Improbable Players Take To Stage To Address Addiction In Newton

UPDATE Monday at 1:30 p.m.: This event has been rescheduled because of the snow. Look for an event sometime this spring.

NEWTON, MA — A unique troop of actors will be taking the stage Monday at Newton North High School. The Improbable Players, who are all in long-term addiction recovery programs will be highlighting the struggles of drug dependence with a play entitled "End of the Line."

The performance is based on stories from people in substance use disorder recovery and is performed by actors actually in addiction recovery. It is meant to shine a light on some uncomfortable topics that can often be seen as difficult for adults to discuss, but which affect children, schools and the community, too. This particular play shows how people get hooked on opioids, according to the co-director Andy Short.

It was written in 2014 when the number of opioid users who died each day amounted to about day two classrooms full of people. Each year the troop has to amend the number. This year it's up to 10 classrooms of people that disappear, he said.

"This affects everyone understands that everyone in a community, not just the person who has it or the family dealing with it. Our message is put on your life vest before you go and help someone else," said Short. "If you're affected, if someone you love has an addiction, really knowing how do I have a conversation how do I seek help is really important."

The community shows are a way to highlight local resources he said.

"And we hope the conversation can extend beyond the theatre. The most important part is the ride home between the parent and the kids," said Short who has himself been in recovery for eight years.

Across the country, 2.1 million people suffer from substance use disorders related to prescription opioids, causing 80 deaths daily, according to the Surgeon General’s Report. In 2018, there were 1,617 confirmed opioid-related overdose deaths across the state. In Newton there were nine confirmed fatal overdoses in 2017. The year before, there were 16 confirmed deaths.

Newton Health & Human Services helped champion the event as part of their ongoing effort to educate residents and connect people with resources. The board president of the Improbable Players is from Newton and there are multiple people on the board and actors who are from Newton. They've worked with Newton in the past and wanted to continue to work with the town, said Short.

The Improbable Players is a non profit educational theater company dedicated to education through drama and workshops to prevent substance abuse. Prevention work is tricky to measure. It’s difficult to track the number of DUI’s that never happen or the number of kids who turn down a joint.

But in 2016 the Recovery Research Institute at MGH's John Kelly crafted a test of attitudes as they related to drug and alcohol use, peer support, and getting help in response to stress, according to the Improbable Players website.

Students took the survey before the performance and immediately after and the results showed the performance moving beliefs, intentions and attitudes regarding substance use and increasing perceived confidence in asking for help should a student ever have an alcohol or other drug problem.

In 2015 Newton established a working group with the aim of pulling together resources from public health and public safety officials to confront the opioid crisis and substance use disorder in the city. Representatives from the Health and Human Services, police, fire, drug court, Newton Wellesley Hospital, the schools, the city council, and other community partners who work in the recovery community are on the team . RELATED> A complete list of Newton PATH's efforts.

The Improbable Players have been to Newton a number of times before.

"They just did a program at North for the students. That's part of the reason we decided to bring them in for the rest of the community," said Newton's Health and Human Service's Deborah Youngblood. "We're excited to be working with them again."

The show is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Newton North, and there will be a question and answer period at the end.

Check out the NewTV report on what resources are available:

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Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).