The Denver performing-arts community is mourning the loss of two founding members of the late Jeffrey Nickelson’s Shadow Theatre Company: Vincent C. Robinson and Timothy C. Johnson. Both appeared in a wide range of local comedies, dramas and musicals.

Robinson was also considered “our honored storyteller” at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, performing as both the Griot and the Preacher in the internationally acclaimed dance troupe’s annual holiday production of “Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum” from 1991 to 2016.

“In the age-old traditions of Africa and the Diaspora, it is the Griot who carries the stories of the people for present and future generations,” Cleo Robinson said in a statement announcing Vincent C. Robinson’s death. “Those familiar with the traditions of the Black church in America can well understand how the role of the Preacher was in fact another incarnation of the Griot.”

Cleo Parker Robinson said Vincent’s work in ‘Granny’ was “timeless – filled with wisdom, joy, incredible energy and a level of professionalism that set the standard. He even served as Santa for the entire cast – ensuring that everyone received a gift chosen specifically for them at the closing-night party.” 

Robinson, also a founding member of the ​​Denver Black Arts Company in the late 1970s, was a veteran of more than 100 theatrical productions, including “Bourbon at the Border,” “Day of Absence,” The American Theater Company presents Richard the III” and “Little Tommy Parker’s Celebrated Colored Minstrel Show.” He performed at the Eulipions and Bonfils theaters as well. 

In 2003, Shadow had a monster hit on its hands with Robinson singing second tenor in an impeccably smooth a cappella soul and doo-wop revue called “Sweet Corner Symphony.”

“This show is just a ridiculously good time, as sweet as a soda-shop malted on a hot summer Saturday afternoon,” I wrote for The Denver Post at the time. The musical was Nickelson’s homage to both his own Philadelphia roots and the Persuasions’ 1972 a cappella classic of the same title. Shadow never fully recovered from Nickelson’s untimely death in 2009 at age 53.

Robinson could deftly bounce from intensity to levity, once performing in August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running” and as the Devil in Ted Langue’s raunchy Faustian comedy “Soul Survivor” back to back. For the latter, Westword gave Robinson a 2008 Best of Denver Award as best actor in a light comedy.

For The Denver Post, I wrote of that performance: “As a devil stolen straight out of ‘Damn Yankees,’ Robinson works the crowd like a pro.”

Robinson’s range was really something to behold. In 2006, he anchored a Theatre Group production called “Sand Storm: Stories From the Front,” which offered 10 chilling, first-hand true stories from Iraq told without apology or regret. Robinson commanded the stage as the convicted poet Delbert Tibbs. In Shadow’s “Two Trains Running” the next year, he played a charismatic character named Wolf, who runs numbers from a diner.

Johnson was Robinson’s castmate in that seminal drama, artfully bringing to life a comic, drunken bum who wants desperately into the group. Johnson’s April 25 death at age 82 was not widely known before a celebration that was held June 28.

Johnson was the eldest of seven children born in Chicago to James and Dorothy Johnson. He moved to Colorado to attend Fort Lewis College in Durango, where he met and married Claire Pulliam – and became part of local history.

Their daughter, Tiffany, made front-page news as what was problematically reported at the time as “the first interracial child born in the small town of Durango.” The family was active in its support of the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements.

Johnson later married Kathleen Johnson, and the couple sang together in the Spirituals Project Choir and celebrated Native traditions at the Denver March Powwow. Johnson also took an active interest in astrology, crystals and tarot readings.

He came to acting easily and naturally. He was nominated for a 2007 Denver Post Ovation Award for his work in “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”

According to his official obituary, “Tim will be remembered for his love of music, his authentic and curious spirit, his beautiful smile and wonderfully contagious laugh.

To friend and fellow actor Dwayne Carrington, Johnson will be remembered for something else entirely.

“We used to always tease each other about being wanted by either the police or the local mental health facility,” he said with a hearty laugh. “That was always our ongoing joke with each other till the end.”

Johnson is survived by his wife; daughters Tiffany Glasper and Latrice Johnson, four grandchildren, four siblings and many others.

Son: ‘The best life ever’

Robinson was born Jan, 23, 1950, and graduated from Manual High School. He was drafted into Vietnam a year after enrolling at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“I would say my dad lived the best life ever,” said his son, Vincent Robinson Jr. “He met so many interesting people. Like, there was a festival in Aspen in around 1990, and he was performing with the mom on ‘The Wonder Years’ and the Marine colonel bad guy who wanted to kill all the blue aliens on ‘Avatar,’” he said of Alley Mills and Stephen Lang. “When you’re 9 or 10, that kind of thing is really cool.”

He credits his mother, Ruderial, for giving Robinson permission to fully pursue his acting dream. Shortly after the two were married, Robinson was lured to New York City by John McCallum, who had formed Denver’s seminal Black Arts Company back in 1977.

“She gave him a year,” Robinson Jr. said. And then? “He chose family.”

In 2019, the couple celebrated 50 years of marriage.

Robinson made some inroads in the local film community, playing minor roles in 1990s TV movies “Dying to Be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story” and “Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing.” But both Carrington and Cleo Parker Robinson said he’ll be remembered as much for his off-stage friendship and loyalty.

“Vinny became kind of like my big brother,” Carrington. At the theater, that’s what I called him – my stage brother. And he was truly a good friend. When I was sick back in the day and I woke up in the hospital, he was the one sitting there right next to me. I asked him, ‘How long have you been here?’ And he just said, ‘Don’t worry about me, man. Just want to make sure you’re all right.’”

To Carrington, Robinson was such a consummate actor, he made it a personal goal to make his friend break character on stage, and he says he only succeeded once: During a play called ‘A Day of Absence.” It’s a one-act satirical play by Douglas Turner Ward, written in 1965, that depicts a Southern town where all the Black residents have mysteriously disappeared, leaving the White population bewildered and struggling to cope with the consequences of their absence.

“And so we’re supposed to represent all the White people,” Carrington said. “We’re at the Mayor’s office, and we’re supposed to give our responses for why there are no Black people left in the city. And so Vincent looks at me and says, ‘Well, what do you think about it?’ And I decided to try to get him to crack by doing an imitation of Foghorn Leghorn.” (Yes, the animated rooster.)

“And when I went into that cartoon voice, I could see this small grin come over his face. I knew he wanted to break, so he bowed his head down and he pretended like he was pulling something out of a desk drawer, so I yelled at him: ‘Look at me when I’m talking to you, son!” That’s when I knew I had him. You could see his shoulders were hunching over, and he was trying to keep it together. That was the only time I got him to break, but I got him.”

Added Cleo Parker Robinson: “Vince was not only my valued colleague in Denver’s artistic community, but also a dearly treasured friend who was always there to offer his guidance and support, showing his love for the work of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. I will miss him deeply but I know his spirit will be with us for all time. Whenever we take the stage, we will feel his hand on our shoulders and will hear his voice, guiding us to excellence. 

A celebration of Robinson will be held at 11 a.m. Aug. 2 at 3500 Forest St., in Denver. A viewing will be held from 4-8 p.m. the day before.

Robinson is survived by his wife, son, daughter Almetra Meechie Robinson, and many others.