{"id":165,"date":"2019-03-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/?p=165"},"modified":"2019-04-29T14:33:35","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T18:33:35","slug":"frederick-douglass-in-the-shadow-of-slavery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/frederick-douglass-in-the-shadow-of-slavery\/","title":{"rendered":"FREDERICK DOUGLASS\/IN THE SHADOW OF SLAVERY"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_166\" style=\"width: 802px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166\" class=\"wp-image-166 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/113\/2019\/03\/frederick-douglass_0001-792x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"792\" height=\"1024\" 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MEL JOHNSON JR. Actor\\\/Director\\\/Producer-Though easily recognizable from his TOTAL RECALL co-starring role opposite ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Mel is equally comfortable these days discussing the production of his new one man show \u201cFrederick Douglass In The Shadow Of Slavery\u201d which had it\u2019s extremely successful world premiere in California at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, as he is discussing his work with such companies as Goldman Sachs, American Express and Credit Suisee as a corporate councilor. While living in Los Angeles, Mel was the Executive Producer of Shadow Entertainment\u2019s Urban Horror label \u201cBig City Pictures\u201d, he produced four feature films \u201cRagdoll\u201d, \u201cThe Horrible Dr. Bones\u201d, \u201cKilljoy\u201d and \u201cThe Vault\u201d \u2013 All of which can be found on video. Mel was also the Artistic Director of The Imagination Workshop, a group of actor\u2019s, writers, and directors that work within the psychiatric community and with kids at risk. He\u2019s extremely proud of the fact that during his tenure as Artistic Director, The Imagination workshop won the first Ovation Award given to a company for \u201cOutstanding Community Outreach.\u201d Mel has countless credits from a resume that reflects his work on stage, screen and television. As a theater director his work is best embodied by the award winning \u201cGive\u2019em Hell Harry\u201d starring JASON ALEXANDER, \u201cOscar To Oscar\u201d, \u201cThe Me Nobody Knows\u201d, \u201cThe Ballad of Lizard Gulch\u201d and the critically acclaimed \u201cThe Last White Man in the World\u201d. Most recently he directed the World Premiere of Tom Dugan\u2019s one man show \u201cRobert E Lee, Shades of Gray\u201d at Richmond Virginia\u2019s Carpenter Center. When his acting career is mentioned, Mel finds it difficult to point to his most significant work, but can quickly identify the roles that gave him the most pleasure. In addition to his film work, the list includes Broadway stints in \u201cOn The Twentieth Century\u201d, \u201cEubie!\u201d with Maurice and Gregory Hines, \u201cThe Rink\u201d with Liza Minnelli, and Chita Rivera. Bob Fosse\u2019s \u201cBig Deal\u201d Mufasa in \u201cThe Lion King\u201d, starring in the new Earth, Wind and Fire musical, \u201cHot Feet!, and most recently, featured in the musical revival of \u201cJekyll and Hyde\u201d. Mel would be remiss if he didn\u2019t mention his long standing relationship with The New York Shakespeare Festival\\\/Public Theatre, where among many he starred in the revival of the musical \u201cTwo Gentleman Of Verona\u201d for The Festivals, Shakespeare In The Park, and most recently was featured in Stephen Sondheim\u2019s \u201cRoad Show\u201d. On television he was a regular on David Lynch\u2019s \u201cOn The Air\u201d and guest starred on numerous other T.V. shows from \u201cJessica Jones\u201d and \u201cThe Blacklist\u201d, to \u201cStar Trek Deep Space Nine\u201d and \u201cFresh Prince of Bel Air\u201d. Mel has always found it extremely rewarding sharing with other what he has learned from education, at the High School of Performing Arts and Hofstra University and his vast life experience. He has taught classes in both New York and Los Angeles, coached individually and spoken with numerous schools, colleges and community organizations around the country. 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MEL JOHNSON JR. Actor\/Director\/Producer-Though easily recognizable from his TOTAL RECALL co-starring role opposite ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Mel is equally comfortable these days discussing the production of his new one man show \u201cFrederick Douglass In The Shadow Of Slavery\u201d which had it\u2019s extremely successful world premiere in California at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, as he is discussing his work with such companies as Goldman Sachs, American Express and Credit Suisee as a corporate councilor. While living in Los Angeles, Mel was the Executive Producer of Shadow Entertainment\u2019s Urban Horror label \u201cBig City Pictures\u201d, he produced four feature films \u201cRagdoll\u201d, \u201cThe Horrible Dr. Bones\u201d, \u201cKilljoy\u201d and \u201cThe Vault\u201d \u2013 All of which can be found on video. Mel was also the Artistic Director of The Imagination Workshop, a group of actor\u2019s, writers, and directors that work within the psychiatric community and with kids at risk. He\u2019s extremely proud of the fact that during his tenure as Artistic Director, The Imagination workshop won the first Ovation Award given to a company for \u201cOutstanding Community Outreach.\u201d Mel has countless credits from a resume that reflects his work on stage, screen and television. As a theater director his work is best embodied by the award winning \u201cGive\u2019em Hell Harry\u201d starring JASON ALEXANDER, \u201cOscar To Oscar\u201d, \u201cThe Me Nobody Knows\u201d, \u201cThe Ballad of Lizard Gulch\u201d and the critically acclaimed \u201cThe Last White Man in the World\u201d. Most recently he directed the World Premiere of Tom Dugan\u2019s one man show \u201cRobert E Lee, Shades of Gray\u201d at Richmond Virginia\u2019s Carpenter Center. When his acting career is mentioned, Mel finds it difficult to point to his most significant work, but can quickly identify the roles that gave him the most pleasure. In addition to his film work, the list includes Broadway stints in \u201cOn The Twentieth Century\u201d, \u201cEubie!\u201d with Maurice and Gregory Hines, \u201cThe Rink\u201d with Liza Minnelli, and Chita Rivera. Bob Fosse\u2019s \u201cBig Deal\u201d Mufasa in \u201cThe Lion King\u201d, starring in the new Earth, Wind and Fire musical, \u201cHot Feet!, and most recently, featured in the musical revival of \u201cJekyll and Hyde\u201d. Mel would be remiss if he didn\u2019t mention his long standing relationship with The New York Shakespeare Festival\/Public Theatre, where among many he starred in the revival of the musical \u201cTwo Gentleman Of Verona\u201d for The Festivals, Shakespeare In The Park, and most recently was featured in Stephen Sondheim\u2019s \u201cRoad Show\u201d. On television he was a regular on David Lynch\u2019s \u201cOn The Air\u201d and guest starred on numerous other T.V. shows from \u201cJessica Jones\u201d and \u201cThe Blacklist\u201d, to \u201cStar Trek Deep Space Nine\u201d and \u201cFresh Prince of Bel Air\u201d. Mel has always found it extremely rewarding sharing with other what he has learned from education, at the High School of Performing Arts and Hofstra University and his vast life experience. He has taught classes in both New York and Los Angeles, coached individually and spoken with numerous schools, colleges and community organizations around the country. MEL JOHNSON JR. is as excited about his future as he is proud of his past accomplishments.","url":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/author\/johnsonjr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/johnsonjr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}