Name: Evan Linder
Hometown: Memphis, TN
Education: BA in Theatre Performance, College of Charleston
Select Credits: Chicago credits include Amelia Earhart: Jungle Princess, Pancake Breakfast, Hearts Full of Blood (all with The New Colony), Smart (the side project), Gross Indecency (Bohemian Theatre Ensemble), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Promethean Theatre Ensemble) and Torch Song Trilogy (Hubris Productions).
Why theater?: After playing Mike Teevee in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when I was eleven, I was done for. I was allowed to yell as loud as I wanted to indoors. I was home.
Tell us about Wild: Wild is a love story that rarely gets told. It explores what happens when two people break up and still have so much love between them. What do you do with the love that remains? That was incredibly interesting to me.
What is it like being a part of Wild?: It's a blast. I wanted to be in this show so badly. I love these characters and how they communicate with each other. I had been workshopping a show of Crystal's that she is writing for The New Colony. During those workshops, I got the Wild script and read 10 pages and said "I want to audition for this."
What or who inspires you as an artist?: New work. Anyone creating, performing or producing it. I rarely want to go see anything that I've seen before. Seeking out new stories that haven't been told yet is important to me.
Any roles you’re dying to play?: One of the great things about being an actor in my company The New Colony is that you can create your own characters for new works. What you do in the room during workshops is then used by the playwright to create their script. So I'd say the roles that I'm dying to play haven't been created yet. I love working in that process.
What’s your favorite showtune?: "Midnight Radio" from Hedwig
What’s up next?: I'm currently writing a show for The New Colony called The Bearsuit of Happiness that is about four soldiers in WWII who are tasked with putting together a burlesque show for the men in their camp. We are in initial character workshops for that right now. I'm also gearing up for the remount of 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche which we are taking to NYC Fringe this August. My next gig onstage is as the manager and home announcer for a Rollerderby team in a new show that Aaron Weissman is writing for The New Colony. That will be premiering this fall.