Today we’d like to introduce you to Aine Healy Richardson.
Hi Aine, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Originally from Dublin, Ireland, I grew up in a family of nine children (all fabulous), aunts, uncles and cousins by the score. I was one of the younger family members in the extended family and was Mothered and Fathered by many loving relatives. We had extraordinary parents who both had a bottomless capacity to love us all. They were fair and they were funny. They loved people and gatherings and storytelling and poetry. And so did we. Our interest in theatre started with school plays. Musicals mostly, with the nuns. They were enormous fun but my singing voice ruled out any lead roles. I played every tree, orphan and villager 3 with gusto, hoping to be seen.
I had a very important interaction with a parent after a performance of Oliver Twist when I was nine.
There were people everywhere in the hall, looking for each other, hugging etc. I saw this woman making her way over to me and waving. I didn’t recognize her so I was puzzled. This woman took my face in her hands and told me “You were absolutely wonderful in your part (an Orphan). I could not take my eyes off you – Good girl!”
That act of kindness made all the difference to my nine year old soul, and I hope that it still informs my work to this day. Seeing one child among many.
My family are all interested and involved in theatre in one way or another to this day.
My first job out of school was as a Telephonist/Receptionist in a car sales showroom in Dublin. They had the franchise for Ferrari in Ireland so I got to know a lot of the Irish glitterati at the time as they came and went to tend to their cars. A great first job.
I left Dublin at 20 and lived across Europe and London for a couple of years. I hitch-hiked the length and breath of Europe during that period as a seasonal worker, picking grapes and plums and olives and working in fruit factories and bulb factories and when tourism was taking off in Greece, I was cleaning discos and preparing rentals for the burgeoning industry. An invaluable period of my life.
I settled in London and worked in Sales for an International Courier Company for three years and then decided to find a career! I was interested in Occupational Therapy training but to be sure I liked it, I applied to work as a technician alongside qualified OT’s for one year to gain more insight into the career. Once I decided (day one) I embarked on an evening Course in the Psychology of Child Development and began OT training a year later. I elected to take a module in Drama as therapy and became very interested in how some drama techniques could act as a theraputic tool, especially during cognitive work such as role playing and assertiveness training. Basic social skills and confidence building are essential tools to practice when trying to manage mental health challenges.
I studied and worked for the NHS in London for over a decade, working as a Community Mental Health Occupational Therapist working with adults and the elderly. A career I loved passionately. I specialized in cognitve therapy, group work and reminiscence therapy.
I was also part of a Drama Theatre Company in London for several years. I went to join a (beginners adult) drama class one evening and walked out with the part of Cassandra in Trojan Women. A baptism of fire with no singing required!!
This led to many more performances in many generes.
I came to live in Jacksonville Beach in 2001 and married Wes, my husband who I met on my first visit here in 1998.
The role of a community based Mental Health OT does not really exist within Florida’s Mental Health services so after spending a few years running a house cleaning business I began the search for a new career. I have always loved children and have 25 nieces and nephews and scores of other children I worked with and loved over the years. So I decided teaching children might be a good fit for me. I once again embarked on a one year deep dive into the job and worked as a Teaching Assistant at The Discovery School before deciding if I should enter the training to be a Montessori Teacher. I loved it and was just about to sign up for the course when an opportunity arose to run a one week
Creative Drama Summer Camp. By the end of that week I had decided that what I really wanted to do was teach creative drama/theatre skills to children. I could see the therapeutic value of the work writ large and knew I had the skills to instill confidence and communication skills in children and hopefully mitigate against mental health issues like anxiety in their futures. It is considerably more difficult to teach those skills to adults who have never developed them.
For the next three years I worked as an assistant to local Theatre Directors and volunteered countless hours with children, helping with all aspects of their training and with putting on plays. I ran classes for The Cathedral Foundation and the PV Cultural Centre during that time, picking up skills along the way.
Most notably I worked with Barbara Williams at Players by the Sea where I began teaching classes and learned a lot during that experience. I read as much as I could about the role of the Drama Teacher and the underpinning theories of creative drama.
In 2008 I formed The First Act and began teaching classes independently.
In 2010 I was offered the opportunity to start up a lapsed children’s program with ABET Theatre and built a robust program over the next 7 years. In 2017 The First Act became The First Act Children’s Community Theatre Inc, a 501C3 non-profit organization.
Our program, located in the heart of Atlantic Beach, has become somewhat of an institution for local families. We frequently have multiple siblings attending the program over years. Shy sisters and brothers who have waved goodbye at the door for years finally step inside the magical space for their own experience and to finally be the one on the stage in the limelight.
We have had countless children go on to further their theatre training in local schools like LaVilla, Episcopal, Douglas Anderson and beyond to very large stages like Vasser, NYU and The Stella Adler Studio in Manhattan.
We are immensely proud of all of our ducklings as they progress to bigger and better stages, but we remain proudest of all of the children who have passed through our doors and who have indeed gained in confidence and bravery and have learned how to express themselves in a way helpful to them on and off the stage.
Being Irish, and having grown up on British Humor and lived in London, I have found a natural niche using British Playwrights. Children absolutely love accents and British plays often feature other European accents too, to play around with. Genres such as Greek Tragedies, Sherlock Holmes Murder Mysteries, Spy Thrillers and lots of Royal stories lead automatically to Shakespeare Plays for Kids which has been a mainstay in our program over the years.
Although we have music and singing and a great soundtrack in almost every play, we don’t do any ‘Musicals’ per se. We leave that specialism to those locally, who do it so well. The nuns were right!
I joined a writing group in Jax Beach for ten years which led me to writing material for the younger children. The kids have a huge influence here as they are invited to have input into the stories, swap characters and sometimes start a new play from scratch.
In addition, our mission statement includes our intention to work as often as we can with local seniors
in an inter-generational program entitled A Reminiscence/Theatre Project. This project invites local seniors to meet weekly with a facilitator for 12 weeks who takes them through their life stages as a way of remembering, story-telling and validating their lives as well as getting folk together to drink tea and coffee and reminisce in a social setting.
At the outset, we introduce the seniors to the children from the Drama Program and they kids ask them questions about what their lives were like when they were kids. Then we work with the kids to write a series of vignettes based on those memories. The seniors continue to have input into the play, acting as consultants along the way until a final presentation, entitled The Past as a Present (gift) is staged at the theatre and the families of the seniors and the children attend to celebrate the lives depicted.
We have just been awarded a grant from The City of Atlantic Beach to do another such project in the Spring of 2026 and one of our own alumni, Sarah McCawley will be taking the reigns with the seniors this time. We are so proud.
The First Act CCT is supported by our program revenue and donations towards our scholarship program and operating costs. Many of our students return as volunteer helpers in HS and earn community service hours with us. We could not operate without them and their wonderful parents and of course the city of AB.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Obstacle: In the first year we co-rented a room from a local school. When their lease was up we asked the management company if we could stay on at the half rate until they found a renter as we could not afford the full cost. They refused and insted the building stayed empty for the next 6 years!
Solution: We rented very nice space from two local churches who charged us a much better rate.
Obstacle: Storage costs
Resolution: Still working on that one. Storage needs to be relatively close to the theatre but that’s Beach prices which continue to soar.
Obstacle: Rising cost of everything like liability insurance, costumes, props and set materials.
Resolution: Encouraging volunteers to help with some of the set painting and gratefully receiving donated costumes and borrowed props where we can.
Alhambra Theatre have been very generous to us over the years with loans of furniture.
Reaching out to parents and the community to ask for donations to help with running costs and for scholarships
We have a donate button on our front page of our website and truly appreciate any donations, large or small.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The work of The First Act CCT is to provide training in theatre for kids from 2nd to 10th Grade and to provide opportunities for them to perform in front of an audience. We do this with classes, workshops and camps throughout the year.
Our goal is to include all children who apply and to engage them in age appropriate theatre activities and to be cast in a plays that engage and teach gentle life-lessons in the process. We try to foster a very family like environment. We work with multi age classes and try to include siblings where appropriate, to make life easier on parents.
With the younger children we use the narration technique in all their plays (written by me) which ensures that the children feel safe and supported when they step into the lights for the first time. As I am the Master Storyteller, I can side coach the children in real time, telling their character which exit to use or promting lines, usually by just saying ‘The King said……’. or “But he looked a lot angrier then that…..” The children almost always know the lines, they just need a little reminder of when to speak or show emotion. This technique has really been the secret in instilling confidence until they are able to do without Miss Aine and suddenly realize they on their own and loving it.
As children gain skills and maturity the material becomes more challenging and Royal stories of ‘upstairs/downstairs’ characters turns to Shakespearean Kings and Queens or Sherlock Holmes Murder Mysteries. We also perform showcases of Monologues and short scenes throught the year. Our work is always informed by the stage of development of the children and by the multiple life skills that they can master while having enormous fun.
My work is my greatest joy and I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to do something I love so much and hopefully do some good along the way.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Wes Richardson, my husband for all the technical and emotional support. Sometimes at the same time.
My family who are the constant cheerleaders in my life, thrilled for me that I get to do what I love and champions of the work and of children everywhere.
Rachel Dorrian for all her help in promoting us in the early years. Invaluable.
Anne Roberts a very talented senic painter who designed many of our sets and gave us out signature ‘pop up book’ look.
Renee Faure, another well known local artist who has done beautiful work on the boards and on our Board of Directors.
Ingrid McCawley for her steadfast support over many years, as a parent, a champion and more recently as President of the Board.
Louis Weimer, Ginny Brinkley, Susan Stevens and Joie Horton who make up the rest of the Board for their support of the work and our mission. Special thanks to Joie for organizing and implementing a fantastic fundraiser for our scholarship fund in the shape of a Brigerton Ball, allowing the adults to get dressed up and play for a change.
Holly Blanton – local fine artist who began as a parent and ended up being one of our greatest assets, turning her hand to all manner of faux painting on our sets.
The City of AB for recognizing and supporting our program and to the staff, Vanessa, Charlene and Jordan for all their help and kindnesses.
To Mayor of AB Curtis Ford and Leah Sherman-Ford for coming out to cheer on the children in so many of our shows in ’24 and ’25. It means the world to them that you are there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thefirstact.github.io/
- Instagram: The First Act Childrens Community Theatre Inc
- Facebook: The First Act Childrens Community Theatre Inc
