Althea Cunningham is a multidisciplinary queer artist: writing, acting, music and arts educator. In recent years she has focused on playwriting and penning longer bodies of work. As an actor for the stage and screen her work has been seen across Canada; there are ambitions to transition into writing for the screen.
In April 2024, Althea produced a script workshop of her new hip-hop musical play The System!
Thanks to Brianne Jang, BB Collective, for the promo photos of the team of The System.
Common Ground (CG): Tell us what you got up to with your time as a RISER artist!
Althea Cunnigham (AC): I worked on my show The System. It’s a show about a young teenager who’s been in foster care most of their life. They’re getting ready to age out of the foster care system, and they don’t have the skills to survive on the outside. The critical moment of the show is this character being diagnosed as neurodivergent and trying out medication for the first time. It’s a mish-mash of dialogue, poetry, music, there’s a bit of opera fusion in there – there are so many styles plopped together. So many styles of art in one format, which is super challenging. But I love a challenge. It’s been nice to have all of the outside eyes. It’s a hip hop show!
I worked on the script. I did actually quite a bit of rewrites – I really found the shape of the story throughout this workshop, like where to go with the story. The questions from the actors in the workshop really helped to expedite that process. They helped me fill in the holes of the story, between them and the story.
There’s a scene with Elena (Porter), it’s a classroom scene, and Ritalin comes back into school, she’s being teased by other kids. The way I had it written, the teacher didn’t stand up for Ritalin. Elena said to me, “wouldn’t this teacher step in sooner?” And I thought, definitely, she would. I did rewrites that night, sat at the table, and understood “oh, it needs more juice, it needs more in it.” I rewrote the scene, rearranged some lines, and read it for rhythm, and it really helped.
CG: What are a couple of your biggest takeaways and lessons from your time in the program?
AC: For me, the big thing is learning that producing is about caring about the other players in the room – how they’re feeling, where they’re at, and what capacity they have today. An artist texted me and said, “thanks for taking me in at the capacity I had today.” and I’m like, “of course!” Care, concern, sensitivity.
There were times when I had to physically leave the room because there was too much sound happening around me – like, okay, I can’t handle noise today. So sometimes, I just needed a few minutes outside. I was hoping to do more playwriting in the room, so it just happened at the end of the day.
CG: What are you excited to do next with The System now that you’re finishing RISER?
AC: I have to admit, I’m super stoked about the next iteration of the script. I’m excited to get the show in front of audiences, and get it into the places that need it! At-risk youth, I see it, I feel it all around me. It breaks my heart that there are young people out there who are suffering, still suffering in the child care system. I started writing this in 2017, and there are things in the script that are even more present, more poignant today. The amount of at-risk youth that are out there now compared to pre-pandemic, I mean… We don’t know what’s going on with them, either. If I didn’t find what I’m doing, the arts, I might be dead, I might be in a penitentiary. Those are real possibilities. We’re talking about the real vulnerable youth in society. It sounds cheesy, but they are the future. I know they’re not my children, but I feel like they’re my children.
I love humans! I love youth, because I work with them, I teach. I think about all the layers of trauma that those kids are dealing with on the day to day. There are going to be a percentage of them that make it through the system, come out the other side, and make beautiful lives for themselves. I want that for them, instead of being in the perpetual system of disaster.
I’d be lying if I said part of the impetus for the play wasn’t for healing for myself, but it’s also healing for the community. I’m excited to get out and start meeting at-risk youth and find out what their stories are too.
CG: Is there any advice you’d give a new producer?
AC: Have a stable home that you can work in. That was an ongoing challenge for me, every time I tried to get settled, I had to pack up and move again. If there’s any personal challenges, I think about what would’ve happened if I’d shared some of my own health challenges with my team sooner. There was some fear in doing that, so I waited so long. Any challenges you’re having, talk about it and talk about it soon.
