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’s theater.

Recent Shows Directed at Augsburg:

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl

Life is a Dream (La vida es sueño) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, translated and adapted by Nilo Cruz (area premiere)

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Rolf Fjelde

±õ±ô±ô³Ü²õ¾±´Ç²ÔÌýby 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

±Ê±ô²¹²â·É°ù¾±²µ³ó³Ù,ÌýDipped in Love, produced by Mu Performing Arts at the Mixed Blood Theater, New Directions Festival, 2007; and the Minnesota Fringe Festival, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

Publications:

“Reflections of Inner Life: Masks and Masked Acting in Ancient Greek Tragedy and Japanese Noh Drama,â€Â 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’s 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