#42 - Christine Toy Johnson: Breaking the Color Barrier

“Being open to the idea that your dreams coming true often look
very different to how you first imagine them.”  Bringing
compassion and kindness; intentional generosity into whatever space
is possible. That’s what Come From Away’s Christine Toy Johnson is
all about. In fact, that’s what this whole episode is about. From
sharing where we were on 9/11 to global world views in casting a
representation, in this episode we tackle what it means to
integrate compassion, kindness, and intentional generosity into our
art.  When did Christine start to identify as a
multi-hyphenate? When Christine was four years old, she began as a
child model who also put on plays for her family about the Twelve
Days of Christmas. It wasn’t long after she realized she needed to
do many things not just to survive, but to find happiness. 
Christine is an actor, writer, director, and advocate for inclusion
and her career truly is an extension of her soul. Right at the top
of her bio, she prides herself on breaking the color barrier. What
does that mean? When Christine started out in the industry, there
was almost an expectation of the roles she could play. On
representation, Christine says, “There is a direct line between
underrepresentation and the perpetualization of harmful stereotypes
all the way to the dehumanization and erasure of the three
dimensional people that make up the population whose actions are
they trying to reflect.” In the episode, Christine breaks this down
from the perspective of an advocate for inclusion.  Christine
is right - and she’s built a career on being right! But of course,
we’re human and sometimes we get in our own way. But Christine
always rises above. She says, “There’s no time to wallow in self
doubt that would debilitate you and take you off course.” 
Speaking of rising above, Christine took quarantine by the horns
and focused on her writing. She finds her through line is about
belonging, finding her place in the industry, and being sure that
we all belong, all while finding that other people (consciously or
subconsciously) disagree.  This episode is full of joy,
inspiration, first hand experience, and lots of helpful steps for
budding producers and creators - for example, what a grant is and
how to apply for one. As always, please rate, review, and subscribe
to Dear Multi-Hyphenate! Christine Toy Johnson is an award-winning
writer, actor, director and advocate for inclusion. Her written
works have been produced and/or developed by the Roundabout,
Village Theatre, Barrow Group, Prospect Theatre, Weston Playhouse,
O’Neill, Women’s Theatre Festival, CAP 21, Greater Boston Stage
Company, the Abingdon Theatre Company and more and are included in
the Library of Congress’s Asian Pacific American Performing Arts
Collection (Playwrights Division). She is an alum of the BMI
Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, was a 2016 fellow of The Writers
Lab (supported by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Oprah Winfrey),
serves on the Council of the Dramatists Guild and is host of the
Guild’s podcast "Talkback" on Broadway Podcast Network. As an
actor, Christine has appeared extensively on Broadway,
Off-Broadway, in regional theatres across the country and nearly
100 television and film appearances including recurring guest star
roles on Marvel’s “Iron Fist”, “Bull”, “The Americans”, “You”, “Law
and Order: SVU” and more and is on "extended intermission" from the
North American tour of COME FROM AWAY. Rosetta LeNoire, JACL, Asian
American Arts Alliance, Obie awards for advocacy in diversity and
inclusion. For details, please visit
www.christinetoyjohnson.com   In the segment You Got A
Question? Michael features a question from a college student who
asks "When do we know when to add a hyphen to our multi-hyphenate
identity?" Connect with Michael: @themichaelkushner (IG and
TikTok) @dearmultihyphenate (IG) www.michaelkushneronline.com
Produced by Alan Seales and the Broadway Podcast
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