In commemoration of Black History Month, the SLC Theatre & Civic Engagement and the SLC Theatre Program are honored to present a tribute to Paul Kwame Johnson (BA ‘74, MFA '77), who regrettably passed away on January 19, 2025. This program, which will be held in Reisinger on Saturday, February 15 at 3:00 PM, will feature performances by the members of his company, The Little Blue Room Theatre Company. The company will showcase the material he recently directed, along with a children's dance ensemble performing African Dance. We hope you will join us.
Paul Kwame Johnson’s unwavering dedication to community work began during his undergraduate days at Sarah Lawrence College, where he was taught and inspired by faculty member Emeriti Shirley Kaplan and the Theatre Outreach Program, one of the first community arts programs of its kind in the nation. He began teaching mime to teens on a basketball court in Yonkers, and in 1971, he partnered with his talented friend, musician James Hill, at the Yonkers Community Action Program’s ‘School 12’. This collaboration was pivotal, leading to the establishment of Youth Theatre Interactions, an institution that has enriched Yonkers' cultural landscape by providing after-school performing arts education for the youth. Today, fifty years later, 'YTI’ is widely recognized as a cultural institution that continues to thrive. Most recently, Johnson shared his passion for creativity and theatre with the Theodore D. Young Community Center Adult Acting Workshop, where he founded the Little Blue Room Theatre Company in Greenburg, NY, recognized as the signature multi-cultural theatre ensemble in Westchester County.