By Lindsey McElroy
DePaul Critic
It’s a Thursday evening in September, mere weeks before Election Day, and an intimate group gathers to examine the politics of race, sex and money. The stage, however, is not a town hall meeting or political rally but a theater. The key players are not politicians but actors in a revival of Gore Vidal’s “Weekend.”“Weekend,” currently playing at Timeline Theater, tells the story of Republican Senator Andrews (Tom McElroy) whose plan to announce his bid for the presidency is turned upside down when his rebellious, euro-influenced son Beany (Joe Sherman) returns home with news of his engagement to Louise Hampton (Mica Cole), a bold, opinionated, charming African-American girl.
First written and performed in 1968, “Weekend” documents the political and social changes that defined the 1960’s. Forty years later it seems little has changed.
"As far as the issues in the show, we're talking about withdraw from the war, the nuclear threat, abortion, racism, women's issues – all of which are still relevant,” says company member Peggy Slusher. These political parallels are the source of a great deal of buzz among young theater-goers in particular.
Throughout the past month, Timeline hosted weekly post-show discussions to encourage dialogue between audience members and the cast and crew. Questions range history and culture to characters and current themes. It is through these discussions that company member Janet Ulrich Brooks heard first-hand the renewed political interest of young voters.
"To hear from some of them who are getting involved in politics for the first time, I think it's really eye-opening for them," Brooks says. "They're seeing with new eyes the civil rights movement and exploring the issue of race which we're going to be dealing with in this election. It really brings it home that these are not new issues," she says.
One interesting irony of the show is strength and complexity of the female leads. As characters, the lead women portray the struggle against inferiority but as actors they represent the progress of the past 40 years. It is this kind of progress that proves just how forward-thinking Vidal was, as he encouraged future directors to adapt the play’s events as they saw fit.
Timeline’s latest adaptation of “Weekend” is already far more successful than the show’s original Broadway debut, setting a high standard for what is yet to come from a company that has distinguished itself as a storyteller of both past and present and provided audiences a chance to learn, reminisce and be entertained.
"As far as the issues in the show, we're talking about withdraw from the war, the nuclear threat, abortion, racism, women's issues – all of which are still relevant,” says company member Peggy Slusher. These political parallels are the source of a great deal of buzz among young theater-goers in particular.
Throughout the past month, Timeline hosted weekly post-show discussions to encourage dialogue between audience members and the cast and crew. Questions range history and culture to characters and current themes. It is through these discussions that company member Janet Ulrich Brooks heard first-hand the renewed political interest of young voters.
"To hear from some of them who are getting involved in politics for the first time, I think it's really eye-opening for them," Brooks says. "They're seeing with new eyes the civil rights movement and exploring the issue of race which we're going to be dealing with in this election. It really brings it home that these are not new issues," she says.
One interesting irony of the show is strength and complexity of the female leads. As characters, the lead women portray the struggle against inferiority but as actors they represent the progress of the past 40 years. It is this kind of progress that proves just how forward-thinking Vidal was, as he encouraged future directors to adapt the play’s events as they saw fit.
Timeline’s latest adaptation of “Weekend” is already far more successful than the show’s original Broadway debut, setting a high standard for what is yet to come from a company that has distinguished itself as a storyteller of both past and present and provided audiences a chance to learn, reminisce and be entertained.
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