Fonds AR073 - Audrey Johnson fonds

Audrey Johnson was born in Toronto on December 21, 1915, and moved to Victoria in 1921 where she resided until her death on August 12, 1993. She received early music training in piano, violin and voice at the Royal School of Music, London, becoming a Licentiate in 1931. She later studied dramatic arts in Banff, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UBC, and UVic. She directed many winning plays for the Victoria Theatre Guild, was a BC government adjudicator for drama festivals, and was instrumental in restructuring the Victoria Little Theatre in 1950, becoming its principal director. In addition, she was actively involved in the early days of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the Victoria Conservatory of Music. She wrote poetry, some of which was published in two chapbooks and two Canadian anthologies. She is best known in Victoria for her arts columns in the Victoria Daily Times, from 1939-1955, and the Times-Colonist, from 1955-1987.