. Broadway in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Construction is ongoing on that site, where plans feature an intimate black box theater seating up to 250 audience members, expanded area for the immersive lobby experiences that are a TimeLine hallmark, new opportunities for education and engagement, room to allow audience members to arrive early and stay late for theatergoing experiences that extend far beyond the stage, and more.
TimeLine is led by Artistic Director PJ Powers, Executive Director Mica Cole, and Board President Thaddeus J. Malik. TimeLine Company members are Tyla Abercrumbie, 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, Carol Oppenheim and Jerome Lamet Charitable Fund, Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation. TimeLine also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
For more information, visit timelinetheatre.com or Facebook or Instagram (@TimeLineTheatre on all platforms).
ABOUT BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 25 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country. A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theater District entertaining up to 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago’s Loop including the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, James M. Nederlander Theatre, The Auditorium, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. For more information and tickets, visit BroadwayinChicago.com. Follow @BroadwayInChicago on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, and YouTube.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Lili-Anne Brown (Director, EUREKA DAY), a Chicago South Side native, works as a director, actor and educator, and has performed in, directed, and produced many award-winning shows in Chicago and nationally. Recent directing credits include The Color Purple, The Nacirema Society…, School Girls, and the world premieres of Ike Holter’s I Hate It Here and Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre); Two Trains Running (The Acting Company, National Tour); Dreamgirls (McCarter Theater and Goodspeed Musicals); FELA! (Olney Theater); Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre); Ain’t No Mo’ (Woolly Mammoth and Baltimore CenterStage); Waitress, Rent, and The Color Purple (The Muny); Once on This Island (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Acoustic Rooster... (Kennedy Center and National Tour); and Put Your House in Order (La Jolla Playhouse). She is the former Artistic Director of Bailiwick Chicago, where she focused programming on Chicago-premiere musicals and new play development with resident playwrights. She has received two Helen Hayes Awards, five Jeff Awards, two BTA awards and one African American Arts Alliance Award for excellence in directing. She is an inaugural recipient of the Walder Foundation’s Platform Award and a 2021 recipient of the 3Arts Award for Theatre. She is a member of SDC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and a graduate of Northwestern University.
Sandra Delgado (Playwright, HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS) is a Colombian-Chicagoan writer, performer and producer. Hailed as “her own brand of triple threat” (Newcity), she writes plays inspired by underknown Chicago histories centering Latine lives. She is best known as the creator and star of La Havana Madrid, her smash hit play with music, originally produced by Teatro Vista with runs at Steppenwolf and Goodman theatres, in a co-production with Collaboraction at both The Den and at Pritzker Pavilion as part of Millennium Park’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, as well as productions at South Coast Repertory and New Village Arts. Delgado is also a respected veteran of the stage, with a career spanning more than two decades. In addition to her work at artistic homes Collaboraction and Teatro Vista, as an actress, she has been seen on stages across Chicago and the country including Goodman, Northlight, Lookingglass, Victory Gardens, and About Face. Highlights include the titular role in La Havana Madrid, La Ruta at Steppenwolf, and starring off-Broadway as Jocasta in the Public Theatre’s production of Oedipus el Rey. Her NALAC award-winning spiritual-cabaret-meets-dance party, The Sandra Delgado Experience, has played all over Chicago and at the Public Theatre’s iconic Joe’s Pub. Delgado was recently awarded the inaugural Platform Award from the Walder Foundation, named a Hall of Famer in Newcity's Players of Chicago Theatre, awarded a United States Artists Fellowship, and serves on the board of the Chicago Public Library. She is also an Illinois Arts Council Fellow in Literature, a recipient of the 3Arts Award, the Joyce Award, the Theater Communications Group (TCG) Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship in the Extraordinary Potential Category, a three-time Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events grantee, a 3Arts 3AP Project Grantee, and received the 2017 Latina Professional of the Year Award from the Chicago Latino Network. Delgado is one of the 20 women of Chicago arts and culture honored in Kerry James Marshall's mural “Rushmore” on the facade of the Chicago Cultural Center and her audio play, if you belong to me as I belong to you, is streaming on Audible as part of a collaboration with the Oscar-nominated film, Women Talking. She is currently developing The Boys and the Nuns, a new musical, inspired by the true-life alliance between LGBTQ activists and Catholic Sisters in 1980s Chicago; LIVE.LOVE.NOW., a solo show exploring death, life and love; and Crying Hispanic Woman, a book of essays about motherhood, being the daughter of immigrants and a life in the performing arts. For more information, visit sandradelgado.net or @yosoysandradelgado on Instagram.
Amy Herzog (Adapter, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE) is a playwright and adapter whose plays include Mary Jane (New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award), 4000 Miles (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Obie Award for Best New American Play), After the Revolution (New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award), and Belleville (Drama Desk Award nominee). She received the Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Herzog teaches playwriting at Yale University’s David Geffen School of Drama.
Henrik Ibsen (Playwright, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, 1828–1906) was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as “the father of prose drama” and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder.
Ron OJ Parson (Director, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE) is a director and actor based in Chicago and became a TimeLine Company Member in 2016. His TimeLine credits include Trouble In Mind, Relentless (also at Goodman Theatre), Too Heavy for Your Pocket, To Catch a Fish, Paradise Blue, Sunset Baby, and A Raisin in the Sun. He is a native of Buffalo, New York, and a graduate of the University of Michigan’s professional theater program. He is a Joyce Foundation grantee and Resident Artist at Court Theatre, and a former Associate Artist with Teatro Vista and Writers Theatre. He is the co-founder and former Artistic Director of Onyx Theatre Ensemble. He has worked at various theatres in and around Chicago and around the country and Canada. Chicago credits include work at The Chicago Theatre Company, Victory Gardens, America Blues Theatre, American Theatre Company, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Chicago Dramatists, Court, Black Ensemble Theatre, Congo Square Theatre Company, Northlight, Urban Theatre Company, City Lit, ETA Creative Arts, and Writers Theatre. Regional credits include Studio Arena Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Milwaukee Repertory, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, American Players Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, Geva Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Roundabout Theatre, Wilshire Theatre, Studio Theatre, Center Stage Baltimore, St. Louis Black Repertory, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre, Signature Theatre (New York), Kansas City Rep, Portland Stage Company, Paul Robeson Theatre (Buffalo), Ujima Theatre Company, and Indiana Repertory Theatre, among others. In Canada, he directed the world premiere of Palmer Park by Joanna McClelland Glass at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, in Ontario Canada. He is a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and SDC. For more information, visit ronojparson.com.
Kimberly Senior (Director, HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF STARS) returns to TimeLine Theatre Company, where she is an Associate Artist. Senior began working with TimeLine in 2008, where she directed Inana, My Name is Asher Lev, All My Sons, and Dolly West's Kitchen. She has collaborated with Hundreds and Hundreds of Stars playwright Sandra Delgado on multiple projects going back to 1997. Senior is a freelance director whose award-winning work has been seen in 15 states in more than 200 productions. She directed the Broadway production of the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-nominated Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar. She directed the HBO special Chris Gethard: Career Suicide and her work in audio has ranged from Marvel’s The Wastelanders to C13’s Ghostwriter. Senior is a member of the Goodman Theatre’s Artistic Collective and has taught at a number of universities. Her first book, What Would a Person Do? is available on Amazon. She is a proud union member of SDC and even prouder mother of Noah (18) and Delaney (16). For more information, visit kimberlysenior.net.
Jonathan Spector (Playwright, EUREKA DAY) is Tony Award-nominated playwright based in Northern California, whose work has been produced on and off Broadway, regionally, and internationally. His plays include Eureka Day (2025 Drama League Award, Tony Award nomination, and Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Revival, New York Critics Circle Award nomination, WhatsOnStage Award nomination, The New York Times Critics' Pick); This Much I Know (Edgerton Award, Glickman Award, Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award); Birthright; Best Available (Elizabeth George Commission); and Siesta Key. His work has been produced with Manhattan Theater Club, The Old Vic, Sonia Friedman Productions, Aurora Theater, Marin Theater Company, Pasadena Playhouse, Hampstead, Theater J, Asolo Rep, Syracuse Stage, Mosaic Theater, Colt Couer and Miami New Drama, among others. He is currently working on commissions for Manhattan Theater Club, Roundabout and La Jolla Playhouse.