[CW-Grad] Chuck Evered in the NY Times

[Bala Rajasekharuni]

Dear Chuck,

Bala here. Congratulations on your tenure and the NY Times
appearance. Can't wait to see your film:-)
Best wishes.
Bala.
--- On Mon, 5/10/10, Robin Russin <robin.russin at ucr.edu> wrote:

From: Robin Russin <robin.russin at ucr.edu>
Subject: [CW-Grad] Chuck Evered in the NY Times
To: "CW Grad Announcements" <cwgrad-announcements at lists.ucr.edu>
Date: Monday, May 10, 2010, 10:31 PM

Huzzahs-- and for those who haven't heard, Chuck just got tenure!
Robin

Subject: "Class" /  Evered--- NY Times



  

  


 
A Playwright Inspired by 
Teachers




 
By ANITA GATES 
A movie star walks into a small, run-down New 
York studio. Earning $6 million a picture, she feels like a fraud. She has come 
to seek the help of an acting teacher who was once a distinguished actor and now 
has a major chip on his shoulder. 



Enlarge This Image 
Alicia Grasso'CLASS' Heather Matarazzo and Thaao Penghlis 
star in the Charles Evered play. 
That’s the setup for Charles 
Evered’s play “Class,” which has its world premiere at 
Cape May 
Stage in a run starting Friday. Mr. Evered’s past plays 
have included “Running Funny” and “Adopt a Sailor,” which was made into a 2008 
film with Bebe Neuwirth and Peter Coyote. He acknowledges that 
he has written about a teacher this time because of three cherished mentors in 
his own life. 
Born in Passaic and raised in Rutherford, he attended Rutherford 
High School. His English teacher there was Hugh Thomas, who had been in the 
original (1960) cast of “The Fantasticks.” “He was the first person to turn me on to theater, that it 
deserves respect,” Mr. Evered, 45, said in a telephone interview from a friend’s 
home in Pennsylvania. Mr. Thomas acted out Shakespearean scenes in class, Mr. Evered 
recalled: “He’d do the murder scene from ‘Julius Caesar,’ ” playing both 
parts. After graduating from Rutgers, Mr. Evered studied drama at Yale, 
where he was taught by George Roy Hill, the Oscar-winning 
film director. Because of his background in making successful, popular movies 
like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” Mr. Hill did not get a lot of respect 
at Yale, Mr. Evered said. “There was a real interesting snobbism,” he recalled. “It’s a 
kind of proof of failure if you’ve reached a lot of people.” Mr. Evered’s third mentor was the actor and director Austin 
Pendleton. “I basically got coffee for him at the 
Williamstown Theater Festival for a couple of 
years,” Mr. Evered said, referring to the prestigious Massachusetts 
organization. In “Class,” the mentor is played by Thaao Penghlis, best known as a 
television soap-opera actor; he played Tony DiMera — kidnapper, rapist, count — 
on “Days of Our Lives.” The play’s director is Roy 
Steinberg, who worked on that soap opera as a director 
and producer. The actress is played by Heather 
Matarazzo — yes, little Heather Matarazzo of the 1995 indie 
film “Welcome to the Dollhouse.” She’s 
27 now. Mr. Evered plans to be there for the play’s opening night 
performance, on Saturday. Although he and his family are living in California 
now, while his wife recuperates from an automobile accident, they own a house in 
Princeton and consider New Jersey home. ANITA GATES  


“Class,” by Charles Evered, is at Cape May Stage, Robert Shackleton 
Playhouse, Bank and Lafayette Streets, through June 12. (609) 884-1341; 
capemaystage.com.END 


Robin Russin
Associate Professor & Graduate Advisor
Department of Theatre
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
(951) 827-2707
(213) 949-1061 cel
robin.russin at ucr.eduhttp://robinrussin.com

"I try all things; I achieve what I can." - Ishmael in "Moby Dick," written by Herman Melville
"Deserve's got nothin' to do with it." - William Munny in "Unforgiven," written by David Webb Peoples



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