Our Mission:

"The New Colony strives to contribute original material to the American artistic canon, and develop a new theater going audience. Through active collaboration with emerging artists of all disciplines, The New Colony continually develops fresh perspectives and aesthetics. With the goal of exploring enticing subject matter and the common language of emotional experience, The New Colony will help cultivate the next generation of arts supporters."

Our Founders

James Asmus (Playwright, Director of Marketing)

After growing up in theater and improv in Cleveland, OH, James attended Loyola University New Orleans and earned a BA in Theater. In New Orleans he wrote, among other pieces, an award-winning one-act "The Super Friends". Since moving to Chicago, he has been a performing ensemble member at iO (formerly Improv Olympic), The Annoyance, and Baby Wants Candy (an improvised musical). At the Annoyance, James wrote and starred in "Love Is Dead: A NecRomantic Musical Comedy." James is currently touring festivals with his critically acclaimed sketch comedy trio, Hey You Millionaires. He continues to work as an actor in theater and independent film, while recently adding comic book author to his resume writing for Marvel Comics' upcoming X-Men: Manifest Destiny.

Andrew Hobgood (Artistic Director)

Starting at the age of five, Andrew began privately studying theater, dance and music with various professionals and professors in the New England area. Ranking as one of the best young musicians in the country, Andrew made his Carnegie Hall debut when he turned seventeen. That same year, Andrew received a generous scholarship to be used for any educational purpose in the performing arts, which he decided to use to open a non-profit theater company and begin his career as a theater director. As one of the first students to be admitted into its Commonwealth Honors College, Andrew attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst on a President's Performing Arts Scholarship, and studied music performance, music composition and theater. While there, he created New England's first long-form improvisation ensemble, and directed and performed numerous productions, many of which were original works, workshopped under his direction. After moving to Chicago to begin his professional career, Andrew co-created the show Be Frank, an improvised, absurdist play, which went on to tour the North American continent and was featured at more than ten theater festivals. Soon afterwards, Andrew was made an Ensemble Member of the Annoyance Theatre where he became one of their resident directors. During that time, Andrew co-created and produced the 2006 FringeNYC "Outstanding Musical" award winner, 58! A Comedy about Bike Messengessengering, and co-wrote and directed the critical hit Love is Dead: A NecRomantic Musical Comedy which went on to break box office records for the Annoyance Theatre, earn a personal invitation to the 2008 Spoleto Festival in Charleston and will be featured at the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival. He followed Love is Dead by directing a modern retelling of the French Revolution, KXVI: The Rock Revolution, which TimeOut Chicago referred to as "conceptual brilliance!" Over the years, Andrew has directed at professional, regional theaters outside of Chicago, guest lectured at Universities and High Schools, provided script-doctoring services, and run a successful business-consulting firm. The New Colony is his latest project, and the true culmination of his professional experiences in both business and the performing arts.

Evan Linder (Producing Director)

Evan Linder is an actor and writer living in Chicago. A proud graduate of the College of Charleston, Evan began his professional career as an associate company member with Playhouse on the Square in Memphis Tennessee. Credits included Of Mice and Men, Shakespeare's R&J, Looking for Normal, The Eight:Reindeer Monologues and Floyd Collins for which he was nominated for an Ostrander Award for Best Supporting Actor. Upon moving to Chicago, Evan has worked with About Face Theatre, the side project, Promethean Theatre Ensemble, and Bohemian Theatre Ensemble in their Jeff Award-Winning production of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. He will be seen this August as Alan in Hubris Productions' Torch Song Trilogy at Victory Gardens Greenhouse. In the Spring of 2009, Evan's full-length play detailing his experiences in a southern fraternity will receive its world premiere in the inaugural season of The New Colony.

Mary Hollis Inboden (Director of Development)

Mary Hollis Inboden hails from Memphis, TN where she got her start at Playhouse on the Square and The Circuit Playhouse, Inc. She moved to Chicago in 2006 after working around the south as an actor, singer, director, and writer. Mary Hollis’s one-act "Bleu II: baile de la calle," based on the painting by Joan Miro, was produced by the University of Memphis in 2005. She is the recipient of an Ostrander Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Irene Ryan Award Best Actress Nominee. She is happy to be joining The New Colony as the Director of Development, and can be seen at the end of the inaugural season in "Tupperware: an American Musical Fable."

Gary Tiedemann (Executive Director)

Gary began his acting career when he moved to Chicago in 2004. He studied improvisation at The Second City, iO, The Annoyance, and ComedySportz. He has also studied acting at Act One and Acting Studio Chicago. Gary performed at The Annoyance Theatre in their re-mount of "Splatter Theatre," co-created the original musical "Stop That Show," and created and wrote "KXVI: The Rock Revolution." Gary is a proud member of SAG and AFTRA, and has voiced numerous television and radio commercials in both English and Spanish. Gary is a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans, where his first job out of college was as an air-personality/producer for WRNO New Orleans.

COMING SOON!

For general information:
info@thenewcolony.org

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