Lance Johnson's Plays

Author of

Award-Winning Plays

Including

Community Service
Winner of Theatre Palisades 7th Annual Playwrights Festival, 2016

Marine Corps Heritage Foundation
for Distinguished Play Dealing with US Marine Corps Heritage, 2016

You are invited . . .

To the New York Off-Broadway Production
of Lance's 10-Minute,
One-Act Play

TAMING OF THE MALE CHAUVINIST
by Lance Johnson
Directed by Pati Amoroso

A cantankerous New York City corporate executive meets his match in an unflinching magazine writer struggling in a man’s world, knowing that a hard-hitting series on him is her ticket to a long-sought promotion to editor, a rarity for a woman in 1947.  Could it be love at first interview for this archetypal male chauvinist of the 1940s who finally meets a woman who stands up to him in a male-dominated society? Both are molded by this rigid ethos of the time that’s unrelenting until gender equality is finally addressed in the 1960s.

OFF BROADWAY PRODUCTION

Shattered! Deception, Denial & Truth features an array of creative stories written by extraordinary and boundless dramatists.  Each tale explores the various ways adversity is challenged, confronted, manipulated and suppressed. Presented by Blue Pearl Theatrics and Michael Andrews Productions, Shattered! is a compilation of confrontation, survival and love, featuring dramatic and comedic pieces by playwrights Lance Johnson, Brett Busang, Shehzad Ghias, Michael Andrews and many more.

Join us after the performance for complimentary wine and cheese during our meet and greet with the actors and directors.

For more information please visit: www.BluePearlTheatrics.com

Email - info@bluepearltheatrics.com

WHEN

Saturday, July 23, 2016 from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM (EDT) and 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM.

Sunday, July 24, 2016 from  7:00 PM to  8:30 PM.

 

WHERE

The DeSotelle Theater (Times Square Arts Center) - 300 West 43 Street #301, NY, NY 10036


 

Quick Links for This Page
Lance's Playwright Awards
Plays Lance has Written

Lance's Acting, Commercial, and Speaking Credits

Lance's Movies Lance's Media Releases for Plays and Acting

Buy Links for Lance's Books

Printed matter, illustrations, and other images on this site are copyrighted.
The author is generous with permission for use when contacted.
©

 

Quick Links for More
On Lance's Book

Home

Media Kit
Contents

Praise for
A To Z

Sample Tip from Business Chapter Excerpt
On Language Reduction
The Book's Concept Author's Credentials
About the Author Author's Online Appearances
Reviews for A to Z About the Book
Printed matter, illustrations, and other images on this site are copyrighted.
The author is generous with permission for use when contacted.
©

Awards for Lance's Plays

Winner Theatre Palisades’ 7th Annual Playwrights Festival, 2016. As part of the award Lance's Community Service  was showcased at  a staged reading at the theater in Pacific Palisades, CA.

Chosen for an Off-Broadway production Lance Johnson's ten-minute, one act play, Taming of the Male Chauvinist was produced at the DeSotelle Theater (Times Square Arts Center) in New York, 300 W. 43rd St. Directed by Pati Amoroso. Learn more at www.BluePearlTheatrics.com.  

Marine Corps Heritage Foundation honored Community Service  "for a distinguished play or screenplay...dealing with U.S. Marine Corps heritage." He was honored at a black tie dinner at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA and “an engraved brick was placed in Semper Fi Park adjacent to the National Marine Museum to honor play and playwright.”  Learn more on the Heritage Foundation Facebook page.

http://www.marineheritage.org/Awards.asp

 
 

Lance Riffs on the Development of a Play

The essay below was Lance's response to several newspapers who asked for information on the play his process as a playwright.  Lance will be pleased to write something similar for the needs of other media or adapt this one.

I am honored to have my stage play, Community Service, selected for the 7th Annual Palisades Playwrights Festival. It was showcased as a staged reading at Theatre Palisades in Pacific Palisades, CA, on Tuesday April 19, 2016.

Community Service is an ensemble play with a touch of Miracle on 34th Street, a dash of It's a Wonderful Life, and a pinch of How to Succeed in Business. An irascible judge in a rundown 1947 New York City courtroom sentences six people of diverse backgrounds to perform community service together in Central Park.

Actual 1940s radio commercials, music, and news broadcasts add to the colorful blending of Runyonesque humor, early Broadway nostalgia, the era’s lingo and dress styles, and themes as pertinent today as they were in those emerging post-war years.

The play received the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s 2016 award "for a distinguished play or screenplay...dealing with U.S. Marine Corps heritage." It was presented at a black tie dinner at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA and included a monetary prize and “an engraved brick will be placed in Semper Fi Park adjacent to the Museum to honor play and playwright. ”

The idea for  Community Service play was originally inspired by the court-ordered people in orange suits picking up litter along our California freeways and streets. I thought, “What a wonderful story that would make—about people from all walks of life reduced to the same common denominator irrespective of wealth, education or social status.”

I chose 1947 because it was a pivotal year in which we had finally recovered from WWII and the Great Depression and were jettisoned into the abundant culture we have today. Famed historian David McCullough claims our younger generation is historically illiterate. I agree, especially when young women today have little or no idea of the struggles of women of the past who have opened doors for them today. In Community Service, three women strive to break free from those culturally restraining bonds of decades past similar to ones my mother struggled with and even my wife decades after the 40s.  My Community Service play explores other cultural issues of post-World War II, too. It touches on the importance of helping returning war vets, be it 1947 or today, and puts a spotlight on PTSD.

Writing a stage play is not as easy as most people think, given all the review and refinement steps it must go through. I worked on this one for six years. The first step is to have a “table read” where selected individuals, sometimes friends, gather around a dining room table and read the script aloud. “Many times what is on paper comes out differently when spoken,” he says.

The next step is to have a staged reading by actors. It has had four, along with critiques from other playwrights and directors who’ve read the script. Theatre Palisades, like many other theatres, has a Playwrights Festival each year to showcase talented  playwrights whose plays are selected for a reading. Then, with more revisions, the play will hopefully receive a full production. Naturally I hope it evolves into a film, too, just like many of my favorite movies like Casablanca and A Few Good Men

-----
After a 26-year career as a corporate president,  Lance Johnson retired and took up acting and writing. He wishes he had done it earlier. He has an Ivy League MBA, studied at Oxford University, and has taught and authored award winning books on American culture titled What Foreigners Need to Know About America From A To Z . Learn more about it at
www.AmericaAtoZ.com) and find it on Amazon.

The former military officer has appeared in movies, stage plays (best actor nominations), national commercials and TV. He performed in Theatre Palisade’s The Best Man by Gore Vidal in which the Palisadian-Post said he was “outstanding as…ex-president Art Hockstader.”  He says that accolade belongs to director Sherry Coon who “squeezed out of me the last ounce of a practical Midwestern president who believed there were no ends, only means.” She also directed the Community Service staged reading. Of all the theaters where he has performed, Theatre Palisades remains his favorite because of its friendly family atmosphere.

 


Lance's Movies

God's Army
Directed by Richard Dutcher

 

This is the link to God's Army with Spanish subtitles.

Here are some of the time spots he appears in:

34:27 to 37:15
41:10 to 41:45
1:28:35 to 1:28:54
1:39:23 to 1:31:51
1:43:04

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1VPIADCAXM

More to come. Website in Progress
 

Plays Lance Has Written

Information coming. Web site in progress.

Review from World Traveler, Writer, and Screen Writer

Website in progress. More to come.

Lance's Speaking, Acting and Playwright Credentials

University Study Teaching Expertise Plays and Movies   TV Commercials
  • University of Utah, BS
  • Columbia University, MBA
  • Oxford University, post graduate study, drama
  • Vermont College of Fine Arts Retreat for Playwrights and Screenwriters
  • Business seminars, several awards for speaking/teaching
  • Teaching English teachers for the Suzhou, China, school district.
  • Best Man by Gore Vidal at Pacific Palisades Theatre, CA. President Art Hockstader
  • The Grass Harp by Truman Capote at the Sierra Madre Playhouse, Sierra Madre, CA.
  • God's Army, Directed by Richard Dutcher
  • Publix Grocery Stores, SAG
  • Blue Shield Insurance
  • Marlboro
  • Senior Home, Las Vegas, Nv.
  • Johnson & Johnson, SAG


Media Releases for Plays and Acting

  Media Release

 

Contact: Carolyn Howard-Johnson, publicist

E-mail: hojonews@aol.com

ISBN: 978-1468172362

Author's Website: www.howtodoitfrugally.com/A_to_Z.htm

 

For Immediate Release
April, 2016

 

 

Theatre as a Fix for Political Woes

 

 

Local Author Wins Palisades Theatre
and Marine Corps Award

 

Glendale, CA--Lance Johnson’s new play, Community Service, won Theatre Palisades’ 7th Annual Playwrights Festival. As part of the award, a staged reading with costumes, movement, and sound track will be performed on Tuesday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Theater in Pacific Palisades, CA. Wine and goodies will be served at 7 p.m. as part of the celebration. A $5.00 donation or more for admission is requested to help with their many charity events and reservations are advised. (www.TheatrePalisadees.com)

 

Community Service has been honored several times including a 2016 award from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation "for a distinguished play or screenplay...dealing with U.S. Marine Corps heritage." Lance will be honored at a black tie dinner at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA and “an engraved brick will be placed in Semper Fi Park adjacent to the Museum to honor play and playwright.” He was an officer in the Army Reserves for thirty years including active duty and helping high schoolers gain admittance to West Point. Community Service touches on the importance of helping returning war vets, be it 1947 or today.

In this delightful ensemble play, an irascible judge in a rundown 1947 New York City courtroom sentences six people to perform community service in Central Park. It reminds theater goers of Miracle on 34th Street with a dash of It's a Wonderful Life and a pinch of How to Succeed in Business. Actual 1940s radio commercials, music, and news broadcasts add to the colorful blending of Runyonesque humor, early Broadway nostalgia, the era’s lingo and dress styles, and themes as pertinent today as they were in those emerging post-war years, including women’s inequality and workplace discrimination, men’s inept communication of feelings, father-son generational conflicts, retirement woes, and neglect of war veterans.

 

Lance Johnson has appeared in movies, stage plays (best actor nominations), national commercials and TV, including a lead American role in a 28-part China TV production. He performed in Theatre Palisades’ The Best Man by Gore Vidal in which the Palisadian-Post said,  “Lance Johnson is outstanding as…ex-president Art Hockstader.”

 

He is also the author of the award-winning book What Foreigners Need to Know About America from A to Z, endorsed by ambassadors from China to the US, and the US To China. It was also selected by American university hosts of Fulbright scholars as recommended reading and is now available in China and Ukraine. The book is the result of his interest in travel and politics. He traveled or lived in 85 countries and 49 of the 50 states. His passport is fatter than a pocket-sized paperback book and his understanding of his own culture increased as he learned more about the cultures of others

 

Learn more about the book and the author and his varied pursuits at: www.howtodoitfrugally.com/A_to_Z.htm.

 

 

###

 

Support materials are available on request. Media representatives are invited to the April 19 production, of course!

 


Buy Links for A to Z


Amazon Links
 for
Paperbacks, Worldwide

Austria

http://www.amazon.de/What-Foreigners-Need-About-  

America/dp/1468172360/

 

Canada  -

http://www.amazon.ca/What-Foreigners-Need-About- 

America/dp/1468172360/

 

France -

http://www.amazon.fr/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

 

Germany -

http://www.amazon.de/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

 

Italy -

http://www.amazon.it/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

 

Japan -

http://www.amazon.co.jp/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

 

Spain

http://www.amazon.es/What-Foreigners-Need-About- 

America/dp/1468172360/

 

United Kingdom -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Foreigners-Need-About-

America/dp/1468172360/

 

United States - http://amzn.to/ForeignersAmericaUS

 

What Foreigners Need to Know About America from A to Z is also
      available in China in Simplified Chinese and in the Ukraine in Ukrainian.

 

For those with special needs or interests,
the sections of this book
are also available separately:

Book 1 - America's Heritage
Find it on Amazon at
http://bit.ly/AmericasHeritageBook1

Book 2 - America's Culture
Find it on Amazon at
http://bit.ly/AmericasCultureBook2

Book 3 - America's Business
Find it on Amazon at
http://bit.ly/AmericasBusinessBook3

Book 4 - America's Language
Find it on Amazon at
http://bit.ly/AmericasLanguageBook4

The above volumes are also available on Amazon in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Equation of life:
Knowledge + Understanding + Acceptance =
A Better World for All
.
~ Lance Johnson

Available at Vroman's and other fine brick-and-mortar book stores
and at Harvard and other university
bookstores--both on campus and online.

 

Other Recommended Books for
Grammar and Accent Reduction:

 

       

The Frugal Editor was named best business book by USA Books News and Reader Views Literary. The Next Generation awarded the book a finalist medal and Carolyn's promotion campaign for this same book was given its top marketing award. The second edition in e-book format was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for e-books. And Dan Poynter's Global Ebook Awards gave it a nod for the 2nd edition e-book. It was also named #1 on Thornton Publishing's Top Ten List of books that assure a professional product for self publishers.

         


                                                 Contact   ~    Media Kit

Printed matter, illustrations, and other images on this site are copyrighted.
The author is generous with permission for use when contacted.
©


Lance Johnson


Contact the Author

Lance would love to hear from you with questions, ideas, requests for interviews, etc.

Quote from A to Z

To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words. Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence. He is struggling against vagueness, against obscurity, against the lure of the decorative adjective, against the encroachment of Latin and Greek, and, above all, against the worn-out phrases and dead metaphors with which the language is cluttered up. ~ George Orwell, British author 1903-1950

 

Quotes that reflect the importance of America A to Z's content are found at the beginning of each chapter of the book.


Article on Author's Chinese TV Series

Lance is the American lead in a 28 part Chinese TV series. Download a .pdf  about his film experience here.

Language Tip

Hint: When writing sentences, we generally spell any number less than 10, and use numerals above them. For example, “Lost in the jungle for nine days, I could not wait to return to my group of 10 explorers.” In some high-brow (highly cultured or intellectual) works, some publishers spell out numbers up to one-hundred. (There‘s that American individuality thing again.)


Lance's Multi Award-Winning Book

As Featured in
Publishers Weekly

Gold winner for Readers Favorite Nonfiction/ Education

And a silver
Global E-Book Award


Recommended Books for Better English,
Spoken and Written

Just click on the book that interests you. You'll be taken directly to Amazon to purchase it.


Typical A to Z Hint

Hints like this may be found throughout the A To Z book.


Media Kit

For the convenience of the press and new media, download a pdf file of Lance's media kit.

Advertising

The Frugal Editor, empowering writers one at a time:


Click here to buy the new big, powerful Kindle to read it on:


Lance's A To Z
Appearances

Lance was a featured author at Book 'Em February 2013, Robeson Community College, Lumberton, N.C. Click on Authors to see the  author lineup.


Site Sponsor

Carolyn Howard-Johnsons is a great way for ESL students to brush up on their homonyms: Great Little Last-Minute Editing Editing Tips  is only $6.95. and is available as an e-book, too.