Christine Toy Johnson

A modern-day mythological horror story about climate change, censorship, and whether art and democracy can save us from them both.

When Robby, a Broadway scenic designer and his college friend Isabelle, an Asian American novelist, each lose their mind’s eyes’ ability to envision what they’re working on, they go on a quest to figure out what climate change and censorship might have to do with it. They encounter Blake Primrose, a former mentor who has become a conservative Senator, intertwined with their exploration – as Blake must admit that his journey to find his purpose has clouded his own motivation for political influence over the same issues. Blake and Robby reluctantly reconnect over how their artistic heroes, Frank Lloyd Wright and Antoní Gaudí, were both wholly inspired by nature – and wrestle with the idea that what inspired the world’s great works of art is now in danger of extinction. Robby’s girlfriend Francesca, struggling with work/life responsibilities, delivers the news that his family’s beloved home has been destroyed in the California wildfires and Robby grapples with having been too consumed with work to rescue his father’s treasured paintings in time. Isabelle watches the world erase the books she’s written as well as the accomplishments of prominent Asian Americans. Can they all figure out a way to live in the world as it is today, looking towards the future, while also making the sure the past is never forgotten? Can art bridge divides? And how can we protect what inspires us?

FUSONG tells the story of two young Chinese women in two different centuries linked by their complicated destiny to search for true freedom from within. As Fusong is kidnapped from her small village in China and thrown into the dark world of San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1866, and Nancy confronts the anti-Asian hate crimes of America’s 21st century COVID era, their histories intertwine with violence, enslavement, duty, and – against all odds – love, ultimately leading them on a journey to discover their shared legacy of survival.
Based on "The Lost Daughter of Happiness" by Geling Yan.
Book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson, music by Cecilia Lin. Conceived and directed by Gabriel Barre

A solo play with music. A LITTLE MORE BLUE is about an Asian American woman who discovers how much her father's lifelong quest to be an “All American guy” has galvanized her own journey to make fighting for his dream one of her own - and how love, loss, and hope can find themselves intertwined. With original songs by Christine Toy Johnson and Bobby Cronin.

THE SECRET WISDOM OF TREES is the story of Abby Green, an intrepid and fiercely funny 67 year old woman who tries to prepare her family and herself for her journey into Alzheimer’s at an "insultingly young age" by planting trees at the locations of her biggest memories. When her daughter dies and her grandchildren turn against her, she struggles with knowing that even her most painful memories are becoming difficult to hold onto. What’s worse – losing your family or losing the memories of what has become of them? Inspired by true events. Dedicated to Lynn Cohen.

A Teaneck born Asian American actress adopts the persona of an exotic Hong Kong movie star so she can finally take Broadway by storm.

A musical.
Book & Lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson. Music by Bobby Cronin.
TILL SOON, ANNE is the story of a young woman at the end of her journey with brain cancer, who gathers her closest friends and family together for one final perfect weekend.

Book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson, music and lyrics by Jason Ma.
BROKEN GROUND takes place in 1911 China, at the cusp of a new world of possibility for all who live there. A young girl takes an unexpected and magical journey to womanhood, guided by the beloved spirits of departed family, her Mother's mystical Nu Shu embroidery, and a goddess or two. she finds her purpose and true destiny, all while pushing against the traditional of patriarchal society, and finding her own path to her heart's desires.
Originally commissioned by Village Theatre, Robb Hunt executive director, Brandon Ivie, director of new works, Jerry Dixon, artistic director.
2023 Finalist, Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference.

ADVENTURES OF A FAUX DESIGNER HANDBAG is a comedy about three friends frantically trying to find a limited edition handbag. They are catapulted through space and time from the maze of Chinatown, New York, to the Splendid China theme park in Orlando, Florida, where they try to discover if authenticity is really in the eye of the beholder. (Audio/radio play version and stage versions available)

PAPER SON is the story of a young Chinese man who must learn to balance his American identity with his family’s immigrant journey. It’s 1952, and when he meets his match in an American-born-Chinese girl, romance and new questions about the name he lost in his secretly illegal immigration follow. (The prequel to THE NEW DEAL).

By Kevin Duda and Christine Toy Johnson.
Meet Maggie Jones, a quintessential 1950’s Iowa housewife who is “perfectly perfect in every single way.” Every morning, she sets out her husband’s suit and tie and shoes and socks, presses his shirt, whips the butter, bakes the bread, polishes the silver, knits a sweater, sets the table, weaves the napkins, fries the bacon, scrambles the eggs, picks up the paper, and pours the coffee – all before 8 a.m. But, something is missing. She can’t help but think that she can do more…but what? Perhaps a visit from a mysterious traveling salesman, who presents her with The Hollywood Housewife Records, will hold the key. Soon she is acting out zany, pre-recorded scenes with her favorite celebrities. As Maggie gets swept away by the stories and characters she plays, she discovers that learning to say what she really means makes her more “perfectly perfect” than she ever could have imagined.

Three Chinese American women wonder if the end of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the U.S. government’s apology for it will make it easier to breathe. (15 minutes.)

A Filipina widowed mother who has traveled to Tokyo to be an “overseas performing artist” tries her best to communicate absentee birthday wishes to her daughter back in the Philippines. (10 minutes.)

NICOLE, an African-American female marketing consultant living in Minneapolis, Minnesota responds to remarks pointed towards her from a middle aged Caucasian man wearing a “Make America Great” baseball cap at a family style restaurant off the highway in St Cloud.

A woman whose family lived through the Japanese internment camps wonders about the cost of civil disobedience as she waits for her daughter on the day Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot. (10 minutes.)

An Insurrectionist accuses Chinese American elementary school students of causing the Global Pandemic.

Sam Chey, a highly successful Cambodian-American lawyer returning to Phnom Penh for the first time since his parents fled the Khmer Rouge, tries to find justice for a young man framed for murder. While grappling with the idea that corruption within the Cambodian legal system is status quo, he begins to question whether or not he can save the day, the way his American psyche insists he can. Inspired by true events currently happening in Cambodia.

Behind the scenes at Perfect Pitched Productions, newcomer Sabrina Lee discovers that “reality” isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. (One Act / 30 minutes.)

Ari, an Asian American freelance photographer sheltering in place with his husband in their Los Angeles home during the pandemic known as COVID-19, gives a Marco polo video update to his college friends.

ANTONI & AN WEI – A musical in one act. (Book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson, Music and lyrics by Jason Ma). Part history, part musing. Antoni Gaudi, the famed Catalan architect, finds his life’s calling come sharply into focus when he falls in love with Li An Wei, a Shanghainese opera singer. Set in Barcelona in both 1879 (the year Gaudi started building La Sagrada Familia) and 1926 (the year he died, still building it), we see Antoni and An Wei discover how love and inspiration can be manifested in a multitude of grand and epic, yet ultimately intimate and deeply personal ways. (40 minutes.)

In a battle with her brother to keep her family’s restaurant from being demolished, Abigail Lee finds out that saving the past isn’t always the same as fighting for the future.

Laurie, an Asian American freelance musician sheltering in place by herself on the upper westside of Manhattan during the pandemic known as COVID-19, gives a video update to her Facebook friends.

A musing on the legacy of cravings. (7 minutes.)

RIDIING OUT THE STORM - A ten-minute musical. (Book and Lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson, Music by Michael Mott.) On the day Hurricane Sandy is set to hit Staten Island, a woman must decide whether or not to evacuate the house her late husband built.

Rebounding from repeated personal tragedy and intent on setting the record straight about his life’s work, Frank Lloyd Wright at age 65 gives a press conference about his new autobiography and plans for enduring the future.

He is 65 years old and the depression in full force. He hasn't been getting many commissions because of his ongoing reputation for being reckless with funds and the scandal that continues to surround him, perpetuated by the press – but he is about to embark on the most fruitful and successful period of creativity in his life. He displays the utter confidence and sense of imperviousness he maintained throughout his entire life -- one that empowers him to achieve his lifelong mission: to change people’s lives by changing the space in which they live.

In internal moments, he hears questions from the women in his life, revealing how much they influenced him and how. Towards the end of the play, he is surprised to gain insight from the voice of his older self –which leads him to be inspired, once again, by his own mission and purpose in life: to create a new society built on the principal of architectural beauty.

Written for Tony-nominated actor Alan Campbell (SUNSET BLVD.)
For more information (including licensing), please visit www.franklloydwrightonstage.com

Lexy Lee has a sneaking suspicion that she’s “large for her breed”. She’ll do anything for a major-league make over. Or will she? (15 minutes.)

EYE D – A documentary-style theatre piece with music; a conversation with Asian American, Latina and African-American women on race, ethnicity, and the beauty of Michelle Obama. (One Act / 40 minutes)

Book & Lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson. Music by Bobby Cronin.

Taking place in Waterloo, Iowa in the summer of 1955, MY BOYFRIEND IS AN ALIEN (AND I’M OKAY WITH THAT!) is a short musical about Arlene, a cashier at the local Hinky Dinky, whose life changes when she falls in love with an Alien named David. Things get complicated when she reveals to him that she is actually a Witch who put a spell on him to become pregnant with his child. And when a panicked David tells her that they will be giving birth to a “Witchalien”, the most powerful species known to man, woman, witch and alien – they’re scared to death to imagine what kind of Witchalien their future child might be.

A Caucasian woman married to a Japanese American man during World War II must reconcile the identity the U.S. government gives her with the only home she knows: her family. (10 minutes.)

BARCELONA – A musical. (Book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson, music and lyrics by Jason Ma.) A story about the enduring power of love, inspiration and art – and the family ties that bind them.

Julianna, an American novelist, travels to Barcelona to connect with her dead sister Antoinette, after a family heirloom mysteriously materializes in a dream she has about Antoinette and famed architect Antoni Gaudi. We travel between time periods – from Gaudi’s era (1879 and 1926) into 2015, mixing fact and mostly fiction. In this Barcelona, time and reality is fluid.

Setting: NYC, Barcelona, Spain and the Catalan Seaside.
Time: 1879, 1926, 2015, and the space in between

Three finalists to become the face of a beloved snack company find out they may already know the secret to winning - and it's not pretty.

An Olympic bound gymnast becomes estranged from his parents after an accident leaves him paralyzed. Inspired by a true story.