This document is a resume for Quanda Johnson, an academic and artist seeking to chronicle Black histories worldwide through scholarship and performance. She has extensive experience as a stage performer on Broadway, off-Broadway, and internationally. She founded a production company called The Quest Factor that creates multimedia events examining influential figures in the African diaspora. Johnson has graduate degrees from several prestigious schools and was a Fulbright scholar researching the Underground Railroad in Canada.

1. Quanda Johnson/1
QUANDA JOHNSON
1194 First Avenue (5E)  New York  10065-7113
917−855−7458
Quanda.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

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 Manhattan School of Music – Professional Musical Theater Workshop
Paul Gemignani Artistic/Musical Director
Carolann Page Vocal Instruction
Austin Pendleton Acting Instruction
Paul 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)

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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)

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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)
AWARDS
Fulbright 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-scholar
http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/beyond-tolerance/BestOf?oid=4335966
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/story/visit-st-catharines-2013/20785
http://www.dal.ca/news/2013/11/27/sharing-the-underground-railroad-s-untold-
stories.html
http://nscad.ca/en/home/abouttheuniversity/news/inthefootstepsoffugitives.aspx
http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=295812&binId=1.1145518&playlistPageN
um=1
http://media.dal.ca/?q=node/331
CBC_Evening_News_Quanda.mp4
REFERENCES
Available on request.