TimeLine Theatre Company Presents 33 VARIATIONS, 8/30-10/21

TimeLine Theatre Company opens its 16th season with the Chicago premiere of 33 Variations by Moisés Kaufman, directed by Nick Bowling, August 30 – October 21, 2012 (previews August 24 - 29). Note that performances will be held at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Chicago. Press Opening performance is Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

To purchase tickets or for more information, call the Stage 773 Box Office at 773.327.5252 or buy online via timelinetheatre.com.

The cast of 33 Variations features TimeLine Company Member Janet Ulrich Brooks as Dr. Katherine Brandt (the lead role played by Jane Fonda on Broadway) and TimeLine Associate Artist Terry Hamilton as Ludwig van Beethoven, with Ian Paul Custer, Jessie Fisher, TimeLine Company Member Juliet Hart, Michael Kingston and Matthew Krause. The production also features live piano accompaniment provided by George Lepauw, founder, president and artistic director of the International Beethoven Project, or pianist Igor Lipinski.

TimeLine's 2012-13 season opener is an elegant waltz between past and present, fact and speculation, a mother and daughter, and art and life. One of classical music's enduring riddles is why Ludwig van Beethoven devoted four years of his diminishing life writing 33 variations of what many scholars consider a mediocre waltz. Two hundred years later, a modern-day music scholar is driven to solve the mystery even as her own health and relationship with her daughter crumbles. The result is an extraordinary new American play - accompanied throughout by a live pianist playing the variations themselves - about passion, parenthood, and the moments of beauty that can transform a life.

"TimeLine is thrilled to bring this dynamic, lyrical and haunting play to Chicago for the first time," Artistic Director PJ Powers said. "Although we'll present it in a slightly larger venue than our home on Wellington Avenue, TimeLine's signature intimacy and immediacy remains intact. Audiences will sit just yards away from a gorgeous Steinway piano and hear Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations' brought to life. Theatre and music aficionados alike will be transported through time to experience the beauty, mystery and enduring legacy of a master composer's work, in concert with a modern-day story that is both intensely personal and truly universal."

Preview performances of 33 Variations are Friday, August 24 and Saturday, August 25 at 8 p.m.; Sunday, August 26 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Wednesday, August 29 at 8 p.m. The play opens on Thursday, August 30 at 7:30 p.m. and then runs Wednesdays 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 October 21, 2012.

POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS: Free post-show discussions led by a TimeLine Company Member and featuring the production dramaturg and members of the cast on Wednesday 9/5, Thursday 9/13, Sunday 9/16, Wednesday 9/19, Thursday 9/20, Thursday 9/27, Wednesday 10/3 and Sunday 10/7.

SUNDAY SCHOLARS SERIES: A free hour-long post-show panel discussion with experts on the themes and issues of the play on Sunday, September 30.

DISCUSSION WITH TIMELINE COMPANY MEMBERS: Free post-show discussion with TimeLine Company members on Sunday, September 9.

Tickets are $32 (Wednesday – Friday) or $42 (Saturday & Sunday). Preview tickets are $22. 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 the Stage 773 Box Office at 773.327.5252 or buy online via timelinetheatre.com.

33 Variations will take place at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Stage 773 is located one-half block west of the corner of Belmont and Racine and immediately east of Theater Wit in Chicago's Lakeview East neighborhood. The theater is accessible via the CTA El stop at Belmont (Red/Brown/Purple lines). CTA bus #77-Belmont stops at Racine. Valet parking is available for $10 and there is also limited free and metered street parking nearby. Visit timelinetheatre.com for complete directions and parking information. Stage 773 is accessible for people with disabilities.

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