Speaker Biographies

Ilene Evans

Ilene Evans performs, teaches, and lectures throughout the United States and Europe. Her work is educational, entertaining, and enjoyable for all ages.

After receiving her B.A. from Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois, Ms. Evans studied theater and dance at the University of Wisconsin. Ms. Evans became a member of the dance collaborative, "Momenta!" as dancer and choreographer at the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park, IL. There she also taught ballet, jazz and modern dance. Later, she joined the staff of Whirlwind Performance Company as a teaching artist and performer. At Whirlwind, she taught dance, choreography, storytelling, vocal technique, and African-American cultural arts.

In 1991, Ms. Evans created General Moses, Stories from the Life of Harriet Tubman. Ms. Evans received the Tidmarsh Foundation for the Arts grant for touring General Moses. She has performed her piece in conjunction with a companion workshop she developed about the Underground Railroad. Among Ms. Evans' other original performances are Harvest of Dreams, and They Call Me Ms. Memphis. These pieces reveal the rich African American culture through stories, songs, and poems. Ms Evans performed Harvest of Dreams at the Fringe Festival in Edinburg, Scotland.

Ms. Evans resides in West Virginia. She is co-founder of Voices from the Earth, a non-profit arts organization and has served as the President of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild. She has also been the featured vocalist and storyteller for Peter and the Wolf with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Evans' original work, Climbing up the Beanstalk, was adapted for stage by director Thomas Reese and performed at the Cincinnati State Community College.

Ms. Evans is included in the West Virginia Artist Roster and the West Virginia Humanities Council History Alive program. Current projects include Behind Enemy Lines a look at Harriet Tubman's role in the Civil War, as a freedom fighter. She is also currently researching and developing a new character for portrayal, Coralie Franklin Cook, an African American suffragette.

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