Rasean Davonté Johnson is a video artist and designer of scenery, sound, and projections for theatre, film, and installations. With his design studio eightinfinitystudio he has created and co-created such works as A Night of Wonder, A March to Liberation, We Are All In This Together, Living Sculpture, and Passenger. His installation and performance work has been commissioned by or performed at institutions such as the New York Philharmonic, the Beinecke Rare Books Library, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Logan Arts Center, Bay Street Theatre, dfbrl9r, the Columbus International Film Festival, Manual Cinema, Shadowbox Live, and Collaboraction. Theatrical design work includes collaborations with numerous institutions including Steppenwolf Theatre Company, South Chicago Dance Theatre, Chicago Opera Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Timeline Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, Everyman Theatre, The Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and internationally with The Ningbo Song and Dance Company (China), B-Floor Theatre (Thailand), and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland). For his work as a theatrical designer he has been nominated and awarded the Joseph Jefferson Award, Connecticut Critics Circle Award, the SALT Award, and the Black Theatre Alliance Award. Additionally, he was a part of the the 2017 Opera America Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Showcase in Houston and given the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award in 2018. He received his BA in Theatre from The Ohio State University and his MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama.
Meet our Director of Design!
What most excites you about joining TAPS as our inaugural Director of Design?
The University of Chicago's theatre cohort has historically had an enormous impact on the Chicago theatre community at large. There have been a number of artists from here that have gone on to found various institutions, from one of the most elite improvisational comedy troupes in the county to a world-touring shadow puppetry company. Much of that comes from a self guided exploration into what performance is. I am very excited to be a part of that level of commitment to look for new ideas and new ways of seeing. There are so many possibilities.
As a Projection Designer, you have the fascinating job of making things appear on stage, yet you also shape the more abstract qualities of a production like the mood or tone. How do you think about your role relative to the other design departments (sets, costumes, lights, props, sound)? What drew you to this specialty?
I started working as a projection designer adjacent to working in film, television, and photography. My interest in those fields came from my love of cinema and storytelling as well as magic. It is sometimes amazing to me as I continue to practice, that although I 'fell' into it, I have always been in pursuit of it. The origins of projections can be traced to shadow puppetry on cave walls, to magic lanterns utilized by 19th century magicians. When done right, it opens a window to the imaginary in ways that continue to surprise even me and allows for the immediacy of intimate theater and density of film. For me, the minds eye is a powerful tool that connects the lives of the audience to the situation on stage lived by the characters, and I believe projections are a great way in for that. My favorite thing to do is to make the projections so ingrained in the space that people don't even realize there are projections in the show. I try to merge projections into the aesthetic of other disciplines so that it is often hard to distinguish. One time I made audience members think there were loose birds in the theater because every so often I projected very quick shadows of birds going through the tree tops.
You have taught in several distinguished theatre and performance departments. What do you like most about teaching?
It is very cliché to say that I learn from the students; however, it is hard to pull away from that narrative. The truth is there are some very smart people that I have had the honor to teach. There are so many perspectives of performance: From the novice to the critically astute, everyone has an interesting thing to contribute to the conversation around performative art mainly because everyone is exposed to and participates in some form to storytelling. Engaging in that conversation keeps me on my toes and challenges my own preconceptions of what I think is 'correct.' It requires me to be aware of my own work and how it is in conversation with where everyone else is at. What a gift for us all to be able to grow from that kind of environment.
You have approached theatre and performance from a lot of different perspectives, including that of actor and martial artist. Can you describe a moment in your career path that continues to reverberate in your artistic practice?
Back in 2012, I left Chicago to come back home to Columbus. I had gotten a job in a tea shop and had become what the company called a 'tea ambassador.' I learned about the history and process of making over 150+ teas. It was definitely a different rhythm of being in the theatre. Many parts of my life slowed down and others sped up, as anyone who has worked in food service can tell you. I had thought my involvement in the arts would be taking a step back, but quite to the contrary I participated in a more diverse amount projects; from a rap video, to several installations, I had a photography exhibit and vj'd at the local theatre for parties. It was during that time that I got a chance to analyze what I really enjoy. Sometime paths are a soft left and others a hard right, but whatever the circumstance if you have a passion for storytelling there will always be an opportunity to tell your story, because interestingly, there will always someone who will want to listen.
You have a remarkable professional career. What do you think makes for a great production experience? Do you have any golden rules that you try to live by?
It is really easy to go through the motions of designing. You read the play, try to figure out what story is about, and communicate an interesting way to visualize that on stage with the resources you have. However, when I think of some of my proudest moments in theatre, it was when I got a chance to work with and talk through with design team and ask the question 'what are we trying to do with this story for the audience?' It is a very easy to get very complicated with this answer, but what I have found is that the simpler this answer is, the more you can let the playwright do the heavy lifting. Sometime it's 'I want the audience to feel like this is a party' or 'I want people to call their parents at the end of this' or 'I want people play djembes.' Keeping your meta goal simple makes ways for all sorts of micro opportunities to add nuance.
The pandemic has had a significant impact on the performing arts. What challenges and opportunities do you anticipate for students thinking about a career in theatre, dance, or devised performance?
I believe we are in a transformational juncture in the performing arts. There are so many layers of technology and human interaction that we played with during 'the online years' of theatre performance. Film, VR, 360 video, multi-venue performance, all of which existed before but were never invested in at such a scale in most American theatres. When I started out there was a very defined idea of how performance should be produced in this country. There were many examples of success and, although there had been plenty of experimentation in the past, there was always a group of established theatre audiences that not only understood but looked forward to the established American theatre canon. The common refrain is that audiences haven't returned yet, however, whoever that audience is, they are not the same people who returned to in person events such as sports, concerts, and festivals (which have seen higher attendance numbers than pre-pandemic). The challenge now is: are the performing arts ready to engage this audience? What kind of stories do they want to listen to and experience? Will they enjoy themselves? Will they come back? Will they sing songs of the show when they go home? Will they feel like it was worth paying for a babysitter? I believe the arts can, but are we willing to ask those questions? If we can, we will see a type of performance no one has ever seen before.
Do you have a hidden talent?
I was in the choir for 15+ years and was in every school musical in high school. That has translated into a hyper local karaoke career. I am currently semi-retired.