Asolo Conservatory grad returns to direct ‘Stick Fly' for a more diversified program

It has been 14 years since Marcus Denard Johnson graduated from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory with his Master of Fine Arts degree in acting. Since then, he has been pursuing his career as an actor and director in New York until a recent move with his family to Atlanta, where he is now an assistant professor of theater at Columbus State College.

But he has spent the holiday season back in Sarasota directing a group of current second-year Conservatory students in Lydia Diamond’s “Stick Fly,” a play the acting program could not have produced when he was enrolled.

The play is set at the Martha’s Vineyard vacation home of the LeVays, an affluent Black family living in a mostly white area of the island. Long-held tensions start to heat up when two brothers return home with their vastly different girlfriends, setting off new complications in the family.

The play, and the decision to hire Johnson as its director, could be seen as a result of a call to action issued by some Conservatory students (and endorsed by dozens of other former students and Asolo Repertory Theatre actors and staff) in the wake of the George Floyd murder in 2020. Among a number of concerns, the letter noted a lack of diversity and race-related issues in the program.

Arts Newsletter:Sign up to receive the latest news on the Sarasota area arts scene every Monday

Andrei Malaev-Babel:Professor of acting named new leader of FSU/Asolo Conservatory

Complaints about diversity:Progress made against racism at Asolo Rep and Conservatory in Sarasota

Johnson was the only Black male in his graduating class. A more diverse student body today allowed the Conservatory to produce and cast “Stick Fly.”

In a Zoom interview, Johnson said he didn’t think much about diversity issues when he was a student, but after the letter was distributed he realized he “swept things under the rug. I think I suppressed a lot of emotions. I didn’t think about it until seeing this letter and reflecting on why I had such a hard time during my time at the Conservatory. I learned a lot and made some fantastic bonds that I hope will never break, but I had a difficult time in finding my place in the Conservatory and in Sarasota. I didn’t feel valued as a student and I didn’t feel valued as an actor.”

That feeling might have been different, he said, “if I had seen more of the stories that reflect who I am as a Black man or more of my culture or seen more actors like me on the stage.”

But he is heartened at the changes that have happened in the last two years.

Replacing the Van Wezel:18 major architect firms invited to submit proposals for Sarasota Performing Arts Center

Morris ‘Marty’ Hylton III:Architecture Sarasota’s new leader is a mid-century Modern champion and preservationist

Imani Uzuri:Multi-faceted artist is named third recipient of Hermitage Major Theater Award

“It says to me that the Conservatory and FSU are making efforts to listen to their students and not just in the way of race or representation, which is of course wildly important, but also by bringing back alumni, investing in alumni. In many programs, they have you for two or three years and they just set you free into the world. I really think it’s a mighty strong effort on the Conservatory’s part and a bit of faith in the work.”

Studying insects and understanding people

The play’s title stems from one of the characters being an entomologist who studies insects that need to be attracted to something sticky to be observed and studied, a metaphor for how the play tries to hold its characters briefly in place to better understand them, Johnson said.

“We move through life at a pace that doesn’t allow us to observe people’s motivations, people’s points of view. I think we throw around the word privilege, which I think is a real thing, it exists, certainly white privilege. What does that mean? What are the privileges that exist within a world that is multi-layered in terms of class and race?”

There is a predominantly Black area of Martha’s Vineyard known as the Bluffs, where the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey have homes. “They don’t live in the Bluffs. This is a Black family living in the midst of whiteness. They have been there for generations,” Johnson said.

In 2011, The New York Times described “Stick Fly” as a “juicy family drama” that “supplies enough simmer conflict, steamy romance and gasp-worthy revelations” to satisfy those who enjoy daytime soaps.

Johnson’s cast features Rickey Watson Jr. and Ibukun Omotowa as the brothers Kent and Flip. Danielle Vivcharenko plays Flip’s girlfriend, while Rebecca Rose Mims plays Kent’s fiancée. Reuben Wakefield plays the father and Trezure Coles plays the daughter of the family’s longtime housekeeper.

As rehearsals were beginning, Johnson said it could be a challenge for the actors not to get emotionally invested in the story and their characters.

“That’s also a challenge I face as a director and as a Black man. So many of the experiences in this play make me internally go ‘Hmm. I know exactly what this is. This is how I would have handled it.’ These characters have specific pasts that have contributed to who they are and we have to tell the audience that story,” Johnson said. “There’s only so much we can bring of ourselves. If we bring too much, the cup overflows.”

“Stick Fly”

By Lydia Diamond. Directed by Marcus Denard Johnson. Presented Jan. 3-22 by the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $25-$35. 941-355-8000; asolorep.org

Follow Jay Handelman on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Contact him at jay.handelman@heraldtribune.com. And please support local journalism by subscribing to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Asolo Conservatory diversifies with Black family drama ‘Stick Fly’