The New Colony to Premiere BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI This Winter at The Den Theatre

The New Colony will launch 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. 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 will play January 8 - February 14, 2016 at The New Colony's resident home, The Den Theatre's Main Stage, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are currently available at www.thenewcolony.org. The press opening is Monday, January 11 at 7:30 pm.

BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI will feature Jeffery Freelon, Kiandra 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 New Colony and Definition Theatre Company are proud to open their seasons with a "World Premiere Conversation," with BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI simultaneously receiving four world premiere openings the weekend of January 8, 2016 in Chicago, Toronto, ON (Cue6 Productions), Memphis, TN (Playhouse on the Square) and Charleston, SC (Village Rep Co.). The following week, the drama will also receive staged readings in Birmingham, AL (Theatre Downtown), Boulder, CO (square product theatre) and Los Angeles, CA (Sixth Avenue). Audiences in all seven cities will come together for an online talkback on Monday, January 18 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) to discuss the play's impact on their local audiences. The conversation will be curated by dramaturg Katherine Zukaitis and directed by Definition ensemble member Tyrone Phillips. BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI is the winner of the 2014 New Works Competition at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis and was seen this summer in a workshop production at Stage Left Theatre's Leapfest XII in Chicago. Visit wpconvo.com to join the conversation and learn more about the January 18 event.

"We are thrilled to partner on this project with Definition - one of the most exciting new companies on the Chicago theater scene," comments Co-Artistic Director Andrew Hobgood. "This is a story that means a great deal to both of our companies, and collaborating with them for the past year has been critical to developing this script to its final draft."

Adds Director Tyrone Phillips, "Evan Linder has created a provocative reflection of our current social climate and our companies are the perfect match to tell this story. After producing the world premiere of Genesis by Definition ensemble member Mercedes White, I look forward to breathing life into another future classic."

The production team for BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI includes: John Wilson (scenic design), Kotryno Hilko (costume designer), Angie Jorgensen (lighting design), Gary Tiedemann (sound designer), 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).

About the Creative Team:

Evan Linder (Playwright) is a founding member and the Co-Artistic Director of The New Colony. He works as a playwright, actor and director. He also teaches playwriting at the University of Chicago. Evan's first play produced in Chicago, FRAT, was named as one of the Best of 2009 in the Chicago Tribune, Windy City Times and Newcity. Other works include 11:11, The Warriors, The Bear Suit of Happiness, B-Side Studio and 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, which was named Best Overall Production at the 2012 NYC International Fringe Festival and is published by Samuel French. 5 Lesbians also enjoyed an Off-Broadway run as part of the Soho Playhouse's 2012-2013 season. In 2013, he was listed on Chicago Magazine's Power List of Theater Scene Stealers. In 2014, Evan originated the roles of Jonathan in The New Colony's reWILDing Genius for Steppenwolf's Garage Rep and Orville in Orville and Wilbur Did It! with The New Colony. 2014 also saw his play The Bear Suit of Happiness published by Chicago Dramaworks and his play Byhalia, Mississippi named the winner of the New Works Competition at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, TN. Works in development include The Hunted, co-written with Paul Oakley Stovall and The Issue, which is in currently in workshops with The New Colony. www.evanlinder.com.

Tyrone Phillips (Director) currently serves as the founding artistic director of Chicago's Definition Theatre Company, where he recently played Torvald in A Doll's House. Tyrone holds a BFA from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and is represented by Grossman and Jack Talent. Directing credits include Dutchman by the late Amiri Baraka, Evening News, A Taurian Tale, Just Suppose (Definition Theatre), Amuse Bosh (Pavement Group), Luck of the Irish and The Tempest (Niles North Theatre). Recent onstage credits include Stick Fly (Windy City Playhouse), Genesis (Definition Theatre), and Saturday Night/Sunday Morning (Prologue Theatre at Steppenwolf Garage Rep). Tyrone has also studied abroad at Shakespeare's Globe and was an artistic intern at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. At Milwaukee Rep he was seen in Assassins (Ensemble), A Christmas Carol (Ensemble, U/S Bob Cratchit), The Mountaintop (U/S MLK), Clybourne Park (U/S Kevin/Albert) and A Raisin in the Sun (Moving Man, U/S Walter Lee). Film and television credits include Boss, Divergent, Gimmick and Intersection.

The New Colony, the 2011 recipient of the Broadway In Chicago Emerging Theater Award, strives to contribute original material to the American artistic canon and develop a new kind of theater going audience. Through collaboration with emerging artists of all disciplines, The New Colony continually develops new work and fresh perspectives. With the goal of exploring enticing subject matter and the common language of experience, The New Colony will cultivate the next generation of arts supporters.

Definition Theatre Company is a Chicago ensemble-based theatre founded by six graduates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Featuring a multi-ethnic core companionship of actors, Definition strives to artistically reflect the myriad of modern America to inspire and engage the communities it represents through contemporary and classical theatrical works.