Allison has always loved musical theatre. Her parents told her that when she was young, while watching a production of Beauty and The Beast, she tried to crawl up onstage and join in. Originally Allison was training to be a professional athlete, but upon hearing the Wicked soundtrack for the first time, realized that music was what she really wanted to do. She quickly transferred to John G. Althouse, which had a great music program, and the following year auditioned for Etobicoke School of the Arts. 

At Etobicoke School of the Arts, her love for musical theatre grew. She performed in multiple productions at school, as well as joined a theatre group outside of school called CATS Mainstage Company (now called the Mainstage Company). She starred in multiple Mainstage Company shows, such as Carmen Diaz in FAME, The Drowsy Chaperone in The Drowsy Chaperone, and Pennywise in Urinetown. 

Sheridan

Allison attended and graduated from Sheridan's Music Theatre Performance Program with a Bachelor’s Degree. At Sheridan, she performed in multiple shows. She was Joanne in Godspell by Stephen Swartz, directed by Ari Weinberg and Stephanie Graham, Abuela in In The Heights by Lin Manuel-Miranda, directed and choreographed by Marc Kimelman, and Lipstick Lois/Pips in Brantwood: 1920-2020 by Mitchell Cushman, Julie Tepperman, Anika Johnson, Britta Johnson, Christopher Thornborrow, and Bram Gielen. 

Allison was given the opportunity to intern with the Associate Dean of the program Michael Rubinoff. Through her internship, she performed in Theory of Relativity by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, and participated in a workshop with Jim Betts, working on a show he had written called Bluenose, as well as co-writing and collaborating on a new show called Make Your Mark.

Upon graduating Sheridan, Make Your Mark debuted at Smile Theatre. Make Your Mark was a mixture of musical theatre songs and original songs written by herself and her three other performers. Allison’s song “Change the World” opened the show.

Lower ossington Theatre

Allison performed in The Lower Ossington Theatre’s production Mary Poppins, which won a BroadwayWorld.com Best Musical for Non-Equity Award. She then went on to perform as Enid Hoopes in Legally Blonde and Mrs. Spencer in Anne of Green Gables.

Allison auditioned and made it to the top ten of NBC’s Hairspray Live! auditions for the lead role Tracy Turnblad. She has since reprised her role as Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins at the Lower Ossington Theatre, and is currently working on her pop music debut.

Allison Wither discovered her love for writing whilst at Sheridan College for Music Theatre  when she took a pop writing class. She wrote her first two hits “You Are The One” and“Love Me Deeply” during her third year at school. She performed these hits, as well as a cover, at Sheridan College's Pop Critiques.

Her debut EP of all original material and her first music video will debut this summer. They will be released on iTunes and YouTube, respectively.

Allison Wither discovered her love for writing whilst at Sheridan College for Music Theatre. As part of the curriculum, they had a pop music writing class, and music theatre writing class. Allison began writing, and found it was all she could think about. She began writing a short ten minute musical loosely based on Jack the Ripper. It followed the daughter of Jack the Ripper and whether history repeats itself. Will she turn out like her father, or will she become her own person?

Training

Allison was chosen to be a part of a group of composers and lyricists studying under Leslie Arden in Theatre 20’s Composium Lab. A year later Allison was one of twelve writers to be chosen for the CMTWC Writer’s Workshop, taught by Leslie Arden, as well as guest writers/artists, including Jim Betts, Neil Bartram, David Warrack, Jonathan Monro, and Richard Ouzounian.

Read Allison's featured interview in CMTWC's "Meet the Writers" series.

Make Your Mark

Allison was given the opportunity to workshop and learn from Jim Betts. She collaborated and co-wrote with her other three interns (Laura Larson, Lucas Popowich and Kabir Singh Shergill) a new show called Make Your Mark. The show was a song cycle of previously written music theatre, as well as original material written by themselves. Allison wrote two songs for the show. “I’m Here” about a woman finding out her husband has cancer, and “Change The World” which opened the show, about four people talking about who inspires them, and what they want to be when they grow up. 

Make Your Mark debuted with Smile Theatre.

Fables from Far Away Lands

Allison was a co-writer on Fables from Far Away Lands, which won the Patron's Pick for KidsFringe in Toronto's 2017 Fringe Festival.

Every Silver Lining

An otherwise totally normal teenager, Clara Stevens spends her final years of high school preoccupied by the painful deterioration of her older brother’s health condition. A seeming burden to her parents, who struggle each day to do their best for Andrew, Clara tries to conceal her fear and grief from those who love her, despite desperately wanting to tell them how she feels. An avid and prized swimmer, Clara finds beautiful moments of calm diving into the silence and depth of the water; a therapeutic release for having to keep Andrew’s illness a secret from her friends, her resentment toward her brother’s illness, and her own grief of losing a brother.

Clara, consumed with her family’s struggle, doesn’t notice a timid but budding romance with new classmate, Ben; a romance her best friend, Emily, wholeheartedly endorses. Feeling alone and unwilling, Clara navigates her way through increasingly difficult circumstances, while attempting to allow herself to love, and accept love from others. As Clara allows herself to fall for Ben, Andrew’s health takes a negative turn. Clara and her family must find the strength to say goodbye to Andrew, and to carry on their lives with love, despite having felt its great loss.

‘Every Silver Lining’ won Patrons Pick at the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival and BroadwayWorld.com’s Best Fringe Festival Production (Musical) Award. The show went on to participate in the Next Stage Festival in 2020.

upcoming works

She is currently working on two musicals at the moment. Depression Hotline is based on the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare". The musical is set in a Depression Hotline Company where you are paid per phone call you make. Cathy believes you should take your time with each client, while everyone else believes that if you talk to more people more quickly you can help more people “The more calls you take, the more money you make”.

The second musical is Every Silver Lining. Every Silver Lining is a story of a girl named Clara, and how she deals with her brother having Leukemia. Her family works through the hardships of everyday life, whilst dealing with a horrible disease.

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