If New York-based actor and playwright Kevin Ray Johnson (above) blows up big in the Big Apple, it will partly be because of his youth in Minnesota. That's what he says, anyway, and, as he tells it, he's not just blowing smoke.
"Minnesota is unique and special, but you don't know how much so until you're away from it," he said. "It marks you in ways that you can't see."
Johnson grew up in Brooklyn Park before his family relocated to Maryland, and he's mined that background for his playwriting career. His coming of age drama, "The Unpredictable Times," has been invited by the Kennedy Center for a staged reading this year. It is the second time that the play, about five friends from Champlin Park who come back to their hometown after college, has gotten into a high-profile series. It received a staged reading last fall as well at Dixon Place in New York headlined byTony nominee Alex Brightman.
"It's based on a lot of people who I grew up around," said Johnson, who says his influences include playwright Christopher Durang. "It's a homage to Minnesota. Out here in New York, I have to explain what pop is."
He hopes to teach the world more about his beloved home state.
