Toni Ann Johnson

Biography

Toni Ann Johnson grew up in Monroe, New York and the Greenwich Village area of New York City. During high school she was a student at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York City. She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She also attended City College of New York where she studied playwriting with Arthur Kopit. Johnson received a certificate in Cinema from Los Angeles City College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.

Career

In June 1994, Johnson was selected as a participant for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab to adapt her stage play Gramercy Park Is Closed to the Public.

Johnson’s play Gramercy Park Is Closed to the Public was produced in the summer of 1994 by The Fountainhead Theatre Company in Los Angeles at The Hudson Theatre.

It was also presented as a staged reading as part of The Ensemble Studio Theatre Company’s “Octoberfest” in October 1994.

The play centers on the life of an upper middle class woman of mixed race and her romantic relationship with a white cop in her New York City neighborhood. The story explores complexities of race and class.

Gramercy Park Is Closed to the Public was produced by The New York Stage and Film Company in 1999 as a mainstage production and as part of its summer Powerhouse Theatre at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. It starred Nicole Ari Parker, David Warshofky and Eddie Cahill.

Johnson wrote the screenplay for the ABC television movie, Ruby Bridges. The film is based on the life of Ruby Nell Bridges, who in 1960, integrated the New Orleans public school system when she was six years old. Ruby Bridges premiered on ABC in January 1998.

In 2000, Johnson wrote the film The Courage to Love for Lifetime Television. The film is loosely based on the life of Henriette Delille, a free woman of color in mid-19th century New Orleans, who founded one of the first orders of nuns of African descent, The Sisters of the Holy Family.

In 2001, Johnson was hired by Robert Cort and David Madden to write a pilot based on the feature film Save the Last Dance. The pilot was produced for Fox Television in 2002.

Johnson wrote the 2004 film Crown Heights for Showtime Television. The story focuses on a rap group that comprises African-American and Hasidic Jewish members. The group formed in the wake of the Brooklyn Crown Heights riots of 1991.

Johnson co-wrote the second installment of the Step Up franchise, Step Up 2: The Streets.

Johnson’s short stories have been published in various print journals: The Emerson Review (2013), The Elohi Gadugi Journal (2013), Soundings Review (2014) and Hunger Mountain Journal (2016). Her work has also been published in the online journals Red Fez and Arlijo and in the online version of Elohi Gadugi Journal.

In 2014, Johnson’s debut novel Remedy for a Broken Angel was released via Nortia Press. The book features a Bermudian protagonist and was inspired by Johnson’s strong ties to the island.

Awards

Johnson won the 1998 Humanitas Prize and the 1998 Christopher Award for her script Ruby Bridges.

In 2004, Johnson won a second Humanitas Prize for her script Crown Heights.

Johnson was nominated for a 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author.

The book also won a 2015 Beverly Hills Book Award for Multicultural Fiction and a 2015 International Latino Book Award for Most Inspirational Fiction Book.

Activism

Johnson has been active in South Los Angeles for many years in her efforts to revitalize the area by planting trees. She was instrumental in gaining approval for a major tree-planting event in January 2010 that involved Ralphs Grocery and Million Trees LA.

Johnson has published Op-Ed essays about South Los Angeles in the Los Angeles Times.