Drama teacher Chris Evans is nothing if not persistent.

It was discouraging, he said, when he applied for teaching positions in several places only to be turned away, but in the end he was glad that he didn’t get another job as he was eventually offered a position at the school he himself attended.  It was an offer the 1983 CMR graduate readily accepted.

“The idea of coming back to where I was taught really appealed to me,” he said. “The bar was really set high here, and the idea of keeping it there or raising it some more [I] really [liked]. When there was the possibility of getting this job it really excited me.”

“The faculty, the community, and a majority of the students welcomed me,” Evans said. “The amount of kindness my wife, my kids, and I have received is staggering.”

Evans’ approach to teaching is very performance-oriented, he said.

“The way you learn about theatre is by doing theatre. I want students to discover the discipline and fun of acting,” Evans said. “The best of my part of my job is when a student gets it. That keeps theatre alive, that keeps education alive, and to be honest that keeps me alive.

“Theatre in its way is an activist medium. You can incite people to anger, you can [make] someone laugh, you can [make] someone cry, [and] you can change somebody’s mind,” he said. “Theatre always takes a stand, and that’s what I like. I love the ability to change someone, even if it’s just for a laugh.”