EVANS, DINA REES (DOC) (19 June 1891-20 Jan. 1989) trained a generation of actors as a drama instructor at Cleveland Hts. High School and the founding director of CAIN PARK THEATER. She was born in Chicago and received her bachelor's degree from the Univ. of South Dakota. During the 1920s she taught languages in Bozeman, Mont., while pursuing graduate degrees at the Univ. of Iowa. Her doctorate (1932) was the first granted for theater in the U.S. Evans meanwhile had moved to Cleveland, where she taught English and directed the Heights Players at Cleveland Hts. High from 1930-58. In 1934 she staged a summer production in a wooded ravine soon named Cain Park. A permanent amphitheater was built there in 1938, and Evans served as its managing director until 1950. She remained involved in Cain Park's activities until her retirement from teaching in 1958. Her alumni at Heights High and Cain Park included Joel Gray, Jack Weston, John Price of , and Wm. Boehm of the SINGING ANGELS. Evans moved to Arizona in retirement, where she bought and ran a local newspaper, organized a thester group, and married Harvey Shaw at the age of 72. She occasionally returned to Cleveland, notably in 1980 for the publication of her book on Cain Park Theatre: The Halcyon Years. Heights High renamed its auditorium after her in 1976, and Cain Park similarly renamed its main amphitheater in 1989. Following her death in Sun City, Ariz., her ashes were interred in the family plot in Gallipolis, O.
Last Modified: 10 Jul 1997 05:11:11 PM- Related Article(s)