The Improbable Players develop plays about addiction
(alcohol/ cocaine /heroin/opiates etc.) which they perform in schools and
community settings, with education and prevention their goal. Their impressive
showcase, END OF THE LINE: “Confronting the Epidemic” occupied the Mosesian
main stage at the Watertown Arsenal this past Wednesday night (Oct. 17th).
Originally conceived and directed by Lynn Bratley (and
continued by Joanna Simmons and Chris Everett), the evening of stories and
vignettes were gathered by interviewing people who know the pain of addiction
without knowing how to embrace change. The actors have lived similar stories
because they themselves are in recovery. What comes across to an audience is
their generous spirit and a genuine affection for the characters they inhabit.
In one heartbreaking sketch, a small child (Caryn May) finds
drugs in her mother’s unattended purse. In another a desperate woman (Meghann
Perry) calls multiple pharmacies to renew an opiate prescription with “no
refills.” In another scene, a game show host (Jon Riemer) asks the audience to
identify the addict. In the last scene of the evening Christian Santilli’s
character is literally tied in knots trying to find his way out of the
addiction cycle. What we witness in all the depictions is how easily someone in
dire need will turn to another, far more dangerous drug without realizing or
caring what it will do to them.
Years ago it was thought that ads and slogans could “scare
people straight”… Now we know that doesn’t work. Remember Nancy Reagan’s “Just
Say No” campaign or the public service television spot showing an egg crack
open in a frying pan. The baritone voice warned us “This is your brain on
drugs.” The problem is that these platitudes are impersonal or at best, one
size fits all. The dozen or so actors of Improbable Players make their live
message of hope “up front and personal” and that makes all the difference.
