With a free public performance, acclaimed actress, vocalist and choreographer Ilene Evans returns to the area this February 18 to showcase the great blues, jazz and gospel singer Ethel Walters in “Taking A Chance On Love.” Eastern WV Community and Technical College invites students, staff and the community to enjoy the presentation at 12:30 pm on the college’s main campus at 316 Eastern Drive, just off Corridor H, two miles east of Route 220.
A free light lunch will precede the show at noon.
“Taking A Chance On Love” tells the story of Walters’ life from her early Philadelphia inner-city years to her triumph as an international star. “Out shimmying every sister in sight,” her career spanned the blues clubs, radio, television, Hollywood and the Broadway stage. Some consider Walters as “the first Black superstar.” Everyone agrees that she brought joy and admiration to audiences all around the world, and through her enormous talent and extraordinary work ethic, broke down the barriers of segregation, opening the way for countless African-American performers to enrich the nation’s and the world’s culture.
Ilene Evans, co-founder and artistic director of Voices from the Earth theatre in Thomas, and a featured performer with the West Virginia Humanities Council History Alive program, has delighted audiences of all ages with several previous appearances at Eastern, including her portrayals of Harriet Tubman, Coralie L. Franklin-Cook, and Mrs. Memphis Tennessee Garrison.
An inspired storyteller, performer and scholar, she brings history alive through music, poetry, dance and drama, and has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and internationally with her historical and original works. “She weaves a tapestry of stories, songs, and poems into a rapturous evening concert,” said Berkeley Springs author Jeanne Mozier, a former member of the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
WV’s Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) and the Community and Technical College System in West Virginia (WVCTCS) has made the program possible with a grant through the Diversity of Equity program.
For more information about Eastern’s financial aid opportunities, programs of study, workforce training and community education and events, call 304-434-8000, or toll-free: 877-982-2322; or check the College’s website: “www.easternwv.edu”.
Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College is a comprehensive and equal opportunity community and technical college that makes educational resources accessible to the families, communities, and employers of Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, Pendleton and Tucker counties. Eastern is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.