Richard Johnson is all smiles in the lobby of the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea on Jan. 31 — he’s shaking hands, handing out hugs, cracking jokes and answering the burning question his dozen or so friends who came to see his play keep asking him: “How’d you become a playwright?”
Johnson, who jokes, “I am a promising, young, 72-year-old playwright,” spent more than four decades as a journalist before retiring in 2019.
For the bulk of his career, Johnson covered the automotive industry. Showbiz was not part of his world. So he is bemused and humbled when telling his remarkable journey from journalism to a seat in the audience next to acclaimed actor Jeff Daniels watching the performance of “The Classic King” — a play Johnson wrote and Daniels directed…