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He has a well-scripted future

Lightning's Ryan Johnson aims for a second career in movies and plays.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001

TAMPA -- The pen was going as fast as Ryan Johnson's hand, and imagination, could take it.

[Times photo: Dirk Shadd] Ryan Johnson and three friends formed WhiteCrow Productions.

The Lightning forward and his teammates were busing from Montreal to Ottawa during a recent road trip. But while most players laughed at the Eddie Murphy movie The Klumps, Johnson wrote -- a lot.

Every space of every line of the notebook page was filled with descriptions of characters, culled from his imagination, and the story ideas that one day may bring them to life.

It's an assignment he shares with three of his best friends from his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

"We keep a pen and paper with us always," Johnson said. "If we have any ideas, we make sure we get them down on paper. Every now and then, we discuss them and see where they lead and what the possibilities are."

The possibilities began when the four enrolled in the well-known drama program at St. Patrick's High School. The culmination will be when their company -- WhiteCrow Productions -- is making movies and producing plays.

It is a long-term goal for Johnson, who sees the project as his next career. So, for now, he and Darryl MacDonnell, Ryan McCullough and Robin Armstrong, all 24, must be satisfied with what's on paper.

"We're still really early in the process and finding out where we can go with it," Johnson said. "It's important now to do as much writing as you can and get as much down on paper and find what direction you want to go and have some material to work with."

The All-Star break will give MacDonnell, who is spending some time in Tampa, a chance to do a little field work with Johnson. They spent Friday at Busch Gardens and chronicled it on videotape.

"It's just for some experience," MacDonnell said. "We're trying to get some shots and putting it together."

Getting together is the biggest obstacle for the group. Johnson is so busy with hockey -- "my first priority" -- he is rarely available.

MacDonnell is enrolled at a film school in Vancouver, where Armstrong will join him next semester. Johnson said McCullough has performed off-Broadway and in television commercials.

The group began performing together in the ninth grade at St. Patrick's. For their graduation project, Johnson said they wrote, directed and performed a murder-mystery in which the audience helped find the killer.

"Since the seventh and eighth grades, I always had a joy for acting and the arts and music," said Johnson, adding that if he weren't playing hockey he would be in film school. "It went from a hobby to something we hope to make more than that."

Johnson said WhiteCrow has two working scripts it hopes will be produced.

Lightning general manager Rick Dudley said he isn't surprised Johnson has such ambitions.

"He seems like a bright kid, and with the work ethic he has on the ice, it wouldn't surprise me if he worked hard on something like that," Dudley said. "The question is, do I get a part?"

The question is, what part does Johnson really want to play?

Johnson, who studied English for two years at the University of North Dakota, has concerned himself with character development while the company jells. MacDonnell deals with story ideas, Armstrong with dialogue and McCullough with overall supervision.

But MacDonnell said that in high school, Johnson was the "singer/actor of the group. He liked lyrics, the meaning of words and love songs."

Not exactly what you would expect from one of the Lightning's toughest players, who leads the team in hits. No wonder his nickname among his teammates is Deuce, in recognition of the differences between his on and off-ice personalities.

"He's one of those guys who is really quiet," goaltender Dan Cloutier said. "But once he gets out on the ice, he'll take a run at everything."

And then write about it.

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