PLAYWRITING

Coming from a devised/physical theatre background, Johnny began writing plays while studying at Humber College. During his training at Humber College, he created two original performance pieces which sparked his interest in the creation of theatre. His training also included collaborating with various colleagues and creating original ensemble pieces from improvisation or found text. Some of the projects/devised pieces Johnny worked on included The Illiad by Homer, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Candide by Voltaire.

In 2014, during his participation in PRIDECAB at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Johnny began writing his first play Oasis Love. It was here that he first explored writing his own works without any found text or devised material. Upon receiving various accolades for his work on Oasis Love, Johnny pursued producing the show further and created a theatre company called Sisyphean Productions.

In 2015 Johnny also attended George Brown College for playwriting which was taught under the guidance of Kate Lushington. It was here that he began working on his show INVISIBLE, where he explored writing 2-person shows that two archetype characters Johnny would continue to write for and explore.

That year, Johnny self-produced two plays being Mirror, Mirror and a 30-minute version of Oasis Love until Claudia Carino joined the team as a producer in 2015. Together they produced his show INVISIBLE which inspired a web-series based on the main characters, Brett & Abbey, which was also produced by the company.

Johnny then teamed up with director/dramaturg Franny McCabe-Bennett and began touring a fully scored hour-long version of Oasis Love which they toured until late 2018.

Johnny has been teaching playwriting alongside the Toronto District School Board and the Active Living Center since 2016.