I am so excited to have the opportunity to speak with Actress, Writer, and Advocate Christine Toy Johnson.

She is someone who has been on my radar for some time now and I’m thrilled we are able to connect while she is starring in Bucks County Playhouse’s production of Anastasia, based upon the animated Disney film.

In this interview, Christine answered my call to share:

• Who inspired her to be a performer & writer
• Why she wanted to star in Bucks County Playhouse's production of Anastasia
• How she hopes her participation in Anastasia will help further her advocacy for inclusion
• Her favorite holiday traditions
• So much more

Connect with Christine: Website, Facebook, Instagram

With a book by Terrance McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, Anastasia will play at Bucks County Playhouse in Bucks County, PA from November 22, 2024-January 5, 2025. Click here for tickets!

Anastasia transports audiences from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family.

1. Who or what inspired you to become a performer and writer? I was one of those kids who always knew I wanted to be a performer. I can’t remember a time when this wasn’t part of my dreamscape. Writing came later, as I realized that if I wanted to see stories about people that looked like me on stage, one thing I needed to do was to write them myself. I credit my parents for always telling me I could do whatever I wanted, and who led by example with their tireless hard work. 

2. This holiday season you are starring in Anastasia at Bucks County Playhouse. What made you want to be in this show? I’d seen my good friends Alan Campbell and Ann Harada in two different shows here and was struck by what a beautiful place it is (and what a great time they had working here), so when the opportunity presented itself, it was a pretty easy decision to say “Yes, please and thank you.”

I recently spent a lot of years on the road with the first National tour of Come From Away (August 2018-May 2023), so have been choosing to work in NYC since my return, but I’m very happy to get to spend the holidays in New Hope with this beautiful show by my friends Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (we serve on the Council of the Dramatists Guild together, and they are such inspirations to me!)

I love working with this company helmed by director Eric Rosen, who is super smart and compassionate, choreographer Al Blackstone, whose storytelling through everything from ballet to the comedy numbers is simply stunning, and music director Evan Zavada, who plays like a dream!

3. You are playing Dowager Empress. What do you relate to most about her? She is fiercely dedicated to her family and her family’s legacy and has a tremendous amount of love to give! She also is extremely disdainful of those who do not tell the truth, and has a very hard time giving up hope entirely, even in the face of many disappointments.

Lynn Ahrens, Christine Toy Johnson, Stephen Flaherty
Dramatist Guild Awards Night
Photo Credit Lia Chang Photography

4. What is one characteristic of hers you are glad you, yourself do not possess? I’m not one to judge how people grieve or navigate loss, but I am grateful that the losses in my life have not led to the kind of bitterness that the Empress holds on to in this story. I read something recently about the ways our bodies (and souls, I would add) accumulate grief and hold on to it; that it becomes a part of who we are. And I think we each have different ways of processing, honoring, and holding it either loosely or closely to ourselves in our daily lives.

The Empress definitely wears her grief as a sort of metaphorical corset that she is sewn into every day. I think that I’m built of many molecules of joy, and I’m grateful that even though I can go down rabbit holes of sadness and despair just like anyone else who is alive today, I have so much love in my life and find so much delight in it.

5. In Anastasia, Dowager Empress moves away to Paris, France and has to comfort her granddaughter before leaving. How have you comforted those in your life when you had to move away, whether that be from a particular location, show, or other project you've been working on?I’m not trying to draw a corollary between Anastasia and my dog (a 12-year-old very pushy and enthusiastic West Highland White Terrier named Joey), but honestly, I think I have to comfort him every time I leave the house. I think he’s a pretty confident pup, but he developed a hilarious habit of lightly growling at me when I would leave for the theatre at night when we were on the road, so I would absolutely know that he did not approve. And now that we’re talking about it, he’s really the one who comforts me! 

6. How do you hope being in this show helps further your advocacy work of inclusion? I’ve always believed that intentional inclusion in this industry happens through programming and casting; bringing a wide array of stories to the stage, and also populating them with people who reflect the world as it really is.

Our Anastasia cast is beautifully diverse and it’s a true joy to see so many young people flourish in roles that would not necessarily have been available to them (based on preconceived notions of what they could or could not do because of their racial and/or cultural backgrounds) even as recently as 10 years ago. Shout out to Lyda Jade Harlan and Mason Reeves, our two leads, who are giving gorgeous performances out there!

Christine Toy Johnson
Receiving Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre 2022
With my AAPAC colleagues

7. You have been advocating for inclusion for more than 30 years. Not everyone is able to take real steps to help make a change in this world:

• Can you tell us what was the moment that made you go, "I need to be the Advocate for Inclusion?” It’s been quite a lengthy journey! I think the first time I started to find my advocacy voice was when I was cast as “Julie Jordan” in a production of Carousel at the Hangar Theatre. I remember feeling slightly embarrassed when I was in the audition waiting room; it was in the 1990s, when it was still unusual for a theatre to even let someone who looked like me audition for a part that wasn’t typically portrayed by a person who looked like me. I thought for sure people would be thinking, “What is she doing here? This isn’t The King and I!” And honestly, I still often heard what I’m certain is my “essential wound” shouting at me.
  
  I was playing the lead in my first Off-Broadway show and in a conversation with another young actor about our dream roles, when I mentioned that I had always wanted to play “Guinevere” in Camelot, he said (without a shred of irony, this was the 80s), “Well, I guess you could do that, in theatre for the blind.” I am 100% sure that he didn’t intend that to be the impetus for much of my advocacy work, but all these years later, it still hits me.
  
  Fast forward a few years to getting to do that production of Carousel (spoiler alert: I got the job and nobody died!), I became very vocal about the positive effects of that experience; how much representation mattered to me, and how I found, in this practice of diverse and inclusive casting, this amazing opportunity to shift perceptions about who we are and what we can do. And it struck me that maybe I could have an impact trying to build bridges by offering that perspective.
  
  It’s equal parts deeply sad and alarming to me that we are currently seeing an anti-DEI movement and a push towards revisionist history – all of which I believe is based in fear of the truth that we have had a very complicated legacy of discrimination and oppression in our beautiful country. But we’ve also had a legacy of perseverance.
  
  And throughout time, the theatre has had the opportunity, ability, and responsibility to hold a mirror up to society and tell the truth. That’s what I want us to do together: be truth tellers. I often say that history is remembered by the stories that we tell, and if ours are missing, so are we. Which I do not accept as an option.
•  What is one part of this journey that made you feel, "This is why I am doing this?” Back in 2009, my husband Bruce Johnson and I made a documentary feature film about Wat Misaka, the first non-Caucasian person to play in what is now the NBA; a Japanese American guy who was a point guard briefly for the 1947 Knicks. We became very close to Wat (who we lost in 2019) and through a series of events related to the film, were able to work with the Knicks to see him honored center court at Madison Square Garden and see his name on a plaque naming the 1947 team members, outside the Knicks locker room. Wat had been very reserved about breaking this barrier; it had been a complicated journey playing sports against the backdrop of post-WWII anti-Japanese American sentiments, and for many years, he did not view it as a successful one, or that it “counted.” But when he saw his name included on that plaque, he just said, “Etched in bronze” – and I do believe he finally saw that it was “real.”
  
  It still makes me emotional today, thinking about how meaningful it is to be seen and how important it is to shine a light on those barriers we break (large and small). I remember saying to Bruce, “If we never do another thing with this film, seeing Wat take this all in is worth everything.” (The film did go ahead and play some wonderful film festivals and is featured every year during March Madness in various sports outlets. We’ve also been in the process of writing a narrative screenplay of Wat’s story and hope to see this come to fruition).
• How do you think the industry is more inclusive today than when you first started this work? 
  We are definitely farther along than we’ve ever been. But also, a lot of us are still coming up against huge barriers to being included in the landscape of American storytelling. One of the big projects I’ve been working on, through a Catalyst for Change fellowship with the Dramatists Guild Foundation, is founding the Asian American Theatre Artists Collective, which seeks to uplift AAPI theatre makers, across disciplines.
  
  I’m on this very long journey towards creating a community resource directory in response to hearing (too many times) that people can’t hire us because either they can’t find us, or they don’t believe we exist. People often ask me how I keep fighting this fight, year after year. Ultimately, it’s because I know I’m right; we are all better off with a wider world view that includes all of us – and also because my Achilles heel really is being accused of something that’s not true. We do exist. And we’re ready to tell our stories.

Christine Toy Johnson

8. Your solo show A Little More Blue was the 2022 winner of the inaugural Alvin Epstein Memorial Solo Performance prize. In the late 90s/early 2000s, I used to work with Alvin at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA. Did you ever get to meet him, and if so, what is something you learned from him? This award was the brainchild of Roland Tec, a wonderful playwright himself, and winning it was such an incredible honor but unfortunately, I never got to meet Mr. Epstein.

9. Another artist you have worked with on multiple projects (WINNING NEW YORK, FOOD LIKE LOVE) is my friend Bobby Cronin (who wrote my amazing theme song "It's Adam"). What do you love about working with Bobby? I love everything about Bobby and our collaboration! He has such a huge heart and the talent to match. We have so much fun writing together, whether it’s remotely or on a retreat together.

We’ve had the great good fortune to work on our show Till Soon, Anne in a few private residencies at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, and always have a super-charged creative time (and lots of laughs) together.

10. Speaking of working with other artists, what qualities do you look for in someone when you want to collaborate with them? I’ve been so fortunate to collaborate with many wonderful writers. I’ve written the most with Bobby, Jason Ma, and (currently and most recently) Cecilia Lin. I also love writing with Kim D. Sherman.

Through the BMI musical theatre writing program, I had the opportunity to write a bunch of great songs with David Shenton, and Michael Mott and I wrote a 10-minute musical which we turned into a movie musical short last year that I’m really proud of.

I think what all these people have in common (besides their phenomenal musicianship and creative skills) is great empathy, open hearts, and a yearning to tell meaningful stories.

11. Bringing things back to Anastasia, since the show is playing throughout the holiday season: 

• What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? We love to decorate and on a “normal” year when we’re at home, we have 4 trees of different sizes with different themes! One is a “tropical tree”, with ornaments from our travels to anyplace with water (e.g. St. Croix – where we got married, St. Thomas, Venice, Mykonos, Bermuda, Hawaii), one is a more “traditional tree” with ornaments passed down from family and friends, one is a miniature tree with miniature Hallmark ornaments that Bruce started collecting with his late father, and one is an even smaller tree that his late sister gave him on his first Christmas away from home. It’s a really sweet way to remember so many people and places we have loved. I think we will probably only have one tree with us in New Hope, with a hybrid theme.
•  What is your favorite holiday song and singer? There are so many classics that I love! But Rosemary Clooney singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” pops into my head immediately; her velvet voice and the message of the song immediately gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Christine Toy Johnson

More on Christine Toy Johnson:

Christine Toy Johnson is a Tony and Obie honored, Rosetta Lenoire award-winning actor, writer, director, filmmaker, and advocate for inclusion based in New York City.

As a performer, she has been breaking the color barrier in inclusively cast roles for over 30 years, and has been featured extensively on Broadway, off-Broadway, in regional theatres across the country, in film, television, and concerts worldwide. Highlights include the New York revivals of THE MUSIC MAN, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, PACIFIC OVERTURES, FALSETTOLAND and GREASE!, the AEA national tours of COME FROM AWAY, CATS, FLOWER DRUM SONG and BOMBAY DREAMS, her solo show  A LITTLE MORE BLUE, and other leading roles at some of the most well-respected theatres across the country including the Guthrie Theater, George Street Playhouse, New York Shakespeare Festival, the Mint Theatre, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Huntington Theatre, Yale Rep, Syracuse Stage, The Denver Center Theatre Company, The Minnesota Opera and New York City Opera. Over 100 film and television appearances include “Sherry Yang” on Season 2 of the Netflix/Marvel TV series IRON FIST, other recurring roles on THE AMERICANS, YOU, BULL, and LAW AND ORDER: SVU, other guest starring roles on NCIS: NEW ORLEANS, MADAM SECRETARY, MR. ROBOT, THE GOOD FIGHT, BRAINDEAD, UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT, MOZART IN THE JUNGLE, THE BLACKLIST, SMASH, 666PARK AVENUE, 30 ROCK, UGLY BETTY, THE BIG C, FRINGE, ROYAL PAINS, CROSSING JORDAN, many episodes in the LAW AND ORDER franchise, and two years as “Lisa West” on ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

Christine Toy Johnson

For theatre, Christine’s first play, THE NEW DEAL, was the inaugural play to be developed in Charles Randolph-Wright’s "Different Voices" program at the Roundabout Theatre Company in NYC and subsequently developed through Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Going to the River Playwriting Unit (featured in Applause Books' "She Persisted: Best Monologues by Women Over 40"). Other plays and musicals include A LITTLE MORE BLUE (a solo play with music, winner of the 2022 inaugural Alvin Epstein Memorial Solo Performance prize and multiple grant awards from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance), FUSONG (based on "The Lost Daughter of Happiness" by Geling Yan, book & lyrics with composer Cecilia Lin, commissioned by the novel's author), BROKEN GROUND (book & lyrics with composer/lyricist Jason Ma, a commission from Village Theatre, O'Neill National Theater Conference Finalist, Musical Theatre Works New Works Festival, Goodspeed Opera House Johnny Mercer Writers Grove), EMPRESS MEI LI LOTUS BLOSSOM (Abingdon Theatre Company's New Works Festival winner, Women's Theatre Festival Fringe 2020 "Outstanding Short Form Play", Greater Boston Stage Company), THE SECRET WISDOM OF TREES (featured in Applause Books’ LATER CHAPTERS Anthology, developed in residence at The Barrow Group Theatre Company and Florida Studio Theatre), TILL SOON, ANNE (book and lyrics with composer Bobby Cronin, honorable mention Jonathan Larson Grant Awards (libretto), developed in residencies at the O’Neill Theater Center), ADVENTURES OF A FAUX DESIGNER HANDBAG (National Women's Theatre Festival #OccupyTheStage2020, Leviathan Lab, part of the “Playwriting” curriculum at Wesleyan University),BARCELONA (libretto and lyrics with composer/lyricist Jason Ma, developed at residencies at the Weston Playhouse, CAP 21 and as part of Village Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals), GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT (starring GRIMM’s Reggie Lee and Bree Turner, featured in Applause Books'"She Persisted: Best Monologues by Women Over 40"), TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD: THE LIFE AND LOVES OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (developed in a residency at the O’Neill Theater Center, world premiere at the Kennedy/McIlwee Studio Theatre in Raleigh, NC), DIARY OF A DOMESTIC GODDESS (with Kevin Duda), MY BOYFRIEND IS AN ALIEN (AND I’M OKAY WITH THAT) (book & lyrics, with composer Bobby Cronin, commissioned and produced by Prospect Theater Company and Theatre Elision), AMERICA'S BFF (book & lyrics with composer Bobby Cronin), PAPER SON (Diverse City Theatre Company, Queens Theatre in the Park, part of the “Multi-cultural Drama” curriculum at the University of Michigan/Flint and the “Playwriting” curriculum at Wesleyan University), INTERNAL BLEEDING (Atlanta Black Theatre Festival, ReImagined World Entertainment’s 2011 workshop starring Daryl “Chill” Mitchell,Crossroads Theatre Company), “EVER SEE A FAT CHINESE?” (New Perspectives Theatre Company),  HALO HALO BIRTHDAY (Leviathan Lab, soon to be featured in Applause Books' "She Persisted: Best Monologues by Women Over 40"), PEACE PLAZA (Leviathan Lab, featured in Applause Books' "She Persisted: Best 10 minute Plays by Women Over 40), WELCOME TO TELEVISION (Barrow Group Theatre Company), TANFORAN (Barrow Group Theatre Company), DO THESE GENES MAKE ME LOOK FAT? (A-Squared Productions), EXPRESSION OF REGRET (365 Women a Year Playwriting Project, Towne Street Theatre, Putnam Theatre Alliance) and WHO WE ARE (Women's Theatre Festival Fringe).

Screenplays include NO WAVE (with Charles Randolph-Wright), RIDING OUT THE STORM (screenplay & lyrics with composer Michael Mott, and Executive Producer with Moongate Productions), JUMPING THE THIRD RAIL (winner, 2016 Meryl Streep/IRIS Writers Lab Fellowship, now titled LOOK UP), WINNING NEW YORK (Screenplay and lyrics with composer Bobby Cronin, produced by New York Film Academy), FOOD LIKE LOVE (screenplay and lyrics with composer Bobby Cronin, produced by New York Film Academy), AMERICAN DREAMIN’ (screenplay, produced by New York Film Academy) and OLD, FAT & UGLY. An anthology of her work was inducted into the Library of Congress Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection in 2010 and is published by NoPassport Press, Smith & Krause, Rowman & Littlefield, and Applause Books. She is an alumna of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and the founder of The Asian American Theatre Artists Collective and The Asian American Musical Theater Writers Project. She serves as Treasurer of the Dramatists Guild of America, and is host of the Guild's podcast "Talkback" on the Broadway Podcast Network.

Christine Toy Johnson

As an Asian American woman who grew up not seeing herself represented in the media, when she started to realize how much she had been internalizing that kind of exclusion (and/or one-dimensional renderings of Asian American people), Christine also realized how much it had shaped her perspective on her place in the world. This realization has been the bedrock of Christine's advocacy work over the past 35 years; providing unwavering motivation to fight for theatre, film and television to hold up and reflect a more full-length mirror to society.

Christine thinks one of the most powerful things about the arts is that we have a unique opportunity to shift perceptions of who we are and what we can do, both for ourselves and for each other. But in order to do this, we must reflect the world as it really is, inclusive of all of us. Christine truly believes that expanding the American landscape of storytelling to include more equal representation of all the different types of people who live and thrive here has the ability to provide a wider worldview for all of us, which can lead to fuller compassion for others – and for ourselves, too. Christine has seen positive change, especially in the past 5 years or so, but there certainly is a lot more room to grow!

In general, actors from historically excluded and under considered communities are still not being routinely cast in leading roles and are still vastly underrepresented. And the rumor that Christine wants to dispel the most is that there aren’t enough parts or scripts for us being written. That isn’t true! There aren’t enough being produced! We’re ready.