Theodore Roosevelt – “Teddy” to the world – was the face of America for more than a generation.   Powerful, opinionated, intensely loyal and devoted to the ideal of a just, honorable, and muscular America, he fought for a square deal for all Americans, he held out for high ideals, and he never preached anything he didn’t practice.  TR has been energetically brought back to life by Derek Evans in performances from the White House Visitor Center to grade school classrooms, museums and theaters across the United States. 

Evans will bring Roosevelt to life during September 19's humanities series performance at Coffeyville Community College. Klein will take the stage at 10:30 a.m. in the Spencer/Rounds Performing Arts Theatre. Admission is free and the public is invited.

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 the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and at New York University and holds bachelors and masters degrees from Northwestern University.  He is a veteran of over 40 stage productions in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.

In addition to his legitimate theatre career, from 1969 to 1988 he wrote, produced and performed in educational programs in association with Chicago’s Urban Gateways.  These totaled almost seven thousand performances for more than two million students over a period of twenty years and included Shakespeare, opera and American and British literary adaptations.

Since 1995 he has concentrated on living history presentations on Theodore Roosevelt, which have now totaled over 500 performances. 

He is a member of the Chicago History Museum and sits on the board of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, Chicago Chapter.  He maintains a professional reference library of over 400 volumes with emphasis on Theodore Roosevelt and 19th and early 20th Century American history more generally.  These include the complete published works of Theodore Roosevelt as well as Roosevelt’s presidential and gubernatorial papers and correspondence.  

He also maintains access to original source materials through the archives of Northwestern University, the Houghton Library at Harvard University, the Theodore Roosevelt Association, Dickenson State College, the Chicago History Museum and the Newberry Library.

For more information about the humanities project, please call 620-251-7700, ext. 2166.