Opera House Arts is happy to welcome island newcomer Kelly Johnson to the team! Kelly will be working as OHA’s Development and Communications Director. We’ve asked her a few questions so you can get to know her better.
Where did you grow up?
Long Island, New York. I spent the first eighteen years of my life in the same house, living there with my parents, siblings and a rotating menagerie of pets. We were about a ten minute drive from the water. After my family, the water was what I missed most during the years I spent in Washington, DC and something I’m very excited about being close to again here in Stonington.
How would your elementary school classmates remember you?
There was a “Can You Imagine…” section in my 8th grade yearbook. Mine ended with “Kelly without a book in her hand?” and for good reason. More than one teacher had to ask me to stop hiding a book under my desk top while they were teaching. Also, my school had an annual roller skating party. One year, I wanted to stay home and read rather than go, but my parents insisted. I compromised. I hid a book in my coat, found an empty table at the roller rink and had a great night with K.A. Applegate’s Animorphs. A lot of people remembered that. I regret nothing.
Name four fictional character with whom you’d be okay being stuck in an elevator. Why?
Remus Lupin (from Harry Potter) – A gentleman with a habit of keeping his cool in stressful situations and always has chocolate on him? No brainer. And his magic will probably get us moving again pretty quickly.
Elizabeth Bennet (from Pride & Prejudice) – She strikes me as someone with whom I could exchange sarcastic comments, which is a must in such situations. Plus, I think she’d handle the presence of magic better than most nineteenth (or twenty-first) century folks.
Kaylee Frye (from Firefly) – If the situation at any point starts to look dire, I’m going to need a good infusion of positivity. No one does upbeat like Kaylee Frye. Plus (probably more importantly in this situation) she’s a mechanical whiz. So if the breakdown happens during a full moon and Lupin starts to wolf out, the rest of us will knock him out, and she’ll have that elevator up and running in no time even without magic.
Ned (from Pushing Daisies) – A mystery solver with an acceptance of the unexplainable things in life. Far more importantly, however, he is a pie maker and likely was in the elevator in the first place because he was delivering his wares. Which means there’s pie in the elevator. Everything’s better with pie.
If you were a cartoon character, what cartoon character would you be?
Daria Morgendorffer. Hands down.
When did you first fall in love with theater?
I, of course, used to make my parents sit through truly horrible original works starring me, my sister and our friends. But, when I was in fifth grade, I saw some of my friends in a more structured (read: real) YMCA production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By the time the curtain fell, I knew that it was something I wanted to explore. My parents immediately signed me up for the next acting program offered. The whole process stole my heart and I’m thrilled to have the chance to work with a theater as fantastic as the Stonington Opera House.
Want to know more? Come on down to the Stonington Opera House and say hi!
