Directing Cowboy Tempest Cabaret | The Musical Stage Company (Toronto)
I am currently directing a new musical in development by Niall McNeil, Anton Lipovetsky, and Lucy McNulty. Featuring a cast and creative team from across Canada, it will premiere with The Musical Stage Company in Toronto.
“Guns and magic. Love and hurt. When gunslinger Prospero conjures a storm in the desert, he begins a chain of events that forces every cowboy and spirit into a fight for freedom. Created by an artist with Down Syndrome and his longtime collaborators, Cowboy Tempest Cabaret is a totally lawless adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest musicalized in the styles of rock, folk and country & western music.”
Strange New Days, a socially-distanced musical, touring online with Education Arts Canada to schools across Ontario (Spring 2021) – Book-Writer & Director
Created in consultation with an Advisory Committee of mental health professionals and educators, Strange New Days is a touring TYA musical about mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic. The play is the 4th in a series (for which I’m book-writer and director) called One Deep Breath which aims to destigmatize struggles with mental health and promote wellness strategies for youth. The series has toured to over 50,000 students since 2017.
Intermission Magazine, “Turning the Wheel: Leaving the Full-Time Theatre Life” (2021) – Author
In early 2021, my Intermission Magazine article about choosing to expand my career beyond theatre received over 13,000 unique views in the first 10 days. The piece was selected for circulation by The Actors’ Fund of Canada. It tackles the taboo of career pivots as an artist. You can read the full article here.
Dad by Ali Joy Richardson selected for Studio 180’s “In Development” Series & Women Playwrights International Conference
Studio 180 Theatre, “one of the most reliably interesting and challenging theatre companies in town” (Toronto Star) selected my play Dad for its 2020/21 IN DEVELOPMENT season featuring five premieres of new Canadian works-in-progress.
Studio 180 streamed a workshop reading of Dad in December 2020, directed by Ann-Marie Kerr and starring Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster, Thomas Olajide & David Storch.
The reading was selected for Intermission Magazine’s “Three to Stream” re-broadcast in January 2021 due to popular demand.
Dad has now been selected to be featured as a part of the official program of the 12th Women Playwrights International Conference that will take place in Montreal, Quebec in 2022.
Brock University (December 2020) – Directed virtual production of Concord Floral by Jordan Tannahill
The production featured 4th-year Dramatic Arts students and their original choreography, music composition, and design. We embraced the rough magic of making a play from their actual bedrooms. Admission was by donation to the Black Health Alliance.
“This is a play we created for you.”
Nominated for the 2016 Governor General's Award for Drama, Concord Floral follows ten teenagers who are “fleeing a plague of their own making” after a rumour spreads that two girls have found a body in an abandoned greenhouse called Concord Floral.
