Rachel Evans
Office: 1000 Morris Avenue Dept. of Theatre, VE-411 Union, NJ 07083 (908) 737 - 4429 revans@kean.edu Home: 182 Ward Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901 (732) 565 – 1282
ACADEMIC PREPARATION
M.F.A. in Directing, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 1994 Through joint program with Carnegie Mellon University Thesis Production: I am a Camera Advisor: W. Stephen Coleman B.F.A. in Theatre/Performance, Department of Drama and Dance, Hofstra University, 1989 Cum Laude with High Honors in Theatre Arts
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor of Theatre, 2004 - present Department of Theatre, Kean University, Union, NJ Developing new B.A. in Theatre with Theatre (K-12) Certification Education Coordinator, 2005 Premiere Stages, Union, NJ Teaching residencies, developing theatre education programming, supervising interns Performing Arts High School Theatre Instructor, 1999 - 2004 Middlesex County Vocational & Technical High School, East Brunswick, NJ NJ Teacher Certification in Speech/Drama and Vocational Arts/Dance Teaching Artist, 2003 Middlesex County Arts & Education Center, New Brunswick, NJ Teaching theatre to middle school and high school students at summer Arts Academy Teaching Artist/ Assistant Director, 2002 McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ Teaching staff for high school Summer Shakespeare repertory Associate Director of Education and Outreach, 1997 - 1999 George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick, NJ Managing touring theatre, theatre classes, intern programs, and residencies Teaching Artist, 1998 - 1999 New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ Developing and implementing curriculum in Careers in Theatre and Costume Design at Hubbard Middle School, Plainfield, NJ Operations Manager, 1996 - 1997 Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Union, NJ
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House Manager and Volunteer Coordinator, 1996 George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick, NJ Company Manager, 1995 Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA Securing and coordinating touring engagements Performance Coordinator, 1994 First Night Pittsburgh ‘95, Pittsburgh, PA Theatre Events Coordinator, 1992 - 1994 Department of Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA Establishing calendars, policy, and procedures for the departmental production schedule
PUBLICTIONS SUBMITTED and in PREPARATION
Evans, Rachel (2005), Pericles. Theatre Journal, expected October 2005.
PRESENTATIONS
Audio Description for the Theatre: Sharing Performance with Patrons who are Blind and Visually Impaired. Presented at American College Theatre Festival, Region II, Muhlenberg College, 2005. Costuming Modern Dance. Presented at “Seeing Dance” course, Department of Dance, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, 2005. Theatre Games of Viola Spolin. Presented at OctoberFest, Department of Dance, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, 2004. Careers in the Arts and Arts Administration. Presented at Dance Assembly, Department of Dance, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, 2003.
CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS
Curriculum development for the pre-service teacher seeking for NJ’s Theatre (K-12) Certification The post-secondary pedagogy of acting for non-theatre majors Audio description for the theatre as artistic process Contemporary trends in costume design for modern dance
GRANTS RECEIVED
Surdna Foundation Arts Teachers Fellowship, research and study at Stratford Festival of Canada, Summer 2003. Geraldine R. Dodge Fellow, one of 25 outstanding NJ Alternate Route Teachers, 2000.
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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Association of Theatre in Higher Education American Association for Theatre and Education Educational Theatre Association Speech and Theatre Association of NJ NJ State Department of Education: Performing Arts Exit Exam Committee Performing/Visual Arts “Option B” Recommendation Team Higher Education Committee for Arts Certification
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Responder for the American College Theatre Festival, Region II Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Robert Stockton College of NJ The Laramie Project, Lycoming College Audio-Description for Patrons with Visually Impairments Spoken scripts are written and rehearsed to verbally describe the stage action that a patron with visual impairments would not glean from listening to a live performance. These descriptions are broadcast, in synch with the performance, through an infrared audio system, into personal receivers worn by the patrons. The goal is to provide patrons with a theatrical experience equivalent to the one a fully sighted patron would have. Shakespeare Theatre of NJ:
Macbeth Illyria The Glass Menagerie The Last Five Years Address Unknown Lend Me a Tenor The Winning Streak Celadine To Kill a Mockingbird Voices in the Dark After-Play Down the Garden Path Syncopation Once Upon a Mattress The Trojan Women Top Girls
George Street Playhouse:
Kean University: The Theatre Project:
Site Evaluator and Grant Panel Member for the Middlesex County Cultural & Heritage Commission
DIRECTING
Kean University When Technology Met Tradition: 150 Years at Kean University, December 2004 William Paterson University The American Plan, October 2004
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Middlesex County Vocational & Technical High School, School of Performing Arts, 1999 - 2004 HAMLET Twelve Angry Jurors Scenes Seen at Night All’s Well That Ends Well The Man Who Came to Dinner Midnight Chimes A Midsummer Night’s Dream Open Doors Antigone Blithe Spirit Twelfth Night King Lear Blue Cubes Culture Shock Riding the Rails George Street Playhouse Classic Scenes from Plays and Novels: Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird, 1999 The Tempest, Summer Theatre Program, July 1999 The Case of the Missing Necklace, Summer Theatre Program, July 1998 Theseus and the Minotaur, Summer Theatre Program, July 1998 University of Pittsburgh Execution of Justice Guest Director for Mainstage Season 1994-95 I am a Camera M.F.A. Thesis Production Burn This Orchards Speed-the-Plow cited in IN PITTSBURGH: 1993 Outstanding Director/Production/Ensemble Performance
PERFORMANCE (representative roles)
Pride Theatre of NJ (June 2005) The Soldier Dreams Music Theatre North The Robber Bridegroom Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival Horse of a Different Color New Theatre at St. Francis University Lion in Winter A Man for All Seasons Cresson Lake Playhouse Death on the Nile Joseph...Dreamcoat The Curious Savage University of Pittsburgh What the Butler Saw The Changeling Hofstra University Twelfth Night Great God Brown No Exit Company Judy Marjorie/Chorus Tweenie Alais Margaret Jackie Mrs. Potiphar Fairy May Geraldine Antonio/Ensemble Maria Margaret Estelle Kathy
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STAGE MANAGEMENT
Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh, PA AEA Production Stage Manager: Taming of the Shrew, Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, STEEL/CITY, Comedy of Errors Assistant Stage Manager: The Tempest, Richard II, As You Like It, Othello Gargaro Productions, Pittsburgh, PA AEA Stage Manager: A Chorus Line Theatre at Hartwood, Pittsburgh, PA AEA Production Stage Manager: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest University of Pittsburgh/ Theatre Arts, Pittsburgh, PA Production Stage Manager: A Month in the Country, Happy End, The Oresteia American Stage Festival, Milford, NH Stage Management Internship, including STARMITES’ out-of-town try-out Music Theatre North, Potsdam, NY Assistant Stage Manager and Properties Assistant
COSTUME DESIGN
Costume Designer for John Evans and Dancers Red Hair is Better Divisible HENDRIX Latitude 161, Longitude 0 And the sea shall give up its dead Falling Lengthwise Twentynine Palms University of Pittsburgh Chamber Music The Oresteia (masks only)
Generous Undercurrent I Awoke Gasping Far As the Eye Can See Farming in Sixes HITCAT I’m Getting My Second Wind
HONORS and AWARDS
TheatreLink, participating teacher with Manhattan Theatre Club National distance learning arts education program via Internet and Video Conferencing Paper Mill Playhouse, Adopt-a-School, participating teacher for 3-year arts education program Teacher of the Year, 2001 NJ Governor’s Teacher Recognition Program
ADDITIONAL SKILLS AND INTERESTS
Playwriting: Down to a “T” (with Manhattan Theatre Club’s TheatreLink project) Culture Shock (with Manhattan Theatre Club’s TheatreLink project) Midnight Chimes (with Manhattan Theatre Club’s TheatreLink project) Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression
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Nine Muses in One: The Life of Isadora Duncan Think About It: Don’t Drink and Drive On the Piazza: Life with the Roosevelts on Sagamor Hill
Choreography: My Fair Lady Joseph… Dreamcoat King and I Oliver! Camelot
REFERENCES
The following are available to write letters of recommendation on my behalf: Dale Schmid Visual & Performing Arts Coordinator NJ Department of Education, Trenton, NJ (609) 984 - 6308 dschmid@doe.state.nj.us Holly Logue Department of Theatre, Chair Kean University, Union, NJ (908) 737 – 4420 hlogue@kean.edu Kathleen Flynn Dance Instructor, School of Performing Arts Middlesex County Vocational & Technical Schools East Brunswick, NJ (732) 254 – 8700 katfly001@yahoo.com