Light Essence Design
Stephanie Anne Johnson — Photo by Joan Osanto
Oakland Theater Project's 'Binding Ties' - EXTENDED to Sun. March 7, 2021
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"Oakland Theater Project's 'Binding Ties' makes 16th Street Station come alive! The Project's drive-in, site-specific show uses projected slides, and FM station and an in-person actor.... The show, created by Stephanie Anne Johnson with Michael Copeland Sydnor (who died in 2012), so awakens the station's ghosts that when a car's headlights beam from a side street, your brain might momentarily think the light comes from a Southern Pacific engine." SF Chronicle
SEE MORE> Program Notes, Reviews from the SF Chronicle, Broadway World and Local News Matters. Also hear Wanda Sabir's interview with Stephanie. 
Audience members inside their cars watch "Binding Ties: The 16th Street Station" during the 30th anniversary production of the drive-in show. Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle
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Google Stephanie Anne Johnson and you’ll likely find a Wikipedia page written about her as both visual artist and lighting designer. The Afro Urban Society wanted to know a little more about her than a Wikipedia entry. After all, Wikipedia won’t tell you that she is a biblio-holic with a house filled with books. Or that she wants Black folks to VOTE, VOTE, VOTE and run for elected and policy-making commissions and committees. Or that she is one of very few professional Black lighting designers in California.
PODCAST • January 20, 2021 "When we Know Better We Can do Better" – Chris Lose with Stephanie Anne Johnson
On this episode, we discuss being one of very few professional Black lighting designers in California, being a second-generation theater practitioner, the role of race in shaping the work of the local theater and how to encourage diversity in entertainment, how public policy can be shaped to increase diversity, being able to express yourself in multiple mediums, the power of public performance, paving the way for future generations and the possibility of a Secretary of the Arts in the US cabinet.
On this episode, we discuss being one of very few professional Black lighting designers in California, being a second-generation theater practitioner, the role of race in shaping the work of the local theater and how to encourage diversity in entertainment, how public policy can be shaped to increase diversity, being able to express yourself in multiple mediums, the power of public performance, paving the way for future generations and the possibility of a Secretary of the Arts in the US cabinet.
