NDIGO: What else are you doing?
CHAZ: We are working on a TV production, “Great Movie Series.”
NDIGO: How is Roger’s online site?
CHAZ: Roger and I founded RogerEbert.com. We were ahead of the curve. We urged the Sun Times to become active online Today, we have over 40 movie critics from all over the world. There are four editors and two assistant editors. We have foreign correspondents in France, Brazil, Egypt, Australia, Mexico, Poland, Canada, England, South Korea and the Philippines. All of these people are writing about movies from their perspectives. The site attracts 30% of the traffic from outside of the United States and I asked correspondents from all over the world to share their point of view.
NDIGO: What did you think about Jackie Taylor’s play based on you and Roger?
CHAZ: I like it every much. I was there for opening night. I am pleased. It shows how important music was to the both of us and what an important role it played in our lives. Often music can take on serious issues and talk about them in seriously. The casting was well done. Rashid Dawen plays me and Kevin Pollack plays Roger. They both do a fine job. During intermission many people thought that I was on stage playing myself.
Jackie told our story. We traveled the world and found racism unacceptable. The plays points out things maybe many didn’t know. Roger lived for his grandchildren. He had cancer when we married and it had been in remission for 10 years and reoccurred after we married. The story shares the depth of our living and the challenges we faced as a couple. The story is about our life and our love. Jackie did a fine job and I was amazed at how she presented it. Music was important to us. Our first date was at the Lyric Opera. We loved music from the Opera to the Blues.
