John Allen (pen name Johnny Dolphin)

Under his nom de plume, Johnny Dolphin, writes poetry and prose that emphasizes humanity’s connection with the biosphere and our responsibility as planetary stewards. He has read in many places around the world including George Whitman’s Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, the Green Street Cafe in New York where Ornette Coleman accompanied him on the saxophone, The October Gallery in London, and the Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth, Texas. His plays have been performed in many countries on seven continents, from the ICA in London and Theatre du Soleil in Paris, to villages on the Amazon and streets in California, from Wroclaw to Oshogbo. As an acting teacher, he has taught over 200 actors and set up ten studios.

A scientist, poet, playwright, and savant, he lived with the avant-garde and Berbers in Tangiers, Morocco;  then, clad in a jelaba across N. Africa, living with tribal chiefs and shamans while journeying on south on the Nile through the Sudan, continuing east to India, Nepal, Vietnam, and Japan, all the while studying the art, science, and literature of civilizations on this planet. He emerged as a writer from the Tangier school at age thirty-four. Since then he has chronicled a personal and social history of the essence of the places he has been through poetry, short stories and plays.