Charles L Johanson

Charles Johanson started his theatrical career in NYC working for Jack Batman at Theatrical Consultants Ltd and is honored to still have Jack and a friend and mentor these many decades later. In 1984, he was named Executive Director of Ensemble Theatre Company in New Haven where he produced over 21 productions from Inherit the Wind at the Yale Moot Courtroom to Equus at Eli Whitney's Barn, from producing Albee's Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf in the round to Shakespeare on the Green downtown New Haven. Charles was then stolen from NYC by CalRep in Long Beach CA where he served as director of Marketing for the newly formed company as a part of the California State University's MFA theater program. Deciding to stay on the West Coast, Charles served as General Manager at Grove Shakespeare Festival (and had the unique opportunity to watch stay in that post under three different artistic directors) and departing for a few years and was the first Executive Director of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles where he produced concerts at Royce Hall, the Wiltern Theater, and Carnegie Hall in NYC. He co-founded Grove Theater Center in 1994 and has served as Executive Director having produced two decades of theater including 12 seasons at the GTC Gem and Festival Amphitheater in Orange County, five summer seasons of Theater on the Green in Fullerton, and continuous productions at GTC Burbank since 2001. In 2004, GTC inaugurated the GTC New Play Initiative. Plays and musicals developed through the program have won Ovation awards for both Best New Musical (Blake… da Musical by Rick Batalla and Henry Phillips) and Best New Play (Film Chinois by Damon Chua), and The Accomplices by Bernie Weinraub was nominated for New York's prestigious Drama Desk Award. Six NPI shows have moved on to productions in New York City and five have subsequently been published.

In 2017 along with Christopher Hart and Kevin Cochran, he founded the Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle Hart New Play Initiative which offers writers fully staged productions on both coasts for a truly national impact. In the first year Hart NPI reieved 1,243 submitted scripts from 42 states and 5 countries, four were selected as Bronze winners and received readings in summer 2017 at 59E59 Theaters in New York. Of those, Confederates and Exit Wounds were selected to receive full productions at Grove Theater Center, and one will return to premiere at 59E59 next year.