RESUME
Martha B. Johnson
ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP
Minneapolis / Saint Paul, Minnesota
Full Circle Theater Company,
- Co-founder, Core Artist Leadership Group, 2014 - 2024
- Co-Artistic Director, 2014 - 2022
Theater Mu
- Co-founder
- Core Artistic Group, 1992 – 2013
21st Street Players
- Co-founder
- Co-Artistic Director, Core Artist, 1981-86
STAGE DIRECTOR
At Full Circle Theater:
- Antigonick, a new translation by Anne Carson of Sophocles' Antigone at Mixed Blood Theatre, May-June 2023.
- Glass and Lady M., Glass by Lindsey Bushnell and Lady M. by Martha B. Johnson, recording streamed virtually at the 2021 Minnesota Fringe Festival.
- Atacama by Augusto Federico Amador, staging of the first two scenes for public streaming, 2021.
- Glass and Lady M., Full Circle Theater production at Dreamland Arts, Minnesota 2019 Fringe Festival; received a Broadway World nomination for best original/new work.
- 365 Days/Plays by Suzan Lori-Parks: a 2017 Remix, provided the overall vision and staging concept and directed 16 of its 46 short plays, produced at Penumbra Theater, 2017.
- Assistant directed Caught by Christopher Chen, directed by Rick Shiomi, at the Guthrie Theater Dowling Studio in 2019.
- Assistant directed Theater: A Sacred Passage at Dreamland Arts in 2015, directed by Rick Shiomi.
At New Native Theater:
- Stolen Generation, by Ardie Medina, produced in Minneapolis and toured to various Native American Reservations and Communities in the upper Midwest, 2016
ANTIGONICK:
L-R: Dominique Jones, Oogie_Push, Laila Sahir, Keivin Vang
At Theater Mu/Mu Performing Arts:
- Dipped in Love, Playwright, Directed by Jennifer Weir, at the 2008 MN Fringe Festival. Cast: Maria Kelly, Momoko Tanno, and Jennifer Rives. Mixed Blood Theater, 2008.
- Dipped in Love, Playwright, Directed by Jennifer Weir, Cast: Katie Leo, Maria Kelly, Carolyn Pool; by Sarah Moore (aka Martha Johnson) New Directions Festival Mixed Blood Theater, 2007
- The Hand that Holds the String, Director, dramaturg, co-creator; produced at the Southern Theater (2 pieces billed as “Hand Women, Men Swing.”); developed from the personal narratives of four women who’d emigrated from India to the U.S., 1997
- Land of a Million Elephants, Director, Dramaturg; River of Dreams trilogy of new plays produced at Ordway’s McKnight Theater, based on the personal narrative of Pong Suryaday, Laotian immigrant and classical dancer, 1994
- Grace, Director, Dramaturg, Choreographer; at “Celestial Celebration” produced by Theater Mu, Asian American Renaissance, Asian Media Access, at Theatre de la Jeune Lune; Grace was written and performed by Rose Chu, Diane Espaldon, Sophia Kim, 1993
- Triangles, Director, Choreographer, Dramaturg; featuring Ed Bok Le, Rick Shiomi, Tom Lee; drummer Ju-Won Lee, 1992, as part of Theater Mu's 1992 Company Debut, "Many Voices" at the Southern Theater.
- Triangles was subsquently selected by Walker Art Center for its Out There Series, January 1993, featuring Ed Bok Le, Rick Shiomi, Tom Lee; drummer Ju-Won Lee, produced by Theater Mu.
Stage Direction Consultant/Assistant Director at Theater Mu, Rick Shiomi, Director, (selected):
- A Little Night Music, Park Square Theater, 2014
- The Mikado (re-envisioned), co-produced by Sklylark Opera, E. M. Pearson Theater, 2013
- Yellow Fever at the Dowling, the Guthrie Theater, 2013
- Flower Drum Song, McKnight Theater, Orway Center for Performing Arts, 2009
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Southern Theater, 2006
Ranee Ramaswamy, Veena Deo, Mithu Mukherjee-Schwartz, Santwana Dasgupta: Hand that Holds the String
PLAYWRIGHT/DRAMATURG/PERFORMER
- Antigonick, Dramaturg (& Director), a new translation by Anne Carson, of Sophocles' Antigone at Mixed Blood Theatre, Full Circle Theater, 2023
- Dipped in Love, Playwright; Japanese translation by Momoko Tanno, co-produced in Tokyo by KinderSpace Theater and Full Circle theater, directed by Kazuki Harada, 2019
- Theater a Sacred Passage, Co-writer, Dramaturg, produced by Full Circle Theater, 2015
- Dancing with Demons, Co-writer/Performer, with Iris Shiraishi; staged reading presented by Mu Performing Arts, Dreamland Arts, New Eyes Festival, exploring personal demons holding women back in the professional theater world, 2009
- Dipped in Love, Playwright; directed by Jennifer Weir, produced by Mu Performing Arts at Mixed Blood Theater for the New Directions Festival, 2007; and subsequently for the Minnesota Fringe Festival, 2008
- Floating Mothers, Co-writer/Performer; independently produced at The Playwrights’ Center, with Darcey Engen, based on personal narratives as mothers, 2002
- The Hand that Holds the String, Co-creator, Dramaturg; written and performed by Ranee Ramaswamy, Mithu Mukherjee-Schwartz, Veena Deo, and Santwana DasGupta; Produced by Mu Performing Arts, 1997
- World of Glass, Performer (Britomart); Co-conceiver; Co-artistic director; independently produced; an adaptation of Spenser's Faerie Queene, by Alexandra Cromwell, Southern Theatre; choreographed by Ranee Ramaswamy, 1994
- Lucretia, Director, Performer (Lucretia); a theatrical impression of Rembrandt’s painting of Lucretia housed at Mia (Minneapolis Museum of Art), with a script inspired by Thornton Wilder’s rarely staged The Rape of Lucrece; co-presented by 21st Street Players and Mia, in association with: “Lucretia: Theater, Word, & Image,” symposium featuring British artist and curator Sir Lawrence Gowing, April,1987
- Rashōmon, Performer (Masago); Dramaturg; conceived, directed, and choreographed by Kita Noh actor Akira Matsui, Hennepin Center for the Arts, 21st Street Players, May-June, 1985
- A Journey to the Well, Performer; (Queen, Evil Sister); Dramaturg; an original theater piece created for 21st Street Players by poet Robert Bly, Landmark Center and Hennepin Center for the Arts, 21st Street Players, 1984
- Hōichi, Performer (Warrior - Noritsune; Buddhist Nun - Jakusho); Dramaturg; conceived, directed, and choreographed by Kita Noh actor Akira Matsui; based on Japanese tale, HOICHI, with English script by Dorothea Jensen; commissioned by Walker Art Center, 21st Street Players, May, 1983
TRIANGLES, Theater Mu; Ed Bok Le, Rick Shiomi, Tom Lee; drummer Ju-Won Lee (Photo: Charissa Uemura)
STAGE DIRECTOR, TEACHING ARTIST, PROFESSOR
Augsburg University - 1988 - 2014 - Direction of 30 main-stage productions:
- Classic plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Kalidasa, Shakespeare, Calderon, Corneille, Moliere, Chekhov, Ibsen, and Garcia Lorca
- Modern playwriting adaptations of Greek tragedy: John Lewin’s House of Atreus; Jean Anouilh’s Antigone;
- Contemporary reimaginings of Greek tragedy or myth: Anne Carson’s Antigonick; Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice
- Various other modern and contemporary works
- Photo: A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2014, courtesy of Augsburg University
Areas of Teaching
- Stage Direction
- Theater History and Criticism
- Traditional Theaters of Asia
- Asian American Theater
- Movement and Improvisation