| improbabilities newsletter: winter 2010 |
scroll down for these news items
* Improbable Players nominated for Service to Science Academy
* Charlie managed to show up for Recovery Day
* Players' Chris E. reflects on National Recovery Rally
* Players tapped for NADT Conference in New York
* MADD Connecticut welcomes Players at Power Camp
* Director Lynn Bratley presents at Teaching Artist Institute
* Improbable Players is Creative Teaching Partner
* Players wins Suffolk County Asset Forfeiture Reinvestment Grant
* On the road with Improbable Players/New York
* Chicago prevention efforts reach students
* Melrose couple turns tragedy into lesson for young people
* Hope and Inspiration Performing Arts Festival in Boston
* Players at NIATx Summit in San Antonio
* Georgia community opens its arms to the Improbable Players
* Open Rehearsals
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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has nominated Improbable Players - Setting the Stage for Prevention, to participate in this year's Service to Science Academy. The Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT) will select a number of programs to work with and help them find methods to document their outcomes. See the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's document "Identifying and Selecting Evidence-Based Interventions".
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| Introducing a new script to the actors in a January workshop led by former improbable, Brian J. |
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| charlie came to recovery day |
| Poor guy, can't seem to put down one drink for one day - always stuck on the merry-go-round of addiction. Look around, Charlie - recovery is possible. Charlie made his once-a-year appearance during September's Recovery Day at the Massachusetts State House. Keep comin', Charlie! For more information on this event see www.neaar.org/moar
September: National Recovery Month
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| reflecting on national recovery rally |
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Last year Improbable Players' own Chris E. was chosen by The Recovery Project as the Mass.delegate for the September Recovery Rally in New York City. And today she is still an active spokesperson for the event.
“It was an amazing experience. I’m psyched that I got sober during Recovery Month," says Chris. "Last year I celebrated 11 years the day before that event. Being an actor with Improbable Players has been a wonderful and major influence in my life as a sober woman--for the past 9 seasons as a Player, I have been able to stand in front of thousands of students from elementary to college level and say, “If I can do it, you can do it--recovery is possible!”
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The Players presented at the NADT National Association of Drama Therapy Conference in White Plains, NY on November 6, 2009: "Setting the Stage for Prevention" brought a performance and demonstration workshop to participants. Improbable Players' curriculum uses sociodrama to solve community issues around substance abuse prevention.
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| players at MADD connecticut |
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| Chris, student Trish Morrison behind the mask and camp leader Robin |
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| High school and middle school peer leaders from all over Connecticut converged at the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) 19th annual Youth Leadership Power Camp at Southern Connecticut State University July 14-17 to create projects that will spread awareness and education about drunk driving and underage drinking. Improbable Players closed the conference - "on a high and powerful note", according to Camp Director Lauren Iannucci.
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| teaching artist institute |
Players' Director Lynn Bratley was invited to present techniques Improbable Players use to evaluate student work at the Institute for Teaching Artists, "Cultivating the Field" at Lesley University in January 09. The focus of the institutes was lesson planning, curriculum mapping, and evaluation. Sponsors were Massachusetts Cultural Council and VSA Massachusetts, among others.
Improbable Players evaluate students' understanding of prevention through scenes, monologues, and writing.
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| illustrating Players' evaluation |
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| creative teaching partner |
| Improbable Players is a Massachusetts Cultural Council Creative Teaching Partner. Eligible schools in Massachusetts can bring in the Players as artists-in-residence with MCC funding. The Players' outstanding curriculum weaves together strands from health and theater to foster critical thinking and creativity in helping to solve community substance abuse issues.
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| Lynn Bratley and D.A. Dan Conley |
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| "This is truly an opportunity to do good things with bad money." - DA Conley
March 5, 2008 - Clark Avenue Middle School, Chelsea, MA:District Attorney Daniel F. Conley presents Improbable Players' Director, Lynn Bratley with a grant from the Suffolk County Asset Forfeiture Reinvestment Program. Cash and assets seized from drug dealers was awarded to organizations that work to help young people. The Players performed for 8th graders and their teachers at Clark Avenue and held a long Q&A with the students after the show. This grant also sponsored a program for Seacoast Academy in Revere.
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| on the road with the new york troupe |
Improbable Players' New York troupe is on the road: meet Steven D., Mary V., Maiken W., and Matt F.
(Not pictured: Chris M., Robin E., and Reese W.)
These talented actor/educators are bringing their long-term recovery, lengthy acting experience, and extensive work with young people to the Players: they are touring the improbable repertoire of plays and drama workshops to schools and conferences in the tri-state area and beyond. The troupe has openings for understudies and seeks to identify a diverse cast. See Jobs for more info.
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"Your troupe has been to our town many times before. It's always great to hear what the kids have to say after your programs: you really get them to open up." Anonymous faculty member, high school in New Jersey
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| chicago prevention efforts reach students |
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| Peggy Alexander, Players Chris and Brian, and Proviso East Peer Leaders |
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Improbable Players were invited to Chicago in September to be a part of a community-wide prevention effort. Thanks to the diligent community networking of Peggy Alexander, of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the events were successful in promoting awareness about problems and solutions during Recovery Week in the community of Maywood.
"It all worked out really, really well", Peggy reported after two performances and a drama workshop at Proviso East High School. "The seniors were spellbound - they listened to every word. We had students in the audience who are in active recovery, and I know they benefited from hearing the Players’ stories. We had one young man come up and let us know that he needed help, that he was in over his head. That’s what happens when the conversation is out in the open."
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| melrose couple turns tragedy into lesson |
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| Pat and Greg Redd show Shawn's picture to Melrose Middle School students |
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| "Hi, my name is Gregory Redd and this is my wife, Pat. We have a son Shawn who could not be here with us today because he died two and a half years ago from drug and alcohol abuse. He was generous, kind and funny. He was an average kid, just like you. I know that if Shawn knew where the drugs and alcohol were taking him, he would be here today."
The Redds have courageously turned their real-life tragedy into a gift to young students in Melrose, where their son grew up and attended school. For the past several years they have sponsored an Improbable Players' performance for the school's Drug & Alcohol Summit. The play, along with Gregory Redd's impassioned remarks to the students at the end, left a lasting impression. One student wrote,
"This assembly had a huge impact on me because when you start to use drugs you don't think you are affecting anyone, but once you are gone, all the people that care for you have a hole in their heart."
Click here to read the complete text of Gregory Redd's remarks to the students.
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| hope and inspiration festival |
| April 26, 2007: Improbable Players were proud to be the 1st performance of the 1st HOPE AND INSPIRATION Performing Arts Festival, "Celebrating Courage, Strength, and Personal Triumph in the face of homelesness, addiction, mental illness, incarceration". The festival was sponsored by St. Francis House and Roxbury Community College. Pictured at left: Chris Natali, and Owen.
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April 24, 2007: Improbable Players helped to "ground" the NIATx Summit (www.niatx.net) in San Antonio by presenting their play about a family affected by alcohol and other drugs. The Players put a face on recovery for over 400 attendees, who belong to the Network for the Advancement of Addiction Treatment. NIATx works with treatment organzations across the country to improve access to treatment for the millions of Americans seeking help with substance abuse.
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| georgia community opens its arms |
Two days of packed scheduling in Albany, Georgia, March 22 and 23 made it possible for the Players to bring performances and workshops to Darton College, Jefferson Street Boys & Girls Club, Radium Springs Middle School, the Albany Arts Council, and the Graceway Recovery Residences.
Roseanne Almaee, the Players' hostess in Albany and mother of Players' former Program Manager, Zhaleh Almaee, was instrumental in involving many community members in this arts-in-prevention effort which got people thinking and talking. She was in the audience when Improbable Player actor Chris asked the middle school students after the show, "How many of you are affected by someone else's drinking or drug use?" When 95% of the students raised their hands, the teachers standing around the room gasped. Both actors, Chris and Brian, urged students to talk with someone about their concerns. Teachers lated reported that the post-show discussion went on well into the afternoon.
The performances and workshops helped to raise the consiousness of Albany community leaders, who plan to put more resources in place for students like these, who may need support. The two-day event was sponsored in part by the Darton Foundation and a generous individual donor.
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The Players are offering an open workshop series in the 09-10 season taught by members of the company. Open to the pubic, this workshop will explore personal story through improvisation, looking at interconnections between personal story and patterns of addiction / recovery.
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