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Timeline taps into the political zeitgeist

Stephanie Kulke


Rather than cover the Chicago premiere of “Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley” at Timeline Theatre

Company in a typical review format, in the spirit of debate, I offer up these 10 arguments in

favor of seeing “Baldwin vs. Buckley” as soon as you possibly can:

1. Timeline has tapped into the zeitgeist and politically charged debate about whether

economic opportunity and justice are currently available to all Americans.


2. It’s an immersive experience that reenacts the debate from inside DePaul University’s

Cortelyou Commons; a gothic architectural building suggestive of the actual debate

setting at Cambridge University Union in 1965.


3. It seamlessly integrates live performances with documentary film footage, placing live

actors in real-time conversation with the historical figures from the debate. It also blends

the attention and applause of today’s audience, and the 1965 audience captured on film.


4. The post-show dialogue with the american vicarious project creators is a not-to-be-

missed communal experience to listen, learn and empathize with fellow audience

members of various backgrounds. To paraphrase the response an audience member on

opening night: the evening is an example of what theater does best – it gives us a

chance to look at our current moment and to engage with each other constructively.


5. Teagle F. Bougere delivers an impassioned, courageous and dignified performance as

James Baldwin, and Eric T. Miller embodies the charismatic, fluid, rhetorical jiu-jitsu of

William F. Buckley.


6. It gives us a glimpse of a more productive and civil debate style affording each side

ample time to make their point of view heard, as opposed to the attacks, interruptions

and misinformation characterizing most political debates today.


7. This is a theatre production that entertains as well as educates and challenges

audiences.


8. Your patronage creates an opportunity for the next generation of artists, represented by

undergraduate students from the Theatre School at DePaul, to practice their craft as

actors and technicians alongside working theatre professionals.


9. It’s a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the ideas of two intellectual titans whose

60-year-old arguments are at the core of an ongoing debate about whether the structural

inequities of slavery and racial segregation continue to prevent Black Americans and

other marginalized groups from realizing their full potential.


10. The overturning of Affirmative Action and recent banning of federal DEI programs, asks

us to consider whether current laws, policies and social practices are in keeping with our

American ideals.


Don’t just skim the headlines or read other people’s reviews of this play. Witness the Baldwin vs.

Buckley debate firsthand – and cast your vote in favor or against the proposition: “Is the

American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?”


The Chicago premiere of the american vicarious’s “Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley” presented by

Timeline Theatre. The show runs from January 29 to March 2 at DePaul University’s Cortelyou

Commons. Tickets and more information are available at www.timelinetheatre.com.


[Photo credit: Teagle F. Bougere as James Baldwin and Eric T. Miller as William F. Buckley by

Brett Beiner Photography.]

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