Playwright-in-Residence

YPT’s Playwright Residency offers playwrights the opportunity to engage more deeply with their work while exploring YPT’s artistic and educational programming.

2019.20 Resident: Alicia Richardson

Alicia’s residency is focused on the development of her play Sweeter, which is her first work for young audiences. She will begin the residency working alongside YPT’s Artist Educators to help facilitate workshops and learning experiences in schools, which will also provide her with a better understanding of the target audience she is developing her work for. In the latter part of her residency, she will be writing a new draft of Sweeter and completing that work with a play development workshop.

Alicia’s residency at YPT is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

About Alicia:
Alicia RichardsonAlicia is an African-American actor, writer, and vocal coach. She is an alumnus of York University’s MFA Acting & Diploma of Voice Teaching Program. Now a Permanent Resident of Canada, Alicia calls Toronto her new home. As a writer, she has drafted three plays: Articulation (Obsidian Theatre’s Playwrighting Unit); Sweeter (Cahoots Theatre’s HOT HOUSE Creation Unit); and Solve for X (as Playwright-in-Residence of The Driftwood Theatre Group). Recent acting credits: Private Eyes (Global); Ready or Not (Fox Searchlight); American Woman (CBC Films/ Telefilm Canada); and Judas Noir (Obsidian Theatre / BDB Productions). IMDb.me/AliciaRichardson

Sweeter by Alicia Richardson

A Theatre for Young Audiences Play in Two Acts (Magical Realism, Dramedy)

Twenty years after the American Civil War, a small Florida farm gets a remarkable import—a talking mango tree who’s desperate to bear fruit but lacks confidence. The Mango Tree goes on a journey of enchanted growth with the help of a farmer (Ralph), the farmer’s daughter (Sweet Pea), and the soulful songs of the sun (Dee), but the owner of the land (Zucker) has a rotten plan to steal The Mango Tree’s magic. As a brutal winter threatens the future of the farm, will love or greed prevail?