April 23, 2018 - May 19, 2018

I have a NEW PLAY premiering at this festival. I'm so excited to share my latest play talking about the Cherokee Nation and Freemen relationship over citizenship and self-governance.   

Kicking off on Shakespeare's 454th birthday, NYSX will be hosting a month-long festival of events. We would love for you to join us at our many events that are geared to engage our diverse audience. Please click on the links in the calendar below for more info on each event.

January -May 2018

I joined New York Shakespeare Exchange's Diversity Cohort. A group of playwrights, dramaturgs, and directors wrestling with the question "Where does diversity truly intersect in the Classical Theatre canon?"

I am joined by fellow playwrights:

- Katie Kay Chelnea
- Evan T. Cummings

- Alisha Espinosa
- Kevin R. Free

- Dani Martineck

- Ankita Raturi

- Kelli Ruttle

Over the course of five months, 8 playwrights will be creating new plays discussing/inspired by where diversity lives now in the classical canon. 

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We will be participating in panels discussing the topic matter, our varying processes, and more. 

To find out more about New York Shakespeare Exchange's Diversity Cohort click the link. 
 

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January 23-27, 2018 at 8pm

Two of my tiny monsters are being produced a part of one of the best social theatrical commentaries in the city.

Getting in Line shares a conversation of some men trying to get into heaven basking about their good deeds towards women. Emily Hartford directs. 

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A Moment of Silence is a call to action about faux activism. Nathaniel P. Claridad directs. 

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Click the link for more information. 

July 14-23, 2017

My play ENDANGERED SPECIES will be a part of the 40th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival produced by the Playwright Foundation. 

I'll be joined by five other brilliant playwrights: Hillary Bettis, Bennett Fisher, Clarence Coo, Lauren Gunderson, and Mona Mansour. 

I am very thankful to the Playwrights Foundation for inviting me and continuing the life of ENDANGERED SPECIES. I hope I'll see you there. 

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March 5-8, 2017

My play An American Tale opens up the festival. A look at how our government categorizes its citizens through the lens of a casting director. A funny yet haunting portrait of our country. 

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I'm so excited to be asked back to this exhilarating festival, that always serves a poignant snap shot of where we are now. 

January 25-29, 2017

AND THEN I WOKE (A VICARIOUS CATACLYSMIC EVENT) leaps from laptops, iPads and computer screens to explore the phenomenon of YouTube-captured violence perpetrated on African-Americans by those most entrusted with their safety...law enforcement police officers.  Seen by millions around the world in first-person video, the murders of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, and dozens of others demand an answer to one heartbreaking question: how did we get to this place?

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Inspired by Peter Handke's masterpiece "Self-Accusation," AND THEN I WOKE steps back to our earliest beginnings, to look at how we become who we are...not only that black lives matter, but how they are made.  In a world where watching a murder is just one click of a mouse away, the scientific term for these psychic shocks -- "vicarious cataclysmic events" -- becomes a thrilling reimagining of our quest to understand our fellow humans.

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Click the pic for tickets or visit andtheniwoke.bpt.me Tickets are $20

January 19, 2017

My friend Mark Hartman has invited me to be a guest on his cabaret show MARK HARTMAN'S LATE BREAKING STORIES. I will be performing an excerpt from my upcoming show AND THEN I WOKE. Click the pic for more details about the cabaret performance also including Nicholas Rodriguez, Natalie Douglas, and Ricky Alan Saunders. Click the link below for information about my show. I'm so excited to share and talk with Mark. Hope to see you there!!!

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20 AT 7:30PM

"The most important fact is that gays have been here since day one. To say otherwise is a gross denial and stupidity. We played an enormous part in the history of America."
-Larry Kramer

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About the Show

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Inspired by the novel Faggots by acclaimed playwright and activist Larry Kramer, a variety of gay literature, and stories of everyday gay men, Next Faggot Nation aspires to rattle the current climate of the millennial gay male experience. The Fossick Collective aims to hold a mirror up to the younger generation of gay men and bring out a call to action; the fight to bring knowledge of the past in order to make future change is not over just yet.

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Click the link below to learn more about the showing at Dixon Place

November 12, 2016 at 8pm The Director's Company

Rape Culture is one of the most important conversations in America today. Especially since we've elected a president that believes we should "grab [women] by the pussies". I find it bold and enduring to bring voice to a survivor who has been stripped of her voice.  

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Actor/Playwright Alisha Espinosa is bringing a rich perspective/articulation to the experience of a survivor of rape, and the effects of dealing with a loved one who has been raped.

I thank Alisha for trusting me to bring her story to life for the first time. Please join us at Between Us Productions presents a stylized reading of Alisha Espinosa's Dal Segno.

Featuring  Kristi Stout, Juliana Aiden, Tony Curtis, and Brent Shultz, with stage directions by Desiree Pinol. 

December 2016

I have joined the cast of NEXT FAGGOT NATION. A show inspired by the words of the great playwright/activist Larry Kramer. I am beyond excited to get in a room of queer bodies making art, as well as inspired to tell/create such a important story about the queer culture now. 

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‘”Everybody knows what they want.  They just won’t examine their behavior closely enough and see what it means.”

Larry Kramer’s Faggots

Inspired by the novel Faggots by acclaimed playwright and activist Larry Kramer, a variety of gay literature, and stories of everyday gay men- Next Faggot Nation aspires to rattle the current climate of the millennial gay male experience.   Fossick Collective aims to hold a mirror up to the younger generation of gay men and bring out a call to action; the fight to bring knowledge of the past in order to make future change is not over just yet.

In July 2016, creatives Scott Davis and Spencer Armstrong along with Morgan Jenness had the opportunity to interview Larry Kramer about his perception of the progression and regression of this community.  Since then, numerous interviews involving Act Up members Peter Staley and Jim Eigo as well as artists, professors, and more have lent their voice and experience to the creation of this provocative work.  

By putting these stories and opinions into the bodies of Millennial Gay New Yorkers, Next Faggot Nation aims to find connection among young gay men in order to create change in the outside world.

August 14-16, 2016

I'm one of the six playwrights for Harlem 9's Obie Award Winning 48 Hours in Harlem. So excited to collaborate and create some beautiful work. 

July 18-20, 2016 @7pm at LPAC

I am beyond excited, honored, humbled to be working on this peice right now. When art answers the call to action. 

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I am blessed to be apart of a collective of artist eagerly creating work about the world we live in now. We have collected and we call ourselves A CERTAIN SOMETHING. You can follow our work on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/acertainsomethingnyc/

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SELF-ACCUSATION

JULY 18, 19, 20 7:30PM 

LAGUARDIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (LPAC)

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FEATURING 

CHERRYE J. DAVIS & NILAN JOHNSON

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DIRECTED BY

GABRIEL SHANKS

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Sunday, June 26, 2016 @ 8pm

I will be participating in this event to raise money for The Audre Lorde Project this Pride in NYC. I will be writing a piece for the festival. So thankful for Step1 Theatre Project for getting this event together especially with what has been happening in the Queer community lately. 

Sunday May 22, 2016 @4:30pm

I'm performing in a developmental showing of a devise piece about violence we consume on our social media feeds. 

Sunday May 22, 4:30pm
workshop presentation: WE SAT IN THE DEATH HOUSE
created by Nicole A. Watson
an earlier iteration of this work was created with MJ Kaufman
with Una Osato, Yonah Adelman, Chelsea Harrison, Nilan Johnson
In which death is just a click away.

I'm so excited to announce that my play ENDANGERED SPECIES has recieved a MadLab residency with The New American Theatre Co. NY. It will be directed by the companines producing artistic director DeMone Seraphin. 

Its a blessing to continue the work fine tuning the storytelling in ENDANGERED SPECIES. Please come out and support on May 9 and 10 8pm at The Kymberle Project 1332 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, N 111216

Check out my plays section to learn more about the play. Or click the link below to learn more about the MadLab residency. 

Hope to see you there. 

May 10, 2016 @ 8pm & May 11, 2016 @8pm

My One Minute play "Water From The Tap" will be produced a part of the 2nd Annual One Minute Play Festival. Its being Directed by Nathaniel P. Claridad. Starring Elisabeth Ng, Katie Chelena, and Eulone Gooding. 

I'm so excited to have my work a part of this festival. Come out and join us for one hell of a theatre experience. 

May 10 & May 11, 2016

8pm

THE NEW OHIO
154 Christopher Street
New York, NY 10014

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The One-­Minute Play Festival (#1MPF) is America’s largest and longest running grass roots theatre company, founded by Producing Artistic Director, Dominic D’Andrea. #1MPF is social barometer project, which investigates the zeitgeist of different communities through dialogue, consensus building, and a performance of 50-100 short moments generated by each community. #1MPF works in partnership with theatres and/or social organizations sharing playwright, educational, or community-specific missions across the country. The aim is to create locally sourced playwright-focused community events, with the goal of promoting the spirit of radical inclusion. #1MPF represents playwrights of different age, gender, race, cultures, and points of career. The work attempts to reflect the theatrical landscape of local artistic communities by creating a dialogue between the collective conscious and the individual voice.

In each city, #1MPF works with partnering organizations to identify programs or initiatives in each community to support with the proceeds from ticket sales. The goal is to find ways give directly back to the artists in each community. Supported programs have ranged from educational programming, youth poetry projects, theatre program in prisons, playwright residencies and memberships, playwrights salaried commissions, community access projects, arts workshops, and other social and artistic initiatives.
 

April 26, 2016 @9pm & April 28, 2016 @7pm

I am directing the 10*Minute Play in Between Us Production's Take Ten 2016 Festival. FRIABLE is written by Alisha Espinosa. The show features Alisha Espinosa and Brandon Garegnani. 

Read more about Between Us Productions HERE

I am thrilled to direct this beautifully raw piece about the intersection of culture tradition and self identification. 

Come watch as 16 play battle for the titles of best play, best director, best actor, and best actress. The best part? Your votes help decide the winner!

April 26th - 30th at 7pm & 9pm

May 1st at 3pm

13th Street Repertory Co.

50 W 13th streetNew York, NY

Tickets $20 http://m.bpt.me/event/2512198 or at the doorstep For bios and more info:http://betweenusproductions.wix.com/take-ten

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 20167pm

Series A

Captain Samaritan: The Battle of Negrophobia by Jeremy Holloway

Mama, I Don’t Want To Be Mediocre by Monica Mikell

Division of Assets by Krysten Louchen

The Authoress by Seth Freeman

9pm

Series B

You Are Could I by Steven McMahon

Friable by Alisha Espinosa

Grieving with Gary by Laura Towns

Sunset by Gary Jaffe

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2016

7pm Series C

Good Corporate Citizen by Sam Graber

You&Me(and Ruby) by Alexandra Ley

The Procrustes Pitch by Vishesh Abeyratne

Swept by Gina Doherty

9pm

Series D

Threatened Panda Fights Back by Rex McGregor

I Never Heard Such Silence by Marlin Thomas

Hangman by Gregory Fletcher

Edward’s Closet by Jenn Dlugos and Charlie Hatton

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

7pm Series B

You Are Could I by Steven McMahon

Friable by Alisha Espinosa

Grieving with Gary by Laura Towns

Sunset by Gary Jaffe

9pm Series A

Captain Samaritan: The Battle of Negrophobia by Jeremy Holloway

Mama, I Don’t Want To Be Mediocre by Monica Mikell

Division of Assets by Krysten Louchen

The Authoress by Seth Freeman

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016

7pm Series D

Threatened Panda Fights Back by Rex McGregor

I Never Heard Such Silence by Marlin Thomas

Hangman by Gregory Fletcher

Edward’s Closet by Jenn Dlugos and Charlie Hatton

9pm

Series C

Good Corporate Citizen by Sam Graber

You&Me(and Ruby) by Alexandra Ley

The Procrustes Pitch by Vishesh Abeyratne

Swept by Gina Doherty

SATURDAY, APRIL 30 2016

7pmSemi-finalists TBD

9pmSemi-finalists TBD

SUNDAY, MAY 1 2016

3pmFinalists TBD

MARCH 1, 2016 @7:30PM pim Theater at 14 street Y New York, New York 10003

Endangered Species is a part of Red Fern Theatre's 2016 Spring Development Reading Series.

Endangered Species is about the Williams family is the last Black family left in America. To survive they have disowned their Blackness. During the month of others, Little Emma experiences the calling. Her dormant Blackness has awaken and is trying to claim her as a Black woman. The calling leads her to the basement (aka The Heart of Darkness) where a griot lives that is preserving Black culture. Will Little Emma expose her family for the Black people they really are? Or will the Williams family lose there daughter to a forgotten culture?

Email for Tickets
tickets@redferntheatre.org 

Find out more at http://www.redferntheatre.org/

Click below to reserve your ticket 

FEBRUARY 22, 2016 @ 7PM STUDIOS 353, located on 353 W. 48th St., New York, NY 10036

I co-wrote a new play about with Brandon Garegnani for the third installment in the Oppressed in Heels series. Come here the first public reading of this new piece explore the woman that is Joan before her sainthood. 

JANUARY 2016

My play ENDANGERED SPECIES is one of the new works that will be in development during the Drama League's 2016 Artist-In-Residence. Nathaniel P. Claridad (the director) will be in residence working on my play. 

This years residencies will also showcase new works from Duncan Shiek and Adrienne Kennedy. It is an honor to be recognized by the Drama League, and among such distingush artist. 

February 2016

So I have been commissioned to write a new play based off of the story of the warrior maiden Joan of Arc. 

I will be co-writing this new play with my dear friend/colleague Brandon Garegnani. 

Details about the show coming soon!!!!

October 23-November 1

I will be playing the Greek God POSEIDAN in this amazing production.

CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW FOR TICKETS!!!

New York City's Oppressed in Heels and A Letter For You Project presents THE TROJAN WOMEN, a new devised work pulled from interviews of women dealing with war in its many ravaging forms weaved into the narrative of Euripides’ classic text.

Buy your tickets today for this limited engagement! 

Friday OCTOBER 23 @ 8pm
Saturday OCTOBER 24 @ 3pm and 8pm
Sunday OCTOBER 25 @ 3pm
Monday OCTOBER 26 @ 8pm
Wednesday OCTOBER 28 @ 8pm
Thursday OCTOBER 29 @ 8pm
Friday OCTOBER 30 @ 8pm
Saturday OCTOBER 31 @ 3pm and 8pm
Sunday NOVEMBER 1 @ 3pm

Tickets are $18.

Show will run for 90min.

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LOCATION:
The Access Theater
380 Broadway, 4th floor
Near the A/C/E, N/R/Q, 6, J/M/Z and 1 subway lines.

March 22, 2015

I will be directing a 10 minute play in the Working Theater's 5th Director's Salon.

The piece is entitled "VIC" by Martyna Majok. Martyna is a gifted playwright whose words breathe life and hope for the future of the American Theatre.

Tickets are FREE!!! Click the tab below to reserve your spot. I hope to see you there.

Oh it feels good to put the director's cap back on.

March 6-7, 2015 @ 7:30, BRIC Arts NYC

I just love working on new works!!! I had the pleasure to do a reading of this new play about a year ago, and I'm over joyed to be asked back to work on this play again.

Amy Evans is a brilliant playwright that has brought the icon Nina Simone to the stage in all her humanity.

Come out and see this blooming work in progress on March 6-7 at 7:30pm at BRIC Arts 647 Fulton St. Brooklyn, NY11217

I hope to see you there!!!

Out of the need to speak out against the epidemic that Black lives in America are facing. My friend and fellow artist, LaKeisha May, wrote/directed a brilliant repsonse to the unecessary Police

violence in our country.

I'm honored that I was asked to contribute my being to this project. Please watch and spread.

You can watch by clicking the tab below or watching it in my MEDIA tab of my website.

"I speak not for myself but for those without voice... those who have fought for their rights... their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated."

-Malala Yousafzai

November 8, 2014 @ 7pm

The Drama League is proud to participate in the NoPassport for Human Rights Reading Scheme for 2014 with Caridad Svich's play, UPON THE FRAGILE SHORE.

Directed by Drama League Executive Director Gabriel Shanks, the staged reading will include performances by Nathaniel P. Claridad, Cherrye J. Davis, Nilan Johnson, and Tania Chelnov; original music composed by Slats; stage management by Miriam Rosalky. This event is produced by Nathaniel P. Claridad.

UPON THE FRAGILE SHORE is a play for four actors that explores human rights and environmental issues around the world especially in relationship to human-made tragedies and their aftermath. The play centers on stories from the United States, Nigeria, Syria, Malaysia, sub-Sahara, and Venezuela. Seven interlocking stories. Fourteen characters played by four actors. All of us living on the fragile shore. A play-conversation about tragedy, hope, faith, and who we are as audience.

NoPassport theatre alliance & press, Jody Christopherson (Skype Show, New York Theater Review) and Missing Bolts Productions (founded by Zac Kline and Blair C. Baker, www.missingbolts.com) in collaboration with multiple venues across the US and abroad invite you to present free script-in-hand readings and/or 5-10 minute digital film excerpts of UPON THE FRAGILE SHORE by Caridad Svich in the months of October and November 2014 to illuminate human rights and environmental issues on global scale and to foster ethical co-existence. Dramaturge for the scheme is Zac Kline. Assistant dramaturge is Bree Windham. To join the reading & film scheme this fall, please contact fragileshore@gmail.com and visit NoPassport at www.nopassport.org
 

"Caridad Svich's Upon the Fragile Shore asks us to be with human vulnerability without solving it; arriving at expressions of peace through accident. Her images are surprising, visceral and invite delight and attending inside of difficulty. It's a big world, and we are so beautifully close in it." -- Emily Mendelsohn, director

Saturday November 8 | 7pm | Drama League Theater Center | FREE admission | Donations to human rights organizations welcome

For more information: http://nopassport.org/upon-fragile-shore-nopassport-human-rights-reading-scheme

THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT! To be placed on the waiting list, email studiolab@dramaleague.org.

http://dramaleague.thankyou4caring.org/events

September 2014

I'll be working this September on the reboot of the Discovery ID series Most Evil.

Maybe the character I'm portraying just happens to be a serial killer. It would be bad craft to judge the character but you go right ahead.

Look out for my episodes.

June 20, 2014 @ 2:30pm

See Nilan as "Jaye" in the stage reading of [The Chair, The Dance] by emerging playwright Korde Tuttle.

Presented through Story People Theatre Gorup at Primary Stages 307 West 38th Street Suite 1510 Studio B New York, NY 10018

Info on Playwright:

heykorde.tumblr.com/contact

June 2, 2014

Nilan Johnson is now signed legit with the wonderful Meg Pantera the Agency. 

Meg Pantera the Agency

138 W 15th St, New York, NY 10011
(212) 219-9330

May 9, 2014

Nilan was Christopher White in the reading of Amy Evan's new play The Champion, produced by Bric House and 651 Arts. 

The Champion is a brilliant new piece about the legend Nina Simone, during a key transitional period within Nina Simone's life. 

Click the "Watch Now" button below to see a trailer featuring actress Joy Jones who plays Nina Simone. 

March 15, 2014

The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) will be presenting its Actor Showcase along with Southern Methodist University.

Peter Jay Sharp Theatre

416 West 42nd Street

May 5 (1:00 and 6:30) & May 6 (1:00), 2014

PATP Class of 2014:

Nilan Johnson

Tania Chelnov

Nathaniel Claridad

Patrick McHugh

Maren Searle

Brandon Garegnani

Stay tuned for more information to come!!!

Monday April 14, 2014 @ 8pm

Come out for an evening of Gender-Swapped Showtunes and Drinks!!! I'll be performing an original rendition of the Gershwin brothers "The Man I Love".

All donations are for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids and the NC AIDS Action Network.

Links

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids

https://www.broadwaycares.org/

North Carolina AIDS Action Network

http://www.ncaan.org/

April 4, 2014

Directed by Mike Donahue

A theatrical tour-de-force combining Sondheim's signature blend of intelligently stunning lyrics and beautiful music with a panoramic story of our nation's culture of celebrity and the violent means some will use to obtain it, embodied by America's four successful and five would-be presidential assassins.

Dates

April 2, 2014 - April 20, 2014

CURTAIN TIMES

Tuesdays-Saturdays – 7:30pm

Sunday Matinees – 2:00pm

Saturday Matinee, Apr 12 – 2:00pm

BOX OFFICE

919.962.PLAY (7529);

12pm-6pm Monday-Friday & 2 hours prior to every performance

March 31, 2014 @ 7pm

One of my plays are being stage read!!!

Wagon Wheel Arts presents the first installment of PINTS AND PLAYS, a reading series for new plays at Linda's Downbar.

MONDAY, MARCH 31 at 7:00pm

THE SAINT AND THE SINNER by Nilan Johnson

directed by Nathaniel P. Claridad

The Saint and The Sinner is my response to the identity crisis that today’s gay culture is experiencing. The gay culture has been pushed into the limelight by many media outlets. Those outlets have mainstreamed the culture by creating colorful stereotypical images that plague the minds of our upcoming generations. Today’s gay youth are walking clones absent of their history. The Saint and The Sinner allows its audience to view the struggles of communication that plagues today’s gay culture, while questioning today’s most basic gay practices like grindr, partaking in drag queen vernacular, and hook up sex. Over the course of two weeks the play takes you through the unfortunate meetings of Damien, a lighting designer, and Marshall, a Macy’s Sales Associate. Showing that being gay isn’t enough of a common bond to begin the most basic of human interactions, conversation.

FILLED WITH DRAGONFLIES AND HURTLING THROUGH SPACE by Carey Cox

directed by Allison Driskill

FREE ADMISSION----So buy a drink!

Presented with support from Linda's Bar & Grill

Chapel Hill, NC

March 3, 2014

Center for Dramatic Art, Room 101, 7:30PM

I'm apart of a stage reading of Chilean play "Your Desires in Fragments: Conceptual Irruptions Textual Poetics for a Poetics of Space" by Ramon Griffero translated by Adam Versenyi and directed by Joseph Megal. 

Your Desires in Fragments is by the important, but little-known to the English-speaking world, Chilean playwright and director Ramon Griffero. While he was in high school in the early 1970s Griffero ran guns for the guerrilla group, Movimiento Izquierda Revolucionario. At the time of the military coup in 1973 Griffero was just entering university. With the aid of an uncle in the military he was able to leave the country and spent the next number of years studying and working in England and Belgium. In the mid-1980s he returned to Chile and, as an openly gay former revolutionary, founded the theatre company Teatro del Fin de Siglo, and “El Trolley,” a cultural space for resistance to the Pinochet dictatorship. By programming primarily performance art and “art actions” that the regime did not comprehend, “El Trolley” was able to avoid censorship and provided a vitally needed gathering space for those in opposition to the military dictatorship. Griffero’s plays and productions from the late 1980s to the present have been essential components in the resurgence of contemporary Chilean theatre. His plays have been produced and premiered in Latin America and Europe and have been translated and published in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Czech; but, as of yet, not in English. He has also published a number of essays on art and politics, particularly regarding his artistic theory, “the dramaturgy of space”. Adam Versényi is working on a collection of translations of Griffero’s plays that will be the first appearance of his work in English and will make his important contributions in theatrical innovation and to the intersection of art and politics accessible to a much wider audience than before.