Virgil Charles Johnson was a professional threater costume designer. He earned his undergraduate degree in design and art history at the School of Fine and Applied Arts at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1961. In 1967 Johnson graduated from Northwestern University with a Master of Arts in theatre. In 1969, he was head of the Costume Design program at De Paul University/Goodman School of Drama, and was a resident designer for the professional company of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago until 1978. In 1985, Johnson received tenured appointment at Northwestern University’s School of Communication, where he served as director of Design Studies for the MFA program in Stage Design from 1986 until 1991, and from 1998 until 2000. From 2002 until 2004, Johnson was chair of the department of theatre. Johnson retired from the university in 2007.

Throughout his career he designed costumes for various local theaters, and designed costume exhibitions for a number of institutions (Northwestern).