Culture
Ohio Playwright’s Work On Addiction to Be Read at ARTS/West Oct. 13
By: Emily Votaw
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As the opioid epidemic continues to surge throughout the country, and, in particular, Southeast Ohio, one must wonder what collective emotional truths are being unearthed by this tragedy.
Such truths are excavated and explored by Ohio playwright Greg Vovos’ Well Beings, which will be produced as a reading by the Brick Monkey Theater Ensemble Friday, Oct. 13 at ARTS/West at 7 p.m. Vovos will be at the reading and present for an audience talkback following the performance. The event is free and open to the public.
“The play deals with two addicts, one with his family and one with his girlfriend,” said the production’s director, Brian Evans. “Vovos took these stories, based on interviews he conducted with addicts in Northern Ohio, dramatized them, and put them in a theatrical setting so that we can see the day-to-day lives of these people who are struggling.”
An opioid (heroin; but also hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine; and, as of late, the incredibly strong fentanyl and carfentanil, as well as a slew of other drugs,) act on opioid receptors, which are nestled throughout the human body but especially in the brain. Ingestion of the substance leads to a flooding of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is naturally created by the human body to regulate everything from sleeping to eating to procreating to telling your mother you love her.
The giddy, lighter-than-air euphoria created by the overproduction of dopamine comes at a price. Addiction potential is huge for such drugs – and once you overproduce any neurotransmitter, it is a painful, lengthy process to get your brain back to creating those essential juices at a natural, healthy rate.
From 2015 to 2016 the number of accidental deaths from drug overdoses in Ohio rose from 3,050 to 4,050, many of them stemming from fentanyl and carfentanil. That number is on a terrifying rise in 2017.
“Addicts have to struggle immensely in maintaining relationships and in just trying to function in general,” said Evans. “Their addiction is often an obstacle in their lives that they cannot overcome. What Vovos is trying to do is to give their struggle a face, so that we can relate to the subject on a much more personal level.”
For many in the Ohio Valley personally knowing an addict is an emotional, spiritual, and psychological strain.
“Sometimes, the logical choice in a situation can be clear, but when it comes to someone in your family, or someone you love, the emotional choice can be very difficult, and it can’t be overlooked,” said Evans. “Sometimes you care so much about someone that you make irrational decisions, and it’s very hard to make the right decision about the person you love. Everybody’s story is so different. We can hear these stories and make generalizations, but everybody is affected by addiction in different ways. Just seeing numbers and statistics about addiction and overdose deaths can be overwhelming, numbing. When you’re listening to someone’s story, empathy for them comes much easier.”
