Photo Flash: First Look at The New Colony/Definition Theatre's BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI

The New Colony launches its 2016 Season with the world premiere of the racially charged family drama BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI by Co-Artistic Director Evan Linder, directed by Tyrone Phillips and co-produced with Definition Theatre Company. BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI plays now through February 14, 2016, at The New Colony's resident home, The Den Theatre's Upstairs Main Stage, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. The press opening is tonight, January 11 at 7:30 pm. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The production is part of a unique "World Premiere Conversation," making its debut in Chicago, Toronto, ON, Memphis, TN and Charleston, SC the same weekend, followed by staged readings in three additional U.S cities and culminating in an online talkback with all seven cities.

BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI features Jeffery Owen Freelon Jr., Kiki Layne, Evan Linder, Liz Sharpe and Cecelia Wingate.

Jim and Laurel Parker are about to become new parents. They are broke. They are loud. They are "proud white trash." When Laurel finally gives birth to their overdue child, she and Jim are faced with the biggest challenge of their lives: their baby boy is black, the result of Laurel's affair the previous year. The lives of their families and friends are thrown into turmoil in Byhalia, Mississippi, a town with a racially-charged past that still affects its present.

The production team for BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI includes: John Wilson (scenic design), Kotryno Hilko (costume designer), Slick Jorgensen (lighting design), Gary Tiedemann (sound effects), Kira Lyon (props design), Liz Sharpe (hair and make-up design), Kat Zukaitis (dramaturg), Eli Grove (technical director), Sarah Collonge (production manager), Maria Privitera (script supervisor) and Clarissa Jugo (stage manager).

Tickets are currently available at www.thenewcolony.org.

Photo Credit: Joe Mazza/Brave Lux