improbable players: theater for social change
Lynn Bratley: "Getting into recovery changes people. I looked back on my drinking years and realized I didn't know anything about what I had gone through. And people all around me -- my family, many friends-- were trapped on their own devastating merry-go-rounds of addiction. It felt unfair to me that there was such cultural silence around this problem. I wanted to let everyone know that they didn't need to live like that -- that getting off the merry-go-round was possible.
I learned that millions of recovering people were all around, living healthy and happy lives--they just didn't talk about it publicly. Was it confusion around anonymity? fear of discrimination? I felt angry about stigma and how it kept people quiet."
| "I wasn't ashamed to be in recovery, and I didn't want to keep it a secret. To not talk about it was perpetuating stigma and ignorance. So the Improbable Players was born out of my love of theater, my gratitude for recovery, and my need to 'out' the problem.
I pulled the Inspiration for the Improbable Players from all my past experiences in school and with theaters I had worked with. In college I researched the writings of Dr. Jacob L. Moreno (1889-1974), the inventor of psychodrama, sociometry, group psychotherapy, role theory, sociodrama, and The Living Newspaper. I majored in Creative Dramatics, and all the work I did with young children was with storytelling and improv. I taught puppetry and mask making.
Other influences on this work came from Geraldine Brain Siks, Drama Professor at University of Washington Theater Department who wrote and taught, Creative Dramatics for Children; Stan Edelson and Bobbi Ausubel's Caravan Theater, Cambridge. From both came ways to use storytelling and personal experience to create theater--to move, to excite, to motivate."
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Links: Policy / education / recovery advocacy
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Faces & Voices of Recovery - a national recovery advocacy campaign that mobilizes people in recovery, their family, friends, and allies to end discrimination and treat addiction as a public health problem. www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org
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Join Together - a national resource for communities working to reduce substance use disorders, has a very comprehensive web site. www.jointogether.org
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Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) - encourages participation in statewide projects encouraging people in addiction recovery, their families, friends and supporters to participate in public awareness campaigns to reduce stigma. www.neaar.org/moar
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TalkAboutAddiction.org - Statewide public awareness campaign to address and reduce the stigma associated with addiction, sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.
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Blake, Jeanne, Words Can Work When Talking about Drugs, A Guide for Young People, Parents, and Caregivers, Blake Works, Inc., 2006. www.workscanwork.com
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Allem, Johnny W., Speaking Out for Addiction Recovery, An Advocacy Handbook for Recovered People, Their Families and Friends, Johnson Institute, 2004
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White, William L., Slaying the Dragon, History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery, 1988, Chestnut Health Systems
Links: Mutual Support Groups
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Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) - offers support groups and a 12-step program for life without alcohol. www.aa.org
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Narcotics Anonymous World Service - a society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. www.na.org
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Nar-Anon/Narateen - support for families and friends of drug users. www.nar-anon.org
Links: Boston organizations
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Greater Boston Council on Alcoholism, a charitable foundation providing grants to non-profit organizations in the Greater Boston area for prevention education, research, and training. www.gbcoa.org
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Right Turn, Inc. - "providing treatment to New England artists and entertainers on the road to recovery". Contact Woody Geissmann at www.right-turn.org
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Children of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (COASA) - support groups for children from families with substance abuse, under the auspices of Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps. www.rfkchildren.org Contact Maureen McGlame 617-227-4183.
Links: Theater for social change
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American Alliance for Theater Education - www.aate.com - promotes standards in theater education
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National Association of Drama Therapy (NADT) - criteria, training, and conferences for drama therapists. www.nadt.org
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Omega Theater - Alternate Graduate Certificate training in Boston for drama therapy. www.omegatheater.org
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Links: Other resources
- Moreno, J.L., M.D., The Essential Moreno: Writings on Psychodrama, Group Method, and Spontaneity, Jonathan Fox, M.A., editor, Springer Publishing Company, New York
- Sternberg, Pat and Garcia, Antonia, Sociodrama: Who's in Your Shoes? a group learning process which provides practice in solving problems of human relations through action.
- Boal, Augusto, Theater of the Oppressed, 1979, Pluto Press. Description of his theater established in Brazil in 1970 for people who want to learn ways of fighting back against oppression in their daily lives.
- Blatner, Adam, Acting-In: Practical Applications of Psychodramatic Methods, Springer Publishing, NY 1996. www.blatner.com/adam
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