Theatre’s Sober Reality

YOU MIGHT SAY THAT RECOVERY IS HAVING A moment on U.S. stages. As The New York Times noted, multiple plays about addiction and recovery received prominent productions last fall, and many of the theatre artists involved were open about their own recovery. While this spate of plays on the subject may have done their part to destigmatize addiction, has the theatre field itself become any more hospitable to artists in recovery? The answer, according to several artists I spoke to, is mixed.

It may be surprising to outsiders, given the recent uptick in plays about sobriety, that the decision to be public about one’s recovery remains controversial within group based programs. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), formed in the 1930s, discourages its members from discussing their addiction in the press. But the people I spoke to for this article feel that coming forward about their recovery, however controversial, is now an urgent necessity in a nation where more than 190 people die of overdoses each day. And sharing their stories as a public service can be even more vital in a field where substances often play a disproportionate role.

“Most of our industry revolves around substances,” says Jeremy B. Cohen, producing artistic director of the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, who has been sober for 25 years. Bars, he notes, are often suggested as alternate