QUANDA JOHNSON1194 First Avenue (5E) New York 10065-7113

917−855−7458Quanda.Johnson2015@gmail.com

PERSONAL PROFILE As an academic and an artist, my goal is to refine my skills in scholarship and performance as I endeavor to effectively chronicle histories of Black people worldwide, and seek out innovation in disseminating this historical and cultural legacy to as broad an audience as possible. I am a professional stage performer, including: acting, concert performance, spoken word art, opera, and musical theater.  I have performed on and off Broadway, in regional theater, and in national and international tours.  As a Fulbright scholar in Nova Scotia, Canada (2013 -- 2014) my poetry, drama, and visual art is featured in my original theatrical concert Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs.  I am the founder and artistic director of THE QUEST FACTOR, a think-tank/production company creating theatrical "event" concerts that examine persons, circumstances, and events of the African Diaspora that have made or are making a global impact on thought, history, science, and/or culture.  These concerts are multimedia, multi-disciplinary events that fracture widely held views and/or perceptions regarding persons of African descent, then reassemble vantages of Black history.

EDUCATION New York University – Dean’s Graduate Scholar, Gallatin School

Africana Studies/Performance Activism (2015-2017) Columbia University – Graduate Continuing Education

African American Studies (2014-2015) New York University – Graduate Continuing Education

Africana Studies (2014-2015) Dalhousie Univ./Nova Scotia College of Art & Design – Fulbright (2013-2014)   Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College – MM – Vocal Perf. (2011-2013) The New School for Drama – MFA – Acting (2008-2011) The Juilliard School – Evening Division – Vocal Perf. (2005-2011) American Musical and Dramatic Academy – Certificate – Musical Theater (1990) Beyond my academic work in the creative arts, I have had years of extensive

private and group study in the following areas and with the following instructors:Scene Study     Austin Pendleton/Wynn Handman/ Karen Kohlhaas                       On Camera  Jeffrey Stocker/Penny Templeton/Roger                                         Voice Over Dan Duckworth/Ruth Nerken Voice              Cris Frisco/Mignon Dunn

Manhattan School of Music – Professional Musical Theater Workshop

Quanda Johnson/1

Paul Gemignani                        Artistic/Musical DirectorCarolann Page                          Vocal Instruction

            Austin Pendleton                      Acting InstructionPaul Ford                                  Accompanist/Vocal Coach

         Joanna Merlin                           Audition Techniques         Ginger Thatcher                        Dance/Movement        Robert Kimball                         Musical Theater History

STUDY ABROAD Ghana: Accra/Kumasi/Cape Coast, Brooklyn College, Africana Studies

(June/July 2013) Antigua/Barbuda, Brooklyn College, Archaeology/Anthropology (January 2013)

LECTURES TEDx Jersey City – Metamorphosis

Breaking to Build: Dismantling Black Archetypes through Collage as Performance Art (November 2015)

Dalhousie University – Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs                                                    (Music Dept.-March 2014)

-- The Female Slave Narrative and Ladies of Classic Blues   (Gender and Women’s Studies Lecture - November 2013)

-- On Slavery (Music – Brown Bag Lecture - October 2013)   (Gender and Women’s Studies Lecture - April 2014)

Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College – The Art of Acting in Song                                                                                       (Master Classes - Fall 2012)PUBLISHED ARTICLE

A Visit to St. Catherines 2013, Halifax Media Co-op, article/photographs, http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/photo/visit-st-catherines-2013-quanda-johnson/20782, January 12, 2014

UNION AFFILIATION Actors’ Equity Association (AEA – since 1993) Screen Actors’ Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

(SAG/AFTRA – since 1995) American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA – since 1994)

Quanda Johnson/2

PRODUCTIONS Fulbright

Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs -- Writer/Director -- Dalhousie Arts Centre, Halifax; Alderney Landing Theatre, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.

           (May-June 2014)

Broadway Ragtime (Tony Award winning production) -- Ensemble (featured performer) --

Ford Center for the Performing Arts, New York.  Directed by Frank Gallati (Steppenwolf); Choreographed by Graciela Daniele; Original Broadway cast including: Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazie, Jonathan Rubenstein, Judy Kaye, and the late Tommy Hollis. (1998)

Hello Dolly! (National Tour of Tony Award winning revival) – Ensemble – Directed by LeeRoy Reams; Choreographed by Randy Skinner; Broadway cast including the original Dolly Levi, the legendary Carol Channing and LeeRoy Reams.  (1996-97)

Lincoln Center The Mother of Us All (New York City Opera debut) – Negro Woman [pf/us] --

The David Koch Theater (formerly New York State Theater) – Directed by Christopher Alden; Conducted by George Manahan with soprano, Lauren Flanigan. (Spring 2000)

Town Hall The Lady from Philadelphia (Town Hall Main Stage) – Marian Anderson

(principal role) nominated for an AUDELCO Award – Best Actress. (2002)

Off-Broadway Traces/fades                      Nettie                           Three Legged Dog (2009) Animus                              La Chunga                   Chelsea Repertory (2001) Mandela                            Winnie Mandela           John Houseman Theatre (2002)

                                                                                            (w/ Alton White -- Judy Kaye) Forest City                         Claressa Wallace Cherry Lane Alternative (1999)

                                                                               Off-Off Broadway  

R/Evolution                        Abby                            Tisch (Summer 2013)                 Fabulation                         Mother                          Brave New World (2012) Revival                                characters, 7-102         Theatre 22 (1992)

Regional Theater Ain’t Misbehavin’              Charlaine                      Dutch Apple (2002) Man of La Mancha            Aldonza                        Berks Festival Theatre (2000) To Kill a Mockingbird        Calpurnia                     Mountain Playhouse (1993)

                                           

Quanda Johnson/3

International Tours Josephine! The Musical    Josephine Baker (pf/us)   European Tr. (1992-1993)

The Quest Factor Lyrical Langston: His Muse for Music                       Lost Nations Theater      

                                                                                                  (Montpelier, VT -- 2006)

My Lord What a Morning: The Story of Marian Anderson in Her Own Words               New York Public Library

  (2003-2006) Television/Film

PBS: Live at Lincoln Center – Porgy and Bess (Emmy nominated -- 1999) Malcolm X (extra -- 1994) Student Films/On-camera Public Service Announcements

Other Vocal performances Theater des Westins (Berlin-2003) Teatro alla Scala (Milan-Summer 1997) Tokyo Opera (Winter 1997) Teatro Real (Madrid-Fall 1996)

AWARDSFulbright Award: Nova Scotia, Canada; affiliates – Dalhousie University and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD); researching the Underground Railroad as relating to Atlantic Canada and Quebec; culminating project Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs.

Accompanying project links:http://www.fulbrightblog.ca/beyond-veil-sorrow-songs-beyond-tolerance-place-compassion/http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1202911-soaring-soprano-serious-scholarhttp://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/beyond-tolerance/BestOf?oid=4335966http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/story/visit-st-catharines-2013/20785http://www.dal.ca/news/2013/11/27/sharing-the-underground-railroad-s-untold-stories.htmlhttp://nscad.ca/en/home/abouttheuniversity/news/inthefootstepsoffugitives.aspxhttp://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=295812&binId=1.1145518&playlistPageNum=1http://media.dal.ca/?q=node/331CBC_Evening_News_Quanda.mp4

REFERENCES Available on request.

Quanda Johnson/4