N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 8 3 5 sarah Barlow Feeling Geel The 10 Most Intriguing People in Maine By Diane Hudson Artist René Goddess Johnson is soaring, and there’s no bringing her down. 1 S omething draws people to René Goddess Johnson. The South Africa- born actor, director, and choreogra- pher has always snagged attention, at first by accident. “It started when I was a kid,” Johnson says. “Strangers would come up to me, sit next to me, and start a conversation. By the time I was 12, people would come up and tell me things out of the blue, like ‘my father just died.’” Today, at 34, it’s a quality she prizes— “turning it into something. For 27 years, I’ve been fumbling and creating and some- how have become a director.” She smiles. “Producer. Performance artist. Educator. Dancer, choreographer, playwright, theater founder.” She almost twinkles. “Embodied equity consultant. “My goal is to get more people to be em- bodied equity players. Growing up, we lose the ability to play. We need to bring our- selves back to the time as children when we were using our entire body and not worry- ing about looking stupid.” She should know, having worked as a nan- ny for 17 years with no fewer than 33 babies. Which brings us to her popular interac- tive one-woman show, geel. First performed at Celebration Barn Theater, geel has knocked out audiences at Congress Square Park, Col- by and Bowdoin Colleges, and Bright Star World Dance. “I invite and give permis- sion for the audience to actively participate throughout the show,” which includes pow- erful dance and song in multiple languages, including English and Afrikaans. This “bru- tally honest” production covers themes rang- ing from Johnson’s severe physical and emo- tional abuse and trauma to self-harm habits. “[I love] watching people believe they are go- ing to be scared and then listening to them talk about how much fun they had.” One standout memory is of a Portland woman in her late sixties. “I watched her listening. I knew she wanted to say some- thing, so I asked her, ‘What’s on your mind?’ ‘I listened to that young man in the audience talk about skateboarding as a way to take care of himself. It never occurred to me I could do something I like for self-care.’ This is poignant,” Johnson says. “You don’t come to this show to find out about me. You come here to find out about yourself.” As we speak, Johnson, the founder and artistic director of the four-year-old award- winning Theater Ensemble of Color, is collaborating with Portland Ovations and Portland Museum of Art on the production of the Alliance Theatre adaptation of Ash- ley Bryan’s picture book, Beautiful Black- bird. Inspired by a Zambian folk tale, the play, full of music and movement, traces Blackbird’s courageous journey to share his truth that “color on the outside is not what’s on the inside,” and “it is important for us to understand how we can get along together in this beautiful forest. This beautiful bird is telling people it’s ok to appreciate black- ness, you are you and I am me.” For director Johnson, “I had this book as a young black woman, and it meant so much. Someone was talking about my skin and my culture and saying it was beautiful. I wasn’t hearing this from church or school. This production is not about sadness, grief or suffering. It is about happiness, black joy, love moments. People don’t hear this enough about blacks. They see mostly po- lice statistics.” Conceived for young audiences,Johnson is hoping that following recent fully-booked performances at PMAand USM,the produc- tion will tour in schools across Maine.She’s grateful that Portland Ovations helped launch these shows: “We need to give children access [to this art].” Opposite page:Johnson explodes with personality and dimension in her creation geel.