Wikipedia

Don Evans

(Redirected from Donald Thomas Evans)
For the New Zealand middle-distance runner, see Don Evans (athlete). For other people named Donald Evans, see Donald Evans (disambiguation).

Donald Thomas Evans (April 27, 1938 – October 16, 2003) was an American playwright, theater director, actor and educator.

Don Evans
Born
Donald Thomas Evans

April 27, 1938
Merchantville, New Jersey, United States
DiedOctober 16, 2003(2003-10-16) (aged 65)
Merchantville, New Jersey, United States
SpouseFrances Gooding Chapman (div.)

Early life and education

edit

Evans was born April 27, 1938, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,[1] the son of Mary Evans.[2] After serving in the United States Marine Corps, he graduated from Cheyney State College in 1962 and went on to Temple University, earning a master's degree in 1968 and a Master of Fine Arts in 1972.[2]

Educational career

edit

In 1972, Evans became an associate professor at Trenton State College (later named The College of New Jersey), where he chaired the Afro-American Studies Department.[2] He also was an adjunct professor at Princeton University and a visiting professor of theater arts at Rutgers University.[2] During this time, Evans wrote essays and articles for Black World, Essence, Players, and Pride.[3][4]

He worked from 1978 to 1998 with his friend and fellow playwright August Wilson in forming a National Black Theatre Summit at Dartmouth College, from which was formed the African Grove Institute for the Arts.[5]

Theatre

edit

Evans studied acting, directing, and playwriting at the Hagen-Berghof Studios in New York City from 1969 to 1970,[citation needed] during which time he also taught English and Drama at Princeton High School in Princeton, New Jersey.[6] Part of the Black Arts Movement of the 1970s, Evans had his first plays, the one-acts Orrin and Sugarmouth Sam Don’t Dance No More performed in 1972 at the Crossroads Theatre, a professional playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[citation needed] The following year, this became his Manhattan debut production, at the Theater de Lys.[2]

In 1976, Evans wrote It’s Showdown Time, a raucous adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.[2] In 1978, Evans wrote Mahalia, his first musical, a portrait of gospel vocalist Mahalia Jackson.[7][8] Louis, Evans' musical portrayal of jazz legend Louis Armstrong, was written in 1981. Other works include Blues for a Gospel Queen, The Trials and Tribulations of Staggerlee Booker T. Brown. One Monkey Don't Stop No Show a tragi-comic look at a middle-class black family, and A Lovesong for Miss Lydia,[9][10] described by The New York Times as a "Pinteresque variation on the Big Bad Wolf story."[11] Evans wrote his final play, When Miss Mollie Hit the Triple Bars, in 1999. It was based on the life of his mother, Mary.[citation needed]

Over the course of his career, Evans received playwriting fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey Council of the Arts, and the New Jersey Historical Society.[citation needed] Eighteen of his plays have been produced, both in the US and in countries including Germany, England and Hong Kong.[citation needed] He also served, from 1983 to 1988, as artistic director for the Karamu House[citation needed] in Cleveland, Ohio.

Don Evans was named an AMPARTS Fellow for the United States Information Agency to India in 1984.[citation needed]

Personal life

edit

Evans was divorced from Frances Gooding Chapman. He had by two sons, Todd and Orrin, and a daughter, Rachel Marianno. He died at the age of 65 of a heart attack on October 16, 2003, at his home in Merchantville, New Jersey.[2]

List of plays

edit

Published

Produced

  • Orrin
  • Blues For A Gospel Queen
  • Sugarmouth Sam Don't Dance No More
  • Matters of Choice
  • It's Showdown Time
  • A Lovesong for Miss Lydia
  • Louis (musical based on the life of Louis Armstrong)
  • Mahalia (musical biography of Mahalia Jackson)
  • One Monkey Don't Stop No Show

Unpublished

  • What Harriet Did
  • Honky Tonk
  • When Miss Mollie Hit the Triple Bars

References

edit
  1. ^ "Don Evans Biography (1938-)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Saxon, Wolfgang (October 24, 2003). "Don Evans, 65, a Playwright Who Focused on Black Lives, Dies". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Kaye, Phyllis Johnson (1981). National playwrights directory. Waterford, Conn.: Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-9605160-0-1.
  4. ^ Evans, Don (April 1974). "The Theater of Confrontation: Ed Bullins, Up Against the Wall". Black World. Johnson Publication: 14.
  5. ^ African-American performance and theater history : a critical reader. Oxford [England] ; New York: Oxford University Press. 2001. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-19-512724-9.
  6. ^ Evans, Don (1968). "Educational Theater in the High School". The English Journal. 57 (3): 387–390. doi:10.2307/812240. ISSN 0013-8274. JSTOR 812240.
  7. ^ Hill, Anthony D.; Barnett, Douglas Q. (2008-12-04). Historical Dictionary of African American Theater. Scarecrow Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-8108-6276-0.
  8. ^ Freedberg, Mike (March 30, 1982). "Not the gospel truth". The Boston Phoenix. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
  9. ^ Oddy, Julian (ed.). "Don Evans". Dollee.com. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  10. ^ Roth, Marty; Rotharchive, Martha (November 2001). "Women on the verge…again". Southside Pride. South Minneapolis, Minnesota. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012.
  11. ^ Catinella, Joseph (1982-04-04). "All New Brunswick is a Stage". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Don_Evans&oldid=1239951199"