SK group COAAST featured on WCVB 5 Boston's 'Chronicle'

COAAST: Creating Outreach About Addiction Support Together is proud to be featured in a segment of "Chronicle" on WCVB-TV, Channel 5 in Boston. A film crew taped the last show of the Spring Tour at Cranston East High School, and a couple weeks ago, correspondent Ted Reinstein (and occasional actor, as we learned in another segment of the show) came to interview individual cast members and our founder, Ana Bess Moyer Bell. Chronicle is the longest-running TV magazine in New England, has won a myriad of Emmys for its coverage of a variety of topics, and in recent years has turned its journalistic light on the opioid crisis affecting not just addicts but so many more of us.

COAAST (Creating Outreach About Addiction Support Together) was born out of one community’s desperate need for healing and a spotlight on the opioid overdose epidemic that was ravaging their town. Ana Bess Moyer Bell the founder of COAAST, a drama therapist, began the conversation in the fall of 2014 by asking the question “what do we as a community need?” The answer was clear: communal healing, education, and social change.
As a drama therapist Moyer Bell saw performance as a powerful avenue to tackle the three aforementioned areas of need. She collected stories from the community about personal experiences of addiction, family, loss, and recovery. Using the reoccurring themes presented in the stories of scapegoating, denial, and compassion she wrote a story about one American families struggling with their child’s opioid addiction. The result is the breakthrough play, 'Four Legs to Stand On'.
'Four Legs to Stand On' is a modern American story. All is not well on the home front. Sam, freshly home from his first year at college finds himself and his family in new, strange territory. Two illnesses are eating away at his family’s foundation. Only cancer is allowed a voice at the dinner table. Substance abuse and addiction are the other malady.
This story exposes the secrecy that shrouds the topic of addiction; aims to highlight the importance of support and family and fosters continued dialogue. Through humor and realism contrasted against,story invites the audience to take a seat at the table. We all need to acknowledge our American struggle with addiction - It is as close as friends and family.
This 35-minute play, followed by a short Q&A talkback, confronts the audience with questions rather than answers like "Is addiction a disease or a moral weakness?" The play reflects how we as a community can shift the social underpinnings that stigmatize those who suffer. The hope is the community will come to the aid of those suffering from addiction with understanding, compassion, and support. The play challenges the audience to change the status quo - and to reach out to those addicted as well as their friends and family.