Biography

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

             After receiving her B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology from Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois, Ms. Evans received extensive theater and dance training in the master's degree program at the University of Wisconsin.  Later, Ms. Evans joined and worked with the dance collaborative called “Momenta!” at the Academy of Movement and Music based in Oak Park, IL.  There she performed and taught ballet, jazz and modern dance. In 1988, 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 and started  touring her original work, General Moses, Stories from the Life of Harriet Tubman.  Ms. Evans received the Tidmarsh Foundation for the Arts grant for General Moses.  She has performed her piece in conjunction with a companion workshop about the Underground Railroad.  Among Ms. Evans' other performances are Harvest of Dreams, and They Call Me Ms. Memphis. These pieces reveal the rich African American culture through stories, songs, and poems. In 2000, Ms Evans performed Harvest of Dreams to 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. Ms. Evans 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. Last year, 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. Ms Evans continues to develop new programs, record and offer educational arts experiences. She is currently researching and developing  a new character for portrayal by the name of Coralie Franklin Cook. She was an elocutionist and professor at Howard University, having graduated from Storer College in Harpers Ferry, WV in 1880.

The symbol on the dress is of the mythological Sankofa bird.

It is a symbol from the Akan People  of West Africa to encourage us to learn from our past. It is to remind us to look back, there may be something we need to fetch from the past that will help us now.

 Welcome

Ilene Evans

 For Bookings Contact :   info@vfte.org                   phone 304-463-4561

Mailing Address P.O. Box 444, Thomas, WV 26292

 For international bookings contact: tony@icacdafrica.org

Reviews

By  Dolores Johnson

Reviewer  - for the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc. March 2008

 

In a one woman show, Ilene Evans performed “A Harvest of Dreams” at the historical 16^th Street Baptist Church in Huntington, WV.  The performance was contracted by the women of 16^th Street Church and the Huntington Club of the Black Professional and Business Women’s Clubs, Inc.   Honoring African American Women, the focus on dreams was represented in poetry prose, story and song, Ms. Evans held the group spellbound as she interpreted literature by and about African Americans.

 

             Her opening story, “The Crossing,”  of a newly freed slave woman and her children, waiting to cross the Ohio River into free country, was based on the life of the great grandmother of Dr. Ancella Bickley, a former resident of the Huntington-Charleston community.  Other pieces that stood out were her renditions of “I’ve Known Women”, an original poem, loosely based on Langston Hughes’ “I’ve Known Rivers;”  “The Loathly Lady,” and “The Corpse Bride.”  Familiar poems by Langston Hughes, Paul L. Dunbar, and Waring Cuney were interspersed throughout the show.  The mesmerizing stories, mixed in with beautiful songs, lullabies and dance provided a powerful tribute to women.

 

             Graced by the magic of her art, Ilene’s stamina and artistry kept her audience enthralled as she sewed seeds of dreams into their hearts and minds.  The former president of the WV Story Teller’s guild,  Ms. Evans, has also presented two History Alive characters for the WV Humanities Council, Harriet Tubman and Memphis T. Garrison.

 

Ms. Evans may be contacted online through her artistic company Voices of the Earth at  Ilene@vfte.org  or www.voicesfromtheearth.org.