Around Town | Randell Johnson

By Scott Ferguson | Photo by Nancy Guth | December 2023

Since he discovered the joys of theater in high school, Randell Johnson has become an active advocate of the arts. He believes strongly that philanthropy and hands-on involvement in an arts organization can combine to become a powerful force. Whether he is helping guide Asolo Rep to continued artistic and financial success as the chairman of its board or guiding tours to exotic destinations through his company, Randell’s Travel, he is making a difference around town and around the world.

You clearly have a passion for the arts. When did you first become interested and how has that driven your life and career choices?

I have heard the old adage that “you don’t choose the arts – the arts choose you.” As a patron of the arts, I believe that we should choose those things in life that make us happy, and the arts make me happy, especially the performing arts. I grew up in a small town east of Nashville, Tennessee, and my exposure to art was mostly magazines and exhibitions at the local college. 

In high school, I found the drama club and enjoyed working on the plays, usually behind the scenes. I had a minor acting role in my senior play and experienced the “bright lights” for the first time, and it changed how I saw myself, resulting in my joining the debate team. On my first visit to Manhattan, I saw my first Broadway show (a revival of No, No, Nannette, with Ruby Keeler, Hellen Gallagher and Patsy Kelly), and I was enthralled. On that same trip, I got a standing-room-only ticket for eight dollars to see a production that had just opened at Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre called A Chorus Line, with Priscilla Lopez and Robert Lupone, and I knew that theater would be a big part of my life — forever. 

Once I focused on my life through the theater lens, it was impossible to ignore its influence on my career decisions because my college concentrations were in language and the arts. The theater is where I go to escape reality, to be filled with laughter, to be entertained with music and dance, and to learn more about my world through the story line in the plays. Some of the best psychologists in history have been playwrights. 

How do you see your role as board president in helping to guide and ensure the future of Asolo Rep?

My role as president of the Asolo Rep board of directors plays out in many ways. I am a spokesperson, a meeting leader, a cheerleader, and sometimes a clerk. Most importantly, I am one person on a leadership team of board officers and committee chairs who collectively contribute to the growth and advancement of the organization.  

Although the future is impossible to predict, we have set strategies to address the theater’s current and future needs. The Asolo is very lucky to have had great leaders and many patrons in the past who have brought the theater and the board of directors to the place it is today. The current successes of Asolo Rep are the result of their vision, planning and hard work. I hope that our work this year can continue that progress.

You and Bobby Jensen, your husband and business partner in Randell’s Travel, are longtime Asolo Rep supporters, helping to form OUT@AsoloRep, which connects LGBTQIA+ communities with great theater. Why do you believe that connection is important? 

Asolo Rep’s connection to any community population is to help it to be seen and understood. Whether it be the LGBTQIA+ community, a religious group or another minority population, it is important for all of us to come together at the Asolo and see that we have common interests and are more similar than we are different. Asolo Rep opens its doors to everyone who wants to enjoy good theater. Additionally, it is important to include new audiences to fulfill the theater’s belief in access, diversity and equality.

In 2009, Michael Donald Edwards, then Asolo Rep’s producing artistic director, started OUT@AsoloREP to encourage the LGBTQIA+ community’s continued involvement in the theater. OUT, as we now refer to it, is one of the most successful subscription series at the theater. It sells out early each year and has a waiting list for new subscriptions.

Asolo Rep now has an IllumiNations Committee, made up of members of the Asolo board of directors and community volunteers, whose mission is to reach other disparate populations and invite them to be a part of the Asolo family. It is important for every part of our community to have access to our productions.

You and Bobby are also sponsors of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. In 2021 you both pledged a gift to Asolo Rep’s Staging Our Future Capital Campaign, which was recognized with the naming of the Dr. Randell Johnson and Bobby Jensen Education Hallway at the Robert and Beverly Koski Center. Why did you choose to focus on the arts, and particularly Asolo Rep, for the focus of your philanthropy?  

Sarasota is a mecca for the performing arts. In addition to the opera, ballet, and symphony, there are many theater organizations which provide a wide variety of entertainment and productions. We enjoy them all. Asolo Rep is special to us for many reasons, but I will mention two of the major reasons. 

First, we enjoy attending theater productions on Broadway in New York and the West End in London. Asolo Rep brings Broadway-quality productions to Sarasota by hiring award winning directors; set, costume and lighting designers; and accomplished Broadway actors. The result is Broadway-quality theater. 

The Asolo owns the Robert and Beverly Koski Production Center, which houses a super rehearsal hall named for Warren and Margo Coville. This state-of-the-art facility was designed so that the sets for productions are ready for the directors and actors on day one of rehearsals — which is unique to Asolo Rep. The Koski Center has future plans to include an expanded costume shop, offices, and education center.  Bobby and I made our contribution to support this expansion.

Secondly, education is important to both of us. Although we both hold graduate degrees from Emory University, Bobby’s first two degrees are from Florida State University. So, it was natural for us to be drawn to the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, one of the top ten conservatories in the United States. 

This Master of Fine Arts Program is housed on the Asolo Campus and gives its graduate students the opportunity to work in all levels of theater, including acting in productions. At the end of the student’s second year in the program, the Asolo sends them to London for six weeks to be immersed in theater. This year, Bobby and I are helping to sponsor the classes and are contributing to the cost of the London Program. We get to know the graduate students, visit some of their classes, and encourage them when we attend their plays. We cherish the friendships we have made with students in this program, and we are still friends with many graduates.

What are some of your other philanthropic interests? 

We have added to our giving list over the years and now give to several organizations. Some of these are educational programs, children’s physical and mental health programs, national health research, and human rights programs (which work to give all populations access to health care, equality, human dignity and quality of life). We monitor and modify our giving based upon the annual needs of the programs. What we give may be small in comparison to many, but like the “widow’s mite,” we give from the heart and give what we can.

Finally, what would you tell someone who wants to support the arts, but has limited funds, or perhaps doesn’t know where to start? Can anyone be a philanthropist? 

Anyone can be a philanthropist, and it doesn’t always require money. One of the most precious gifts we can give is our time. This is not a cliché, because every organization has a need for volunteers to make their programs and events run smoothly. Like most theaters, Asolo Rep has volunteers to usher at performances, to build theater patronage, and to sponsor special events in support of the theater.   

Money, of course, is important for the operation of any organization. Development Departments may be looking for a donor with $100,000, but they realize that 100 donors with $1,000 is good for their organization’s future. In return for contributing, the organization may provide benefits to encourage continued involvement, and at every level of giving.

I believe that we are all fulfilled personally when we find that cause or organization that we believe in and support it. During my formative years, my parents encouraged me to give back to my school, church, and community. I learned that the money I earn helps me to live, but the money I give away adds to my life.