The preoccupation with the opioid crisis in our pop culture these days says a lot about the world in which we live. Rivendell Theatre contributes to the national conversation with a new play, “Spay” by local playwright Madison Fiedler. “Spay” is set in Appalachia, the heart of the opioid crisis, also where Fiedler grew up. Inspired by what she observed living in rural North Carolina, “Spay” furthers the conversation of how specifically this epidemic is effecting women.
Noah (Rae Gray) is a struggling heroin addict. She has a child, but her sister Harper (Krystel McNeil) raises him. Following an overdose, Noah agrees to live with Harper but she has to get sober. Noah’s boyfriend Jackson (Spencer Huffman) is her drug dealer and all around bad influence. The standard architypes of an episode of Intervention. Fiedler works against popular tropes or clichés to make these damaged characters likeable.
A few years ago, Vice HBO ran a segment about Project Prevention, a nonprofit with a mission to help women and mothers with addiction. Except, there’s a little more to the mission of Project Prevention than just helping addicts. In Fiedler’s play Aubrey (Tara Mallen) mysteriously floats into Noah and Harper’s lives in an almost Mary Poppinish way. Aubrey is a representative of Project Prevention, and explains to Harper exactly what it is they do. Voluntary sterilization is one way Project Prevention sees a way out of the opioid crisis. Fiedler places this detail at a crucial moment of the play.
“Spay” examines how America looks at the opioid crisis, or rather how America chooses to hide the opioid crisis. While some can argue voluntary sterilization could cut down on the amount of children being born addicted and burdening the foster care system. Fiedler’s gruesome title suggests how she feels about the procedure.
Whether this play is a tragedy is up for debate. “Spay” is a play about exactly what its title implies. The comparison of human women to dogs. We get our dogs “fixed” in order to avoid a litter to care for. There’s a coldness to the idea that anyone would be given monetary compensation for a very permanent, non-essential procedure. A branding from society that you are not good enough to recreate.
Rae Gray and Krystel McNeil both deliver strong performances in this incredibly intimate production. Designed by Lindsay Mummert, the staging feels almost as if you yourself are sitting in Harper’s dingy living room. The atmospheric nature of this staging removes any veil audiences have with the realities of the opioid epidemic. It’s a first hand experience. As more and more opioid stories are told, calls for accountability become louder and plays like “Spay” help drive home the point that addiction is a disease not a character flaw.
Through April 17 at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N Ridge Avenue, www.rivendelltheatre.org
