Ali Joy Richardson is a playwright and therapist in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, NS. Her solo show about an unorthodox self-defence coach/motivational speaker, How To Be FEARLESS! (With Roxy Roberts), was nominated for a Merritt Award for Outstanding Independent Production and her play Dad recently won PARC’s 2025 Jenny Munday Atlantic Canadian Play Award. Her play A Bear Awake in Winter (about a band class in Dartmouth) was published by Scirocco Drama and her play The Great After was awarded First Place by Theatre Nova Scotia this summer in the King’s Shorts Festival (Annapolis Royal) before being produced by The Villains Theatre and DaPoPo Theatre in the Halifax Fringe. Ali is currently writing a new play, Promise: A Tragedy of Female Friendship (commissioned by Gale Force Theatre), and is writing the libretto for a large-scale choral work, erosion: a modern oratorio, (about intimate partner abuse) with composer Ryan Henwood. Besides theatre, Ali loves a good ghost story and talking late around a kitchen table. www.alijoyrichardson.com
We asked some questions so our members could get to know Ali Joy a bit better.
What are some Plays that have stayed with you or influenced your work?
Growing up in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, teenaged-me was inspired by Zuppa Theatre (especially Poor Boy – it rained toast!) and DaPoPo Theatre (ordering a sock puppet sonnet to your table at Café DaPoPo? Enchanting). These companies stirred an early passion in me for site-specific, interactive work. As I continued evolving as an artist, I fell in love with playwriting and have been inspired by Canadian playwrights including Kat Sandler (I watched Yaga many times as a talk-back facilitator which provided a masterclass in writing dialogue) and Jordan Tannahill (I think part of me is always trying to write Concord Floral, or at least my own suburban gothic tale). Most recently, I was humbled and awed by Chelsea Woolley’s Enormity, Girl, and the Earthquake in Her Lungs and her script’s ability to capture the experience of familial abuse with deep respect and nuance.
What are some questions you’re exploring or investigating in your work right now?
In addition to being a playwright, I’m also a therapist. Often, the existential questions I grapple with in the therapy office show up in my writing. Writing is how I wrestle with ghosts and fears. These days, I’m thinking a lot about psychological abuse – why do people use abuse against their loved ones and how can victim-survivors disentangle themselves from coercive control? I’m always interested in our capacity to take responsibility and transform. What conditions are needed in order for us to really face our own mistakes?
Do you have any rituals or routines that fuel your creative process?
My rituals change in each season of my life, but these days the recipe seems to be:
- Light a candle (preferably with a wooden wick for that sweet crackle sound)
- Put on some music (lately, VOCES8 Choral Ensemble’s album ‘Infinity’)
- Chew gum lol
- Tell myself “it doesn’t have to be good, you just have to show up” and “you only have to write for thirty minutes” (these incantations get me to the keyboard where I usually end up lingering longer)
Tell us a bit about the role that PARC has played in your development as a writer and an artist.
I was very grateful and encouraged to receive PARC’s 2025 Jenny Munday Atlantic Canadian Play Award earlier this year for my play Dad, about a theatre school teacher’s fall from grace. PARC will be supporting a short workshop of my new play, Promise: A Tragedy of Female Friendship, commissioned by the inimitable Gale Force Theatre (Lily Falk and Franziska Glen). Finally, PARC’s weekly newsletter remains the very best place to learn about calls for submissions, playwriting contests, gatherings, and writing opportunities.
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