Martha B Johnson

Professor Emerita

CB 41
johnsonm@augsburg.edu

Areas of Special Interest and Training:

Directing and acting; traditional Asian theater and performance; Asian American theater; ancient Greek performance; contemporary women鈥檚 theater.

Recent Shows Directed at Augsburg:

Eurydice聽by Sarah Ruhl

Life is a Dream聽(La vida es sue帽o) by Pedro Calder贸n de la Barca, translated and adapted by聽Nilo Cruz聽(area premiere)

Hedda Gabler聽by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Rolf Fjelde

滨濒濒耻蝉颈辞苍听by Pierre Corneille, freely adapted by Tony Kushner

Blood Wedding, by Federico Garcia Lorca, a new version by Ted Hughes

Artistic Work Outside Augsburg (selected):

Co-founder and Core Group Member, Mu Performing Arts

笔濒补测飞谤颈驳丑迟,听Dipped in Love, produced by Mu Performing Arts at the Mixed Blood Theater, New Directions Festival, 2007; and the Minnesota Fringe Festival, 2008

Associate Director,聽A Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dream, directed by Rick Shiomi, Mu Performing Arts, at the Southern Theater, 2006

Co-creator and performer,聽Floating Mothers, at the Playwrights鈥 Center, 2002

Co-creator and director,聽The Hand that Holds the String, produced by Mu Performing Arts, Southern Theater, 1997

Director, choreographer, co-creator,聽Triangles, Out-There Series, produced by Walker Art Center and the Southern Theater, 1993

Vice-President, Association for Asian Performance, 1990 – 1993

Publications:

鈥淩eflections of Inner Life: Masks and Masked Acting in Ancient Greek Tragedy and Japanese Noh Drama,鈥澛Modern Drama, 35, May, 1992 (Special East-West Issue)

Co-editor, Association for Asian Performance (AAP) Newsletter, 1987 – 1993

Department Activities:

Chair, Theatre Arts Department, 2004 – 2005

Chair of Speech/Communication and Theatre Arts Department and Theatre Arts Program Director, 1997 – 2004

Degree Area and Thesis/Dissertation Title:

Theater and Drama with a Minor in Art History and Classics

Dissertation title: The Mask in Ancient Greek Tragedy: A Reexamination Based on the Principles and Practices of the Noh Theatre of Japan

Current Research Interests:

Stage direction and dramaturgy; the creation and performance of new theatre works; playwriting; cross-cultural explorations of the traditional theatres of Asia; Asian American theatre; reexaminations of ancient Greek plays and performance; women鈥檚 theatre.

Education

  • B.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • M.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison

Areas of Teaching

  • Stage Direction
  • Theatre History and Criticism I and II
  • Introduction to Asian and Asian American Theater
  • Creative Drama: Acting and
  • Improvisation