Playwright

“Tenacious and driven, Mary is committed to the craft of storytelling and collaborates with any team to create new and exciting pieces of art. Most importantly, it is Mary’s diverse and well-traveled background that leads her to a plethora of environments and collaborators. Her strong moral fiber makes her (most importantly) an exemplary leader, and I’m excited to see her stories come to life onstage. It has been an honor to be part of her journey, and I know you will find it to be the same.”

“I know two of Mary’s plays, the tragic and funny Shanktown and especially her recent work, Possession, a wonderful dance between the almost normal and a surrealistic journey with the Virgin Mary through time. Mary is keen to explore all kinds of spiritual corners in her plays, as well as uniquely theatrical ways of portraying them. I’ve seen the progression of Possession. Mary set herself bold challenges and was willing to experiment and expand and throw things away in her exploration of the play. She is a relatively fast writer, and it was a wonder to see successive iterations of Possession, each markedly different from the previous one. I urge you to read her work and get to know this gifted artist.”

“One of Mary's best qualities is her positivity. She is authentically a sun-shiny person. She laughs easily and has a gentle eagerness that is charmingly child-like. She's phenomenally sensitive and insightful, and truly un-needy. As much as she wants to make the world a better place, she has a strong, steady stance that is non-competitive. Her maturity allows her to be her own person, walk her own walk, and have the confidence to love before hating. Mary is always eager for honest, constructive feedback.

Mary’s newest play, POWER, strikes home with me as I’m sure it will with anyone who has an aging parent or grandparent. All of us who try to go home but find that the connections we long for are challenged by the changes we’ve manifested in ourselves will be drawn into this play, which consequently wields the power to allow us to release past pain.”

“I am writing to give Mary Donnet Johnson the highest recommendation. Last summer, I was given the amazing opportunity to direct her play, Shanktown, in the New Works Festival at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. It was a lovely experience from beginning to end and I feel blessed to now consider her a friend as well as a professional collaborator.

Mary was very responsive to ideas from actors and from me and very thoughtful and professional in her communication throughout our process. She traveled to Memphis several times to be involved in the process which I welcomed. Mary writes well and quickly. I was often amazed at her response time when she was making small edits in the script. She also creates wonderful characters and dialogue that falls out of the mouths of the actors.

Her play, Shanktown, has heart and important messages woven throughout the stories of the characters.”

“I worked with Mary from 2019-2022 on the Leading Ladies of Rutherford County History project, the centerpiece of which was the play, Party of Twelve, that Mary wrote. I cannot emphasize enough what a wonderful job Mary did on the play, which wove together the lives of eleven historic women and one contemporary student in a witty, spirited, and extremely moving production.

While working with Mary, I was impressed by her intellect, her courageous spirit, her dedication to getting the history right, and her ability to bring history alive. She was always very responsive to any of my comments on the script regarding the history presented. While, obviously, a one-hour play covering multiple centuries had to simplify some aspects of history, the result was a tremendous play that humanized women’s history and gave women their due as movers and shakers in the past. Mary also organized a community conversation after the final production of the play, and we received many great questions and poignant comments at that event, including the comment from an 87-year-old African American woman that she praised God that she had lived long enough to see the play! (I felt the same way, though 30 years younger!)

I would support any project that Mary produces as I am convinced that it would be of the highest quality and would appeal to a wide audience.”

“In 2019, the Rutherford Arts Alliance, a nonprofit arts advocacy organization in Rutherford County, Tennessee, hired Mary Donnet Johnson to help create a uniquely historic project to coincide with the celebration of the Women’s Right to Vote Centennial Celebration.

Mary wrote a play for us, A Party of Twelve, and used it as a springboard for strengthening, healing, and community discussion over difficult topics raised through the dialogue in this play.

The play led to a website, a walking trail of historic places in the county, podcast interviews, painted murals and art pieces, and ancestral discussions for research purposes to expand our knowledge of these historic women and the strength they exhibited through their lives. For the first time our local businesses, creative nonprofits, and Middle Tennessee State University worked hand in hand to create a project that could change lives in ways we may never know completely.

Mary spearheaded our research, gave voice to the women portrayed, and brokered an opportunity for the community to participate in their own history. She is exceptional in finding the small and large parts that make something special all the while spinning the cogs of writing, researching, directing, interacting, mentoring, choreographing, blocking, and releasing.

I highly recommend Mary Donnet Johnson for this role in your organization – she is a one-woman band who knows how to play in tune with a full orchestra. She is a true joy to work with yet strong in the ways that make a Project come to a life of its own. You will be blessed to have her, and I am honored to recommend her.”

“One of the rewards of serving a term on the Tennessee Arts Commission came in the form of a short bundle of energy and empathy with a full-face smile: Mary Donnet Johnson. Reared to be a force of nature, Mary functions in positivity and listens more than she speaks. I had the pleasure of observing her in numerous situations presented while serving on the Tennessee Arts Commission, which awards between 6-8 million dollars a year across 95 diverse counties in our long, narrow state.

But the best observations and deep respect for Mary grew over the unexpected 28 months the Rutherford Arts Alliance spent developing the play Party of Twelve. This play was conceived to serve our mission to connect creatives with community in the arts, culture and heritage of Rutherford County, Tennessee.

This playwright assisted with so much more than just a play. She was our energy generator, our Solomon of stressed relationships, our soul sister. I highly recommend Mary Donnet Johnson!”