Evelyn grew up in Ohio participating in theatre, dance, and music programs as a child.  A long family legacy led her to enroll in Georgetown College in Kentucky, and she thrived artistically in this liberal arts environment.  The small college setting enabled her to learn and implement a variety of skills necessary to launch full theatrical productions.  She worked on nearly 20 productions in her 4 years at Georgetown, while also committing herself to work in the community.  She worked with the Georgetown Historical Society, the Georgetown Children’s Theatre, and the Genisius Players at the Carnegie Theatre in Covington, KY during her college years.  As an award-winning competitor in Speech & Debate in high school and college, she also adjudicated for speech contests held at Scott County High School while she was in college.  Once Evelyn graduated from Georgetown, she began looking for the next step to build her theater skills and career.  That search led her to Boston, MA.

Evelyn’s M.A. in Theatre Education from Emerson College in Boston culminated in a thesis, which examined the effects of devised work in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.  Post-graduation Evelyn earned certification in Youth Development and Youth Worker Supervision through the BEST Initiative, and worked directly with over 15 Boston Area arts organizations. Her work as a theatre educator includes work at the Boston Center of the Arts, North Shore Music Theater, Cambridge Friends School, and the Underground Railway Theater. At the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston she worked as an actor and tour guide for the Art In Motion program for youth and families. At the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, CT she trained a team of docents in the Art In Motion methodology.  At the Ellis/Eldridge Memorial Center, she co-created an intergenerational project which culminated in an original script and production by youth in the afterschool program and elders from the senior center that were part of the second great migration from the South to North in the 1950s.  As an arts administrator she worked with City Stage Company, The Children’s Art Centre, and Emerson College.  At United South End Settlements, she launched and administered the South End Center for Adult Education with 120 fee-for-service instructors per year serving over 1200 students.  Evelyn also worked as a Development Assistant and Event Coordinator for Liz Page Associates, a special events and fundraising company based in Boston that founded the Boston AIDS Walk.

Evelyn joined The Theater Offensive as the lead teaching artist for True Colors: Out Youth Theater in 2001 and rose through the ranks to lead the organization as Producing Co-Executive Director beginning in 2018.  Over the years, Evelyn produced and directed countless touring productions, fundraisers with celebrity headliners, receptions, and community events.  She led the organization’s participation in advocacy events at the state house and throughout Massachusetts in conjunction with the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Arts Boston, and MASSCreative.  Evelyn also built an accessible regranting programs for local and national artists, providing support for specific projects as well as general operating support.  As a result of her work, True Colors was designated the 2008 Social Innovator for Empowering Youth through the Arts by the Social Innovation Forum.  In 2014, the Massachusetts Non-Profit Network honored The Theater Offensive with the Excellence Award for Youth Leadership on the Board.  In 2016, True Colors was honored by the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America with the Orlin Corey Medallion Award.  In 2016, Evelyn had the honor of attending a White House Ceremony for the President’s Committee for the Arts and the Humanities Youth Program Award.  She accepted the award on behalf of True Colors, the first time an LGBTQ-specific organization had won this award, from First Lady Michelle Obama.

As a collaborating researcher and co-author of the Boston Youth Arts Evaluation Project (BYAEP) Workbook/Guidebook, Evelyn applied research of various national youth arts models and theories in order to develop an innovative logic model and evaluation/assessment tools, which have been utilized and adapted by youth arts programs around the world.  Evelyn is no stranger to pioneering interdisciplinary research efforts. In 2013 and 2014, Evelyn served as the lead researcher on projects in collaboration with the Boston Children’s Hospital.  The first project studied the effect of LGBTQ-specific youth theater programming as an intervention for low self-esteem and depression in LGBTQ youth.  The second project studied the impact of a theater-based HIV workshop on health outcomes which will soon be published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action (Volume 15, Issue 2, Summer 2021).  Both of these projects demonstrate Evelyn’s innovative approach to impacting youth arts models on a larger scale. 

A strong leader, she has spread the knowledge gleaned from her work on the national stage. In 2012, she became the founding co-chair of the Pride Youth Theater Alliance (PYTA), a network of queer youth theaters across the continent, and continues to serve on the board today. She has also facilitated workshops and trainings across the country including conferences and convenings with Americans for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, National Task Force, American Alliance of Theater and Education Annual, National Guild for Community Arts Education, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Pride Youth Theater Alliance, the Boston GLSEN, Boston Trans Youth Summit, True Colors, Inc., Lesley University, and Tufts University.

In recent years, Evelyn worked with SPARC, a youth-arts organization in Richmond, VA, instituting a new organizational model based on the principles of Universal Design and Creative Youth Development, and establishing a permanent EDI Committee to the Board of Directors.

With a wealth of experience in non-profit leadership and a deep desire to share her experience more broadly, Evelyn now spearheads FIG Creative Consulting as the founder and lead consultant.  The firm collaborates with non-profit leaders to increase the effectiveness of organizations and maximize community impact.  FIG helps organizations achieve desired outcomes for their products/programs, to expand their reach, and to retain a diverse workforce.  

At home, Evelyn loves to be creative in her albeit limited spare time with dancing, paper art, jewelry making, gardening, and interior design. As a committed and compassionate leader, Evelyn uses her creativity and leadership to inspire social change around the globe.