Perseverance • Dr. Billy Taylor

DAN CHACE, Producer and Co-Director
Born in Detroit, in 1960, Dan Chace moved to Ann Arbor with his family in 1967. His father, then a Michigan doctoral student in engineering, brought the family to Michigan Stadium for the first time in 1968. Witnessing the dawn of Bo Schembechler’s era as head coach, Chace came to idolize Michigan football, especially, the dynamic Michigan sophomore running back, Billy Taylor. As a child, Chace ushered at the stadium, and participated in summer youth football clinics held on the newly installed Tartan Turf, where the local kids received instruction from Michigan football coaches, including Bo Schembechler, Jerry Hanlon, Gary Moeller, Chuck Stobart and others.

In 1970, Billy Taylor visited Newport Elementary (among other Ann Arbor area schools) as part of a community outreach program. His appearance at Newport created an indelible memory for Chace, when Taylor autographed the awestruck ten-year-old’s football. In January 1975, Chace and many other devoted fans were stunned by local headlines announcing Billy Taylor’s arrest and incarceration, for participating in a failed bank robbery attempt in Ohio. Disillusioned, Chace, then 14, forgot about his hero entirely.

A 1978 graduate of Ann Arbor Huron High School, Chace ran track for local coaching legend, Kent Overbey, developed creative writing skills with teacher Carol Billings, and picked up the acting bug from drama instructor, Janet Stolarevsky, who cast him in a student production of Tartuffe, which won first place in a statewide drama competition. Enrolling as a student at the University of Michigan in 1979, Chace was part of the emotional stadium crowd, that at the 1981 Iowa game, saw beloved radio announcer Bob Ufer, address fans for the last time, leading them in a chorus of the “The Victors” through an open window in the old Michigan press box.

While at Michigan, Chace acted in several productions on campus, most notably as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, at the Power Center. The production was directed by Richard Burgwin, and guest-starred venerable University of Michigan professor and actress, Claribel Baird Halstead, as the Nurse. Chace also worked in several graduate student film and television projects, where he met PERSEVERANCE Co-director, Bob Hercules. Chace graduated in 1983, with a B.A. in Theater and Drama.

U of M’s strong theater department helped Chace win admittance to the Yale School of Drama, which he began in 1984. Yale’s intensive M.F.A. program, involved classes, rehearsal and performances, 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, over three years. Chace’s love for Shakespeare, begun at Michigan, was furthered at Yale, through leading roles in The Tempest and Midsummer Night’s Dream. Chace absorbed the work of many fine theater artists at Yale, such as Lloyd Richards, Earle Gister, James Earl Jones, Athol Fugard, August Wilson, Dario Fo, Wesley Fata, Zoe Alexander and Deborah Hecht.

Graduating from Yale in 1987, Chace worked briefly in New York, appearing in a short scene with Sandra Bullock in one of her earliest films, Who Shot Pat? After moving to Los Angeles, notable experience included a lead role in a foreign vampire feature, shot in Istanbul, Turkey, and creative collaboration with actor & director Tim Russ. Chace also taught Shakespeare at the Stella Adler Academy in Hollywood and worked as a private acting coach.

Augmenting his creative pursuits over several years, Chace worked as a project and property manager for Los Angeles real estate developer and philanthropist Thomas Safran. In early 2009, Chace was hired as the Director of Business Development and Marketing for engineering consultancy, BREEN Engineering. His work for BREEN included brand development, oversight of website design and collateral materials, federal proposal writing, and coordination of business development efforts.

In 2010, while watching a program related to Michigan’s longtime rivalry with Ohio State, a question came up: What ever happened to Billy Taylor? A web search revealed that Taylor was alive and well, having recently formed a residential substance recovery center in Detroit, called Get Back Up, Incorporated. Chace was inspired by Taylor’s story of struggle and recovery and reached out to the former Michigan star. The two began to correspond, and in the fall of 2010, after the passage of 40 years, their paths crossed again, during a meeting at Taylor’s new facility. A growing friendship led Taylor to entrust Chace with development of projects based on Taylor’s life. Filming for PERSEVERANCE began in Ann Arbor in November of 2011. For Dan Chace, PERSEVERANCE: The Story of Billy Taylor, is the manifestation of a childhood dream come true, one that a ten-year-old boy with an autographed football could not have imagined.

BOB HERCULES – Co-Director
IMDB

Bob Hercules’ seasoned experience and various professional contributions as Co-Director, were essential in bringing PERSEVERANCE: The Story of Dr. Billy Taylor to reality. A veteran television producer/director and a co-founder of owner of Media Process Group of Chicago, Hercules received his Master of Arts in Communications from the University of Michigan in 1984. Hercules met Chace at Michigan while making student films.

Hercules’ work has been seen widely on PBS, the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel and the Independent Film Channel. He has directed corporate programs and commercials for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Alzheimer’s Association, McDonalds, Gap Clothing Stores, Easter Seals, Children’s Memorial Hospital, University of Iowa Hospitals and the Obama for President Campaign.

Hercules most recent documentary, “A Good Man” (co-produced with Kartemquin Films), chronicles acclaimed choreographer Bill T. Jones over two years as he creates a work about the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. The film premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and will air on PBS’ American Masters program November, 2011. He also recently completed “The Joffrey Ballet: Mavericks of American Dance” (narrated by Mandy Patinkin).

Hercules’ 2009 documentary, “Radical Disciple: The Story of Father Pfleger,” chronicles the controversial priest and how his political activism has brought him into conflict with Catholic hierarchy. The film premiered at the 2009 Black Harvest Film Festival in Chicago and won Best Documentary at the 2010 Big Muddy Film Festival.

In 2006 Hercules and MPG co-owner Keith Walker made the film “Senator Obama Goes to Africa,”—a chronicle of the then-Senator’s momentous 2006 diplomatic trip to Africa including an emotional visit to his late father’s homeland near Kisumu, Kenya. The film also includes stops at the infamous Robben Island prison in Capetown, South Africa and a Darfur refugee camp in Eastern Chad. It is now in home video release from First Run Features.

“Forgiving Dr. Mengele” is a 2006 documentary co-produced with Cheri Pugh. The film is a portrait of Auschwitz survivor and former ‘Mengele twin’ Eva Mozes Kor, the transformation that led her to forgive the Nazi perpetrators to heal herself, and the controversy it sparked. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival.