Meet The Team
2nd Act is a recovery-friendly workplace that fosters support, wellbeing and growth of individuals in recovery through a focus on harm reduction, prevention, and evidence-based practices. The majority of our staff, board and committees are either in recovery from a substance use disorder or have lived experience with addiction either as a family member or close friend of someone with a substance use disorder.
Artistic Director
Elizabeth Addison
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Elizabeth Addison is a multi-hyphenated Artist/Activist who is currently writing a trilogy of musicals focused on the process of recovering from substance use disorder, finding purpose and belonging, and chasing one's dreams. Next spring, one of those musicals, "This is Treatment," will be produced at Northeastern University. When Elizabeth went to treatment, 10 years ago, she vowed that she would recover out loud, her work is a reflection of that promise. She is a former actor for Improbable Players.
Ohio Associate Director
Colleen Longshaw Jackson
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Colleen Longshaw Jackson is the Associate Director for 2nd Act. She is a Cleveland, Ohio native and is excited to join the 2nd Act family. She is currently the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for the City of Shaker Heights, Ohio. She is also an adjunct professor at Baldwin Wallace in the Musical Theatre department. Colleen holds both a BFA and MFA in acting from Kent State University and is a proud member of Actors Equity Association. Jackson is a Certified Trauma Professional, a certification she uses in conjunction with her theatre work to create inclusive and mindful artistic spaces. As both an actor and director, Colleen understands the power of theatre to teach empathy and is passionate about using those gifts and skills to help those impacted by substance use disorders.
Creative Production Manager
Cameron Torres
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Cam Torres is an actor, playwright, director, and Arts Administrator. He has worked in theater and the arts in the Boston and Providence area for 10+ years. He played Sam in the first production of Four Legs to Stand On with COAAST in 2015, and then moved into directing and administrative roles with the organization. He was the artistic director for Deana’s Educational Theatre, an educational program about dating violence.
Executive Director
Ana Bess Moyer Bell
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Ana Bess Moyer Bell, MA, RDT is the Executive Director for 2nd Act. She is a master's level clinician, drama therapist, and commissioned playwright. She specializes in treating: trauma, grief, and addiction. She has practiced and taught drama therapy nationally and internationally. She is currently a senior advisor to Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee on substance use, harm reduction, and recovery.
Educational Theatre Consultant
Meghann Perry, CARC, RCP
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Meghann Perry, CARC, RCP is the Theatre Education Consultant for 2nd Act. Meghann is an Award-Winning Storyteller, Playwright, Director, Teaching Artist, Curriculum Designer and Addiction Recovery Coach. Meghann combines her expertise in Theatre Education with her work as a Recovery Coach to create unique workshops, learning opportunities, and performance experiences for people of all ages. She is the creator of the Recovery Storytelling workshop process. Meghann worked as an Actor, Playwright and Teaching Artist with Improbable Players, educating young audiences about Substance Use Disorder and Recovery through theatre performance and workshops. Improbable Players merged with another organization in early 2021 and became 2nd Act, where Meghann co-created the New Works Department, co-wrote a new play, and currently serves as the Theatre Education Consultant. In 2017-18, Meghann served as Co-Director of Moving Stories Foundation, creating unique performances blending original choreography and storytelling with formerly incarcerated women and women in Recovery. She performed in a devised piece in 2018, The Way We Live Now, investigating the Opioid Epidemic in an innovative, immersive theatre experience. Meghann has also worked extensively with at-risk adolescents and young adults through her many original Theatre and Storytelling workshops, and is a nationally-known Curriculum Designer and Educator in the field of Recovery Coaching.
Social Media Intern
Kieren Haug
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Chief Operations Officer
Karen Snyder
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Karen Snyder is the Chief Operations Officer for 2nd Act. She grew up in Wooster, OH. In 2002, she received a B.A. in Theater from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA. Karen lived in Boston, MA for 14 years where she first worked with Improbable Players. After moving back to Ohio in 2017, she recognized the need for prevention and recovery theater due to the opioid epidemic and started the Cleveland chapter of Improbable Players in May 2018.
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Morgan Shumway is the Outreach Coordinator for 2nd Act. She identifies as a healing arts advocate, performer, and cares about social and environmental justice. Morgan grew up in Oxford, Ohio, and graduated from Miami University of Ohio, in 2019, with a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance. Morgan has been a Soprano Chorister for the choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Cleveland, Ohio, and has been with Improbable Players, and now 2nd Act, since January of 2020.
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Ryan Beard is the Operations Manager for 2nd Act. He began teaching drama and improvisational theater to youth a decade ago. He graduated from Arizona State University in 2012 with a degree in Theater Education and Communications. Since then, he has taught drama in schools and youth theaters to students from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds in Arizona, Washington and Massachusetts. He has several years of experience working as both a drama teacher and a high school technical theater director.
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Carrie is a Social-Emotional-Learning Drama Therapy Consultant for 2nd Act. She is a fierce and passionate advocate for young people. Carrie has been working in the New York City Department of Education since 2014 bringing social-emotional learning tools to students and school communities. Carrie believes in the power of the arts to transform and through a clinical lens as a creative arts therapist offers youth a platform to share their voice and their stories. Through creative arts therapy and social-emotional learning tools, Carrie strives to help youth and school communities discover their most expansive sense of self by gaining essential tools that help build both self and social awareness, increase communication and relationship skills, foster reflection and decision making skills, and strengthen self-regulation tools.
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Operations Manager, Actor
Ryan Beard
Outreach Coordinator
Morgan Shumway
SEL Drama Therapy Consultant
Carrie Watt, LCAT, RDT
INTERNS
Lily Ayotte attends Suffolk University and is majoring in theater and minoring in psychology. In her spare time, she enjoys embroidery and writing.
Outreach Intern
Lily Ayotte
Development Intern
Maddie Ray
Maddie Ray attends Baldwin Wallace University, where she is a Biology major and Sports Medicine minor. She plays lacrosse and enjoys hiking.
Kieren Haug attends Brown University where she studies Health and Human Biology. She is also on the soccer team at Brown.
Development Intern
Sydney Goldstein
Development Intern
Stevie Kontnier
Development Intern
Pari Patel
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Sydney Goldstein attends Kenyon College and is an English major and Art History minor. Her hobbies include theatre, singing in Kenyon College's musical theatre a cappella group (The Broken Legs!), writing, visual art, and reading.
Stevie Kontnier attends Baldwin Wallace University where she is double majoring in English and philosophy. She works with the campus literary journal and recently started writing her own short fiction.
Pari Patel attends Baldwin Wallace University where she is studying biology. She enjoys reading in her free time.
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