Shorts 4: The 850 Block – The Man in the Blue Suit

About the Filmmaker

Originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, Evan was raised in the pit orchestras of theaters by a single mother who conducted musicals. This led to acting in dozens of musicals and plays as a child actor. After becoming a national semi-finalist, winning 11th, at the National Forensics League’s Competitive Speech Tournament and studying at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City, Evan went on to graduate from the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy as a Theater major. He then went on to earn a BFA in Acting at the University of Minnesota Guthrie Actor Training Program at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. 

After doing two plays at the Guthrie Theater and another on Shakespeare’s Globe in London, Evan moved to New York City. There, he acted with acclaimed directors Austin Pendleton and Wyn Handman, performed and worked at the UCB Theater, and auditioned. 

Evan then transitioned to become the Artistic Director of The Possibility Project – a nonprofit theater company that serves to create original Off-Broadway musicals based on the lives and stories of young people in New York City and young people involved in the New York’s Foster Care System. There, Evan wrote and directed 5 original Off-Broadway musicals. At the onset of the pandemic, Evan turned the show he was then directing in person into a podcast radio play. The show – “Why Love” – went on to become an Anthem Awards Finalist and was nominated for a Webby Award for Best Scripted Fiction.

Evan is now earning an MFA in Film Production at Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts with a focus in Directing. Evan was recently selected to participate in the 50th Telluride Film Festival’s Student Symposium and is currently working to develop his Thesis Project at FSU entitled “Private I”. Evan is a painter, a poet, a photographer, a musician, and an avid cyclist.

Director’s Statement

THE MAN IN THE BLUE SUIT came to me after I saw a friend’s dog have a fit when the mailman dropped mail off at their door. I had recently gone through a period where I was watching many westerns. I then realized that dogs, domesticated animals who speak the language of respect and loyalty, abide by strikingly similar moral codes that cowboys in the movies of old abide by. As the mailman stood at the door, I thought of John Wayne standing at the door in THE SEARCHERS. It then hit me that the situation I witnessed with my friend’s dog could be expressed as a western stand-off. Absurdity is a style I am consistently drawn to: with it, dream logic can be mixed with genre to say something about the everyday. Expressing the world we take for granted through a dog’s eyes Is something I wanted to explore for adults and children alike. With THE MAN IN THE BLUE SUIT I hope you find connection to your pets and perhaps understand their loneliness and confusion while in living in the modern world.