On Wednesday, January 26th, we will be meeting with John A. Johnson, founder of Verbal Gymnastics Theater Company. As described on the organization’s Facebook page, “Verbal Gymnastics is an interactive theater company where storytelling and art meet the community.” This description fits perfectly with our class’s own objectives of connecting arts and democracy. We have spoken with numerous members of organizations, agencies, and museums to hear their perspectives on the place of the arts in society. After doing my research, am excited to hear Mr. Johnson’s perspective as a local artist and business owner himself.
Verbal Gymnastics is based in the Washington D.C. area and has performed at several of the local venues made its home with the Anacostia Playhouse. Based on my research, I believe the Verbal Gymnastics is a relatively new group, having started formal under the name performances in 2015, but I was not able to find an official year of establishment (I am sure Mr. Johnson will clarify in his introduction). It also appears that, like every art organization, COVID hit Verbal Gymnastics hard and halted activities besides a few Zoom events over the past two years. Pre-Pandemic, Verbal Gymnastics offered three main services: storytelling workshops, poetry readings, and Playback Theater.
Playback Theater is an interactive, improvised performance where actors reenact stories provided by the
audience about their lives. It was first developed in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas in mid-Hudson Valley, New York (USA). Since then, playback theater has developed into a prominent performance form. It even has its own school of instruction, The Center for Playback Theater. It can be an exchange of experiences between diverse groups of people and is often used in civic dialogue, educational environments, activist theater, etc. You can listen to John Johnson talk more about this on the podcast Grapevine Health, ep. Hear Me Out anywhere you listen to podcasts. It would also not surprise me if playback theater was a major topic in our discussion.
John A. Johnson holds a B.A. in Theater Arts from The University of the District of Columbia. He is a former Drama Therapist at the District’s Youth Services Center. He is an established playwright and poet, having published and reserved recognition for several works. The artist has written and performed six original plays about life in D.C. For his poetry, Mr. Johnson was the 2018 winner of Day Eight’s DC Poet Project and has performed at numerous events. He is a three-time Artist Fellow of the DC Arts Commission, an agency that provides funding to arts projects in the area, much like the NEA or MN State Arts Board.
I am looking forward to our discussion on Wednesday, and hope that we will be able to gain one final perspective into the connections between Democracy and the Arts in Washington D.C.