Derek Evans will bring Theodore Roosevelt to life at Coffeyville Community College on Feb. 4th as part of the college's humanities series. The performance will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Spencer/Rounds Performing Arts Theatre. The performance is free and open to the public.
Evans is a professional actor and scholar who has spent a career of almost 40 years engaged in educational presentations for schools, colleges, museums and libraries. He has conservatory training at New York University and the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Northwestern University. He is the veteran of more than 40 stage productions in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.
In addition to his legit theatre career, from 1969 through 1988 he wrote, produced and performed in educational programs in association with Chicago’s Urban Gateways. These totaled more than seven thousand performances for more than two and a half million students and included Shakespeare, opera and American and British literary adaptations.
Since 1999 he has concentrated on living history presentations based on the life of Theodore Roosevelt, which have now totaled over 500 performances. In addition to the usual educational institutions, he has provided made to order presentations for CenterStage!, Seattle, Wash.; Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa, Calif.; the Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Ill.; the Schauer Center, Hartford Wisc.; Events Unlimited, Houston, Texas; the Yavapai Community PAC, Prescott, Ariz.; the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyo.; Arkansas State University, Mountain Home, Ark.; the Grand Opera House, Oshkosh, Wisc.; the Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Sarasota, Fla.; the Howard Auditorium, Tifton, Ga.; and the White House Visitor Center, Washington, D.C.