2nd Act's History
1984
Lynn Bratley founded Improbable Players (IP) with her play I’ll Never Do That!, a four person play about a family affected by alcohol and drug use.
1986-2014
IP writes and performs over twelve productions, involving over 200 actors in recovery and reaching an audience of over 900,000.
2015
IP works with the Director of the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. John F. Kelly, to design and administer a pre- and post- performance questionnaire to measure outcomes.
The positive results moved the Players into the realm of evidence-based prevention.
Creating Outreach About Addiction Support Together (COAAST) was officially founded by drama therapist, Ana Bess Moyer Bell. The organization performed Four Legs to Stand On —about a young boy struggling with opioid use disorder and his family— at the New York University Applied Theatre Conference and later for Congressional staff at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Elizabeth Warren and Boston Children's Hospital.
COAAST helped pass a bill increasing funding for adolescent treatment and built key partnerships with Dan McKee, the Rhode Island Department of Health, Trinity Repertory Company, and Rhode Island’s Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Veterans Hospitals.
2016-2020
Karen Snyder, brief Improbable Players actor, starts the Cleveland Chapter of Improbable Players, which provided 54 prevention plays and workshops throughout Cleveland and Northeast OH in its first year.
IP and COAAST merge to form
2nd Act.
2018-2021
2nd Act's first films are licensed by the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County as part of our organization's harm reduction campaign, and a contract to create new films is signed.
2022
Rebranded our interactive prevention theatre workshops as Act Now! to be more inclusive and expand to businesses, communities and other organizations.
2024
2nd Act opened 2nd Space in Providence, RI. This office is dedicated space for 2nd Act’s Drama Therapy program designed for Peer Recovery Specialists and the people that serve the recovery community. The funding to support this was provided by Rhode Island’s Opioid Settlement Grants distributed by EOHHS.