ROXY
May 2019 · Convergence Theatre’s Catapult Festival (Centre for Spiritual Living)
July 2018 · Toronto Fringe Festival (Church of the Messiah)
playwright & performer · Ali Joy Richardson
co-directors · Neil Silcox & Courtney Stevens
dramaturg · Aaron Willis
stage manager · Lucy McPhee
Meet Roxy Roberts: Motivational Speaker/Self-Defense coach. She’s professional, she’s unorthodox, and she’s here to HELP! This is Tony Robbins, meets your aunt who sent you terrifying chain-emails of safety tips, meets the 6-foot-tall girl who’s never been asked to dance. Roxy is a battle cry for anyone who checks over their shoulder while walking alone at night...and this battle cry comes with a PowerPoint.
What if there was a woman who took ALL the absurd and insidious safety advice women receive and actually lived by it? Enter Roxy. She has built her life and her seminar around the goal of control. But this is the day it all goes sideways. Plans fail. PowerPoints crash. Secrets spill. And as Roxy’s mask slips, we meet a woman who abandoned her magic in order to survive.
Roxy is a (lanky, skirt-ripping) high-kick at the darkness.
Photos: Neil Silcox
“Ali Joy Richardson is a force to be reckoned with. Her comedic timing is perfect and her energy levels are insane as she imbues the indomitable Roxy with as much spirit as Leslie Knope…her script is wildly funny and, by the end, surprisingly profound.”
- Chelsea Dinsmore (My Entertainment World)
“Richardson’s writing starts out blithe and funny and slowly delves into weighty subject matter, such as her relentlessly upbeat life coach Roxy showing cracks of past trauma as her presentation unravels.”
- NOW Magazine’s 10 Breakthrough Stage Artist of 2018
“This sure-fire Toronto Fringe favourite blends consistently sharp comedy, incisive drama, and a performance from Ali Joy Richardson (in the title role) that accepts nothing less than going for the fences…It’s an epic battle between the anxiety of being responsible for our safety, and the optimism it takes to stop worrying that some things are out of our control. The only catch being that we are fighting on both sides.”
- Trevor Abes (Staff Pick - Mooney On Theatre)