Mona Johnson | Portfolio

Mona Johnson Resume

Address Education
37 James St., Apt. 3B The Technical Theatre Department at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School
New York, NY 10038 Manhattan, New York, Class of 2016
Cell
Experience
(917)-445-8795
Assistant Stage Manager for SDF#2, Our Town (2013)
Email Assistant Stage Manager for Annual School Musical, Grease (2013)
mkjohnson143@gmail.com Assistant Stage Manager for SDF#3, Almost, Maine (2014)
Assistant State Manager for Annual School Musical, In the Heights (2014)
Website: Assistant Stage Manager for SDF #1, Laughing Stock (2015)
monajohnson.weebly.com Production Stage Manager for Young Gotham Arts Summer Series, Anouilhs Antigone (2015)
Production Stage Manager for Annual School Musical, Beauty and the Beast (2015)
Wardrobe Crew SDF 2013 - 2015
Cabaret (2013)
A Flea in Her Ear (2014)
Urinetown (2014)
Carousel (2015)
Assistant Costume Designer for SDF #2, Carousel (2015)

Skills
Fluent in Japanese
Figure Skating
Competitively skating for 9 years
Two time finalist at the USFS National Showcase Competition
Chelsea Piers, Tots Figure Skating Summer Camp Counselor 2015
 LaGuardia High School Concert Hall
Musical | December 2015
Directed by Harry Shifman
Beauty and the Beast Role: Stage Manager

For LaGuardias production of Beauty and the Beast, I had the job as the Stage Man-

ager. As a Stager Manager, I had the responsibility of functioning as the liaison between the

technical theatre team/crew and the director. I was expected to create and send out a daily

and weekly schedule to the cast and crew, set up the rehearsal spaces, keep track of atten-

dance and future absences for the cast, and communicate the choreographers and directors

notes to the technical team by distributing rehearsal reports everyday to the production team.

At the beginning of this production, I was also in charge of creating a website for the show

and an audition webpage where people could sign in. During this period, I also created an Ex-

cel workbook consisting of spreadsheets of the students who were auditioning, in which the

audition panel would take notes and score each auditionee, and I would keep track of who

would be called back and cast in the show.

During each rehearsal, my two assistants and I would record blocking in our scripts,

be in charge of the music for dance rehearsals, and follow along with the script in order to

keep track of which lines the actors made mistakes on. Once we reached tech week, I had

the responsibility of sending out crew emails everyday, recording cues in my script, creating

cue sheets for the crew backstage, and occasionally calling the cues in the show. Throughout

tech week, communicating with the costumes, sound, set, props, and lighting departments

has been crutial as this is the final step to bring everything together before the show opens.
 The Tank Theatre
Young Gotham Arts Summer Series | August 2015 Directed by Irene Lazaridis
Anoulihs Antigone Role: Production Stage Manager

This past summer, I was offered an opportunity to work as the Production Stage Man-

ager for Young Gotham Arts production of Jean Anoulihs Antigone, which was part of their

annual summer series. Young Gotham Arts was founded by alumni from LaGuardia, who

graduated the year before I entered the school, and are now a not-for-profit production com-

pany.

This was the first show in which I was the actual Stage Manager, opposed to an assis-

tant. This meant, that it was my job to contact the people who were providing us with rehears-

al space, stay in communication with the producer and designers regarding budget and build,

in addition to recording blocking for the actors, and calling all of the cues for the actual show.

This was also the first time in which I was part of a paper tech in which the stage manager
and director sit down with all of the designers (in this case, just lighting and sound) and go

through the entire script to record the individual cues.

Becuase Antigone was a show outside of LaGuardia, I learned a lot of new things about

the actual theatre world, for example, the fact that rehearsal actually had to end on time, be-

cause we had to load out really quickly, while the next group of people set up for their show/

rehearsal.
 LaGuardia High School Little Flower Theatre
Senior Drama Festival | Spring 2015
Directed by Harry Shifman
SDF 2: Carousel Role: Assistant Costume Designer

Carousel was the first time I got to work as the Assistant Costume Designer. I worked

with one of my classmates in order to create a book that contained photos of each cast mem-

ber, and also had all of their measurements, which were needed in order to create the cos-

tumes. We had the responsibility of recording each actors measurements during their initial

fittings, and had to record notes when they were actuallly being fitted for their costumes.

During my class time in the Costume Shop, I did a lot of small detailing on the cos-

tumes. For example, on the blue dress on the right, I worked on attaching the floral appliqu

and lace onto the center of the dress and sleeves. I also cut out the patterns for the girls

skirts and helped cut the fabric and sew all of the rehearsal and show skirts in the show. I also

worked in the Costume Shop over spring break in order to learn how to destress the cos-
tumes. We used different techniques of destressing in order to make the mens clothing look

worn out and old, as a majority of them were part of the working class.

Once we went into tech rehearsals, the other Assistant Costume Designer and I be-

came Wardrobe Heads. For this part of the process, we were in charge of supervising the

dressing rooms. This job now required that we made sure that all costumes were in the appro-

priate place on the rack or backstage, in addition to helping actors into costumes. As Ward-

robe Heads, we were also responsible for doing quick changes backstage throughout the

show.
 LaGuardia High School Concert Hall
Musical | December 2014
Directed by Harry Shifman
In the Heights Role: Stage Manager

For the production of In the Heights I worked with Christine Lemme (Production Stage

Manager), Josh Bell (Stage Manager), and Lillian Ehrlich (Sophomore Assistant Stage Manag-

er). I, like Lilly, was an Assistant Stage Manager who worked directly under the supervision of

Josh Bell. Throughout this three month long process, I stayed after school everyday and on

the weekends for rehearsals with the cast.

During this time, I helped tape out the set in the rehearsal spaces, and on the actual

stage itself. However, this year, I was also much more involved with the process of paperwork,

in which I organized and kept track of important forms that were needed from the cast, and

worked on Excel to create a workbook for the production to record daily attendance, cues,

create a scene breakdown, props and deck tracking. Throughout our rehearsals and runs for

the show, I was typically on book in order to make sure that all actors were saying the correct

lines. For this reason, I also kept line notes, which were given to the actors after each run.

During the process of tech week and the shows, I was backstage, to call deck cues, help

manage props, and make sure all actors were in the proper place at the right time. Before

each performance, it was my job to do the final deck check to make sure that the set was

clear and ready for the show. Within the few hours leading up to the show, it was also my

responsibility to call time checks in the dressing rooms and backstage, so that cast and crew

knew how much time they had to prepare for the show.
 LaGuardia High School Little Flower Theatre
Senior Drama Festival | Spring 2013
Directed by Harry Shifman
SDF 3: Cabaret Role: Wardrobe Crew

For our production of Cabaret, I was part of the wardrobe and costumes crew with a

sophomore and a senior supervisor. We worked under David Quinn (costume designer) and

Alexa Zeliger (assistant costume designer). Each night we made many alterations for the cos-

tumes, and assisted the actors when they were getting in and out of costume. During each

rehearsal and show, my senior supervisor and I went through many costume changes, and

had to manage those costumes backstage. Due to the complexity of the show, some of these

costume changes had to occur within thirty seconds, so it was our responsibility to work with

the cast in order to choreograph these costume changes to make them as fast and efficient

as possible.

Because of the large amount of costumes that were required for this show, we also had
to keep track of all accessories and had to keep the costume racks very organized. In addi-

tion to learning about costumes, during Cabaret, I also learned a little about how hair and hair

pieces should be styled for a show.

 LaGuardia High School Concert Hall
Musical | December 2012
Directed by Harry Shifman
Sweet Charity Role: Costumes Build Crew

My role in the production of Sweet Charity was to complete the early steps in the pro-

cess of making a costume. I helped flatline and cut out fabric for the brass band, and other

costumes in the show. I also labeled the completed costumes in order to identify who they

belonged to. A project I participated in was a dress that was covered in silver panels. I worked

with my classmates on this dress by using a heat press to attach silver transfer paper to large

pieces of felt. We cut the silver-felt pieces into smaller tiles which were then glued onto the

metal mesh of the dress. After gaining familiarity with the heat press from working on the silver

dress, I also collarborated with other students on a yelllow dress in which we also cut out and

pressed gold designs, that also had rhinestones, onto the fabric. Becuase this time, we were

pressing on a pattern, we had to use a grid method to not only cut out the designs, but to also
make sure that we were placing it on the right part of the dress.

Once the production had ended, a separate production needed to use our theatre,

therefore we immediately began striking. During this two day period, I helped disassemble

and break apart large props and scenery, and helped move them into a smaller theatre and

storage. While striking, I was supervised by Hank Lewis (props teacher) and John Marean

(scenery teacher).
Extracurricular
Figure Skating
Figure skating has occupied a massive part of my life from
the moment my parents took me skating for the first time at Wollman
Rink when I was three years old. By the age of five, I had my first pair
of skates. By seven, I was taking lessons multiple days a week and
was skating competitively. By thirteen, my skating team qualified for
and attended the U.S. National Showcase Competition in Hyannis,
Massachusetts.
My team performed choreographed numbers for every hol-
iday season and for competitions in the spring. From being in the
group, I learned new things about myself, like my love for choreogra-
phy, but I also learned what it meant to be apart of a team. Although
we had to give up plans for Friday afternoons every week, it was
always worth it because we be together at a place that we all loved.
Over the course of time that I spent skating and watching it on
television, I also gained more interest in the costume design aspect
of the dresses that I saw skaters wearing. For my first competition,
my parents encouraged me to design and put together my costume
with the help of my mom. Ever since, I have designed and made all of
my skating costumes.
This past summer, a few members from the group and I
worked as skating camp counselors at Chelsea Piers. As a counselor
for the pre-school skating camp, I helped a three-year-old step onto
the ice for the first time. This meant that I was teaching younger kids
all of the things that my coaches had taught me over the years, there-
fore passing down the knowledge to a new group of kids who would
find the same joy in figure skating as I did.
Sparking Diamonds Madame Satine | Moulin Rouge
Costume Design Sketches, Developed
Sparking Diamonds Madame Satine, Version 2 | Moulin Rouge
Costume Design Sketches
Everybody Wants to Rule the World | Lorde
Skating Costume Designs
Black & White Pencil Sketches