Abbey Theater solo show centers on addiction
Central Ohio writer-actor Julie Whitney-scottdrew from her career as a chemical-dependency and mentalhealth counselor to create “Diary of Recovering Daughters,” which will be streamed live Thursday by Abbey Theater of Dublin and available on-demand through Jan. 28.
“I wrote this to bring a voice to the many women of all races and ages that I’ve counseled over the last 35 years,” said Whitney-scott, 65, who will perform the solo play.
The 70-minute one-act centers on an African American counselor, looking back on her years leading group therapy sessions to help five troubled women.
Zella, in her late 50s and the oldest member of the group-therapy session, has emotional issues related to her struggles over love and loss. Britney, in her early 40s, is suicidal after a history of physical abuse. Sara, in her mid-30s, suffers from emotional and mental abuse. Valerie, in her 30s, was sexually abused when very young and became addicted to crystal meth. And Jackie, in her 20s, struggles with chronic depression and self-medicates with LSD.
“These women have mental illnesses and in the end were the victims; sometimes the healing process itself causes the addiction, from the prescription of pain-killing drugs after trauma or surgery," Whitney-scott said.
She wrote each woman as a fictionalized composite.
“These are women that society overlooks, especially when it comes to mental and emotional issues,” she said.
Whitney-scott, who has written 12 full-length plays and musicals that were produced, began working on this one to reflect issues and lessons she’s learned working in the mental-health field.
“I want to bring out the devastation
of the opiate crisis," she said. "People have been dropping dead in high numbers ... and right now, during COVID, more people are dealing with opiate addiction and emotional, sexual and physical abuse."
Joe Bishara, theater supervisor of the Abbey Theater of Dublin and director of the play, began working with Whitneyscott in March to help refine and polish her work.
“Julie’s piece really spoke to me because there’s been a significant rise in domestic violence and substance abuse with the pandemic . ... People are depressed and don’t have anywhere to go, making this semiautobiographical piece very poignant,” Bishara said.
He said he selected the play for Abbey Theater to produce partly because of his respect for the real-world challenges that inspired the central character.
“I think counselors are the unsung heroes of the world because they take people who are broken, listen to them and try to help them,” Bishara said.
Whitney-scott plays all six roles in the play, but the character closest to her own life is the counselor, Zola. The play follows Zola throughout her career, from when she’s just out of school, trying to figure out how to maintain control of her therapy group, to her retirement and
last day on the job.
“I’d say just about everything in me is in Zola,” said Whitney-scott, who plans to retire in March after 35 years working at a variety of agencies, including as an on-call emergency room counselor and chemical-dependency counselor for North Central Mental Health Services.
“That’s why I’m doing this ... speaking out as a counselor, at the end of my career, about what we have to deal with in this opiate crisis,” she said.
Whitney-scott said the job has frustrating
limitations.
“How do we deal with the fact that some people never get better? How do counselors cope after putting their hearts into their work, when whatever you do is not quite enough sometimes? Some people are healed, but others are never healed,” she said.
“That’s what Zola deals with in this sobering and inspiring drama.” mgrossberg1@gmail.com @mgrossberg1