[+] ALLEN JOHNSON (USA)
Another You
‘Hearing his work is like listening to somebody play pool. Like being in the same room with someone who knows what he’s doing.’ Robert Creeley
Allen Johnson’s recent work moves within and makes compelling use of the space between monologue and solo performance.
While holding fast to first-person narrative and the lack of any theatrical ‘fourth wall’, Another You employs a kinetic method of storytelling that incorporates abstracted phrasing and incantatory speech, along with a healthy dose of profanity. The result is a brutally honest portrait of human recklessness and the vulnerability needed for an intimate encounter with God, a lover, or oneself.
Johnson’s publications include Love Is The Last Taboo (Vendetta Books/Iniquity Press), Highland Park (Last Night Press), and American Sentences (Via Sophia Press). A collection of stories, What Exit, is in progress.
Another You was created, in part, through a residency at Caldera and has been made possible by a National Performance Network Creation Fund Award supported by PICA and On the Boards. Another You was birthed in Seattle after Sean Ryan’s West Coast premiere of Sarah Kane’s Crave. The staggering generosity of Kane’s writing, and her belief in the redemptive power of love’s foulest truths, have been fuel for this project ever since.
Thank You: Lane Czaplinski, Nikki Milican, On the Boards, Mark Russell, PICA, Margot Kenly and Bill Cumming, Henri Dufour, and Daniele Spirandelli.
photo by Tim Summers