New Colony Associate Artistic Director Evan Linder Assumes a New Role

The New Colony board of directors today announces that Associate Artistic Director, Evan Linder, has been promoted to the role of Co-Artistic Director. Linder, a playwright, actor and founding member of The New Colony will now work directly alongside current Artistic Director, Andrew Hobgood in a shared role as the organization's chief artistic officer. "It just makes sense," says Hobgood. "The New Colony's mission is to attract new audiences by creating works that speak to them. But as we grow, that has required more work than one Artistic Director can take on.

I've been lucky enough to have Evan as my right-hand man throughout all of it. But the truth is - we need two of me to continue our mission. The fact that we can so easily transition like this is truly fortunate, and I'm so excited to see where we can go now that I have a talented leader like Evan taking on opportunities that we previously had to pass on because there just wasn't enough time."

Linder was officially granted the new perch upon receiving unanimous approval from The New Colony's board of directors last week. "As a long time New Colony board member, I would like to congratulate Evan on being approved as Co-Artistic Director," said board member Sam Snowden. "Evan has not only been a major artistic asset, but also a great friend of mine over the past seven years, so this announcement is gratifying on a personal level as well."

As Associate Artistic Director, Linder was charged with overseeing The New Colony's "Sidestage" events, performances and collaborative partnerships. Among these events were The New Colony's entries in Collaboraction's Sketchbook festival, a flash mob-like performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art and multiple partnerships with Victory Gardens' Fresh Squeezed Series. More recently Linder has taken on a larger role in writing and acting in Mainstage New Colony productions including penning the enormously successful 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche and The Bear Suit of Happiness, opening next month.

Linder's first play produced in Chicago, FRAT, was named as one of the best of 2009 in the Chicago Tribune, Windy City Times and New City. Other plays include 11:11, The Warriors, The Bear Suit of Happiness, and 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, which was named Best Overall Production at the 2012 NYC International Fringe Festival and was recently published by Samuel French. 5 Lesbians is currently enjoying an open-ended run Off-Broadway as part of the Soho Playhouse's 2012-2013 season. He also co-wrote the book to the glam-rock musical Rise of the Numberless, which was developed by

The New Colony and Bailiwick Chicago in 2012. He is also currently developing the world premiere comedy, ReWilding Genius in association with the University of Chicago where he and Andrew Hobgood teach playwriting.