Ali Joy Richardson

Ali Joy Richardson (she/her) is a writer, director, and therapist based in her home province of Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia after nearly a decade in Tkaronto/Toronto. Ali is the book writer/co-lyricist of Believers (with composer/co-lyricist Kevin Wong), a musical about queer girls in a Catholic youth group, which was featured in Sheridan’s 2024 First Drafts. Her solo show How To Be FEARLESS! (With Roxy Roberts), about an unorthodox motivational speaker/self-defence coach, was nominated for the 2023 Merritt Award for Outstanding Independent Production in Nova Scotia. She is the director/book-writer of One Deep Breath (Education Arts Canada), a quartet of musicals about mental health for preteens which has toured to more than 50,000 students in Ontario. Ali is directing a musical in development called Cowboy Tempest Cabaret, a lawless adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest which features a cast and creative team of disabled and non-disabled artists from across Canada. It was most recently featured in the 2024 Canadian Festival of New Musicals (The Musical Stage Company). Ali is also a licensed therapist. She loves running, talking late around a kitchen table, and a good ghost story. www.alijoyrichardson.com