PJ Powers

As Artistic Director, he has overseen the production of more than 65 plays, including nine world premieres and more than 25 Chicago premieres. PJ was instrumental in establishing TimeLine’s home on Wellington Avenue in 1999, and since then he has overseen the development of the company’s programming to include an annual production at a second venue, as well as the launch of the TimePieces play reading series and the Living History Education Program in Chicago Public Schools, under the direction of TimeLine co-founder Juliet Hart.

During his tenure, a consistent record of artistic excellence and astute management has distinguished TimeLine. The company has won 52 Jeff Awards, including 11 for Outstanding Production and one award for PJ as an actor in HAUPTMANN, in addition to awards for excellence in arts management, including the 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. TimeLine was named “Best Theatre” by Chicago magazine (2011) and was heralded nationally as “Company of the Year” by The Wall Street Journal (2010). In 2011, the company was named “one of the nation’s top 10 most promising emerging professional theatres” by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards®. TimeLine was recognized with the 2006 Alford-Axelson Award for Nonprofit Managerial Excellence of a small company and the 2009 Richard Goodman Strategic Planning Award in the Non-profit category from the Association for Strategic Planning.

Onstage, PJ has appeared in 17 productions at TimeLine, including THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS: THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING, THE FRONT PAGE, THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION, and FIORELLO!. He has also appeared at Writers Theatre, Northlight and Shattered Globe, among others.

A graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, PJ has served on the Board of Directors for the League of Chicago Theatres, was awarded the 2008 Meier Achievement Award for mid-career artists and received a Goldman Sachs Senior Fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.