React has been producing theater with the youth of Indianapolis since 1976, but we began to focus on making theater for social change in 2009. Since then, we have produced 30+ social issues shows, dealing with topics such as bullying, homophobia, and violence. Love Over Dose is one in a series of React social issues shows, in which our students experience a 4 step development process of researching, devising, rehearsing, and performing an original play about a social issue. We then host performances at our homebase of the Athenaeum, and tour the play to schools throughout Indiana. Our goal is to bring this show to every middle and high school student in Indianapolis.
In 2018, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust granted React funds to support an original play about the opioid crisis. It’s a subject close to our hearts: 130 people die from opioid overdoses every day in the US, and Indianapolis’s overdose rates are even higher than the national average. Our cast has devised a play to navigate this issue through a fictionalized story based on months of rigorous research. Love Over Dose will perform for at least 3,000 students in 2024 and 2025, who will leave more informed about opioid and substance use, with empathy for those most affected, and with resources for navigating the presence of drug use in their own lives.
We believe in the power of art’s influence, and are committed to providing our students with the opportunity to educate themselves and their peers about the realities of the opioid crisis. Whether it’s knowing the facts, or identifying ways of combating the crisis on a personal level, we want to provide Indiana’s youth with the space to have an open dialogue about substance abuse with the adults in their lives.
We also believe that there’s no one better to lead this conversation than the youth who are affected by this problem. The script was built by middle and high school students who have spent the time researching and understanding this issue, and who know how to relate to their peers in ways that adults can’t.
This page is a guide for teachers and educators to navigate conversations leading up to and following Love Over Dose, and includes a scene-by-scene breakdown of the script, a description of the cast of characters, discussion questions, frequently asked questions, best practices and resources for managing substance use and abuse, and relevant material related to the opioid crisis.
For teachers and parents alike, we recommend starting the conversation about drug use before your students arrive at Love Over Dose. Ask them open-ended questions about the topic, and explore the complexities of the issue together.
Some questions might include:
Before seeing the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss with your students and children what they can expect from one of our shows and what their responsibilities are as audience members.
Alex's morning started the same as most mornings do: copying chemistry homework in the minutes leading up to first period. Alex's afternoon? Not so much. Alex's sister, Riley, has just been hospitalized after an accidental opiate overdose.
Now, Alex is alone in the hospital bathroom with a bottle of Riley's pills. Will she take them-- numb the pain and follow in Riley's footsteps, despite the fact that she knows better? Or, will she find a new path, one informed by memory of the past and hope for the future?
Riley is a popular girl who gets pretty good grades and has plans for her future. She parties on the weekends, but starts to use drugs to help her cope with her parents’ bad divorce. When she can’t buy the pills that she takes, she buys heroin. Riley dies from an accidental overdose of heroin and fentanyl, which sets our story in motion.
Alex is Riley’s younger sibling. Alex loves Riley, and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her. Because of that love, Alex protects Riley’s drug use (hides her drugs, defends her choices,etc.)
Bella is Alex’s best friend, and has grown up with Riley and Alex. Bella is the class clown and is always down for a good time, but doesn’t believe in using substances. Bella has an uncle who is an alcoholic, and Bella has seen how substance abuse can wreck a family. Bella represents students who believe in “Just Saying No” to drugs.
Blake is Riley’s best friend. Blake parties with Riley, but only on the weekends. Blake’s drug use is casual, and Blake believes that it is no big deal. Blake represents students who may think that it’s okay to use drugs as long as you can control your intake.
Emma is Alex’s friend, but she has a secret. Her father is homeless and has opioid use disorder. Emma represents those who have family members who have been affected by long-term opioid use disorder.
Jesse is a student in Alex’s class. Jesse really respects Riley and wants to be like
her, and is shocked to learn about Riley’s drug use. Jesse represents students who don’t know much about opioids, and may not recognize the signs of opioid use in their peers.
We see a video about how heroin is created, and how the substance makes it across the world and into the hands of Riley.
We meet Riley and Alex Hembry, moments before everything changes for them.
We go back in time to the first day of school at Ridgeport High School. Alex and Riley are in chemistry together because Riley was partying too much last semester and failed the class. Riley’s friend Blake invites her to a party, but Riley was grounded when her mom found drugs in her room, so she can't go. Blake convinces Riley to sneak out to the party anyway. In the transition to the next scene, the cast talks to the audience about how Riley “knows better” than to do drugs, but she doesn’t think her drug use is a problem. Blake explains that drugs make her feel amazing, and it’s not a big deal.
Alex confides in Riley about an unrequited crush. Riley helps Alex figure out how to handle it. When Riley takes an opioid pill that is not prescribed to her for a headache, Bella questions her. Riley brushes her off. Bella tells the audience that Alex and Riley’s parents will tell them they are getting a divorce that night. Riley will withdraw from her friends, and refuse to confide in Blake. Alex will turn to her friends, and they help her process the news.
Blake is hungover from a party in chemistry class. Riley isn’t hungover because she was using pills. A video plays in class about the history and science of opium, morphine, heroin, and prescription opioids. At the end of the school day, Alex and Riley show their grief over their parents’ divorce through movement. Alex distracts himself with friends. Riley distracts herself with pills.
Alex catches Riley taking pills on a Tuesday night. Alex questions her, because she usually only does drugs to party on weekends. She says she can’t sleep, and the pills are just helping her fall asleep during this stressful week. Alex offers to hide Riley's pills so their mom won’t find out.
Alex, Emma, and Bella are working on a group project. Riley enters in distress, looking for her pills. Alex tells Emma and Bella what is going on. Bella expresses concern that Riley is now self-medicating. Alex defends Riley’s actions and says it’s okay.
Riley has just purchased more drugs, and asks Alex to hold onto them for her. Bella expresses disapproval that Alex is enabling Riley. Alex tells Bella it’s fine. Meanwhile, Jesse is attempting to do a presentation on the opioid crisis, and Blake makes fun of them. We see a video about the history of opioids in America and the current national crisis.
Riley is getting high with increasing regularity, and Alex expresses concern. Riley continues to deny that she has a problem.
Riley doesn’t show up to school, and Blake is worried. Blake convinces Alex to text their mom to see if Riley is okay.
Alex gets the call that Riley has overdosed. Riley gets dropped off at the hospital and is treated for her overdose. They stabilize her, but she does not wake up.
Jesse tells the audience about how much they look up to Riley,but doesn’t understand her reasoning. How can Riley be “sosmart and so stupid?”
Bella comes to visit Alex in the waiting room of the hospital. She attempts to cheer Alex up, but they end up fighting because Alex feels guilty about enabling Riley.
Blake comes to the hospital to visit Riley, and runs into Alex in the waiting room. She accuses Alex contributing to Riley’s overdose by being weak. They fight.
Emma comes to visit, and reveals that her dad has opioid use disorder. She tells Alex about how her dad has disappointed her, and that Alex isn’t alone. She reveals that a lot of people in their community have been affected by the opioid crisis, in many ways. We see a video about what has happened in the United States since a public health emergency was declared on the opioid crisis in 2017.
Alex is told that they are going to take Riley off life support, and she will die in the next few minutes. Alex goes to the bathroom, upset, and holds up a bottle of Percocet that belonged to Riley. Alex thinks about taking the entire bottle, or taking one to ease the pain. Riley appears and says how sorry she is to not be there for Alex in the future. Riley says she was wrong: she was trying to numb her feelings, but in doing so she missed out on the beauty of life. As Alex holds the bottle of pills, we see possible futures in a video: Alex’s path as an addict and Alex’s path without drugs. Alex hands Riley the drugs and leaves the bathroom. Riley disappears. Bella finds Alex and asks, “Are you okay?” Alex promises, “I will be.”
One of the ways that we emphasize the voices of young people throughout the creation and now the ongoing updating and revising of Love Over Dose is collaborative discussions. In alignment with Indiana state standards, we encourage educators to do the same with their students. Below are some questions grounded in the English/Language Arts state standards in order to encourage students to consider the content, form, and efficacy of the play. These questions can be used to begin a discussion with students after seeing the play.
Content: What are the main ideas and themes of the play? What details of the story show those main ideas and themes?
Form: What effect did the structure (the beginning with the phone call and then going back in time, the alternate ending in which Riley chooses not to turn to drugs, etc.) have on you? To what extent did those things contribute to the meaning of the play?
Efficacy: What are the goals of the play? Was it effective or ineffective in reaching those goals? What made it effective or ineffective?
By answering questions about the content of the play, students will be able to:
6, ELA, 6.RC.2
Determine how a theme or central idea of a work of literature is conveyed through particular details; provide a detailed, objective summary of the text.
6, ELA, 6.CC.3
Review the key ideas expressed and demonstrate understanding of multiple perspectives through reflection and paraphrasing.
7, ELA, 7.RC.2
Analyze the development of a theme or central idea over the course of a work of literature; provide a detailed summary that supports the analysis.
7, ELA, 7.RC.5
Analyze the development of two or more central ideas over the course of a text; provide a detailed, objective summary of the text.
8, ELA, 8.RC.2
Analyze the development of a theme or central idea over the course of a work of literature, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide a detailed summary that supports the analysis.
8, ELA, 8.RC.4
Analyze the development of a central idea over the course of a text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide a detailed, objective summary of the text.
9-10, ELA, 9-10.RC.2
Analyze in detail the development of two or more themes over the course of a work of literature, including how they emerge and are specific and refined by specific details.
9-10, ELA, 9-10.RC.4
Analyze in detail the development of two or more central ideas over the course of a text, including how they build on one another to provide a complex analysis.
11-12, ELA,11-12.RC.6
Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific ideas, events, and individuals develop throughout the text.
By answering questions about the form of the play, students will be able to:
7, ELA, 7.RC.3
Analyze how a work of literature’s structural elements such as subplots, parallel episodes, climax, and conflicts contribute to its meaning and plot.
9-10, ELA, 9-10.RC.3
Analyze and evaluate how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a work of literature, order events within it (e.g., parallel episodes), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) contribute to the overall meaning and effect of a work.
11-12, ELA, 11-12.RC.3
Analyze and evaluate how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a work of literature (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall meaning and effect of a work.
By answering questions about the efficacy of the play, students will be able to:
6, ELA, 6.RC.7
Determine an author’s perspective or purpose in a text, and explain how it is conveyed in the text.
7, ELA, 7.RC.7
Determine an author’s perspective or purpose in a text, and analyze how the author distinguishes their position from the positions of others.
8, ELA, 8.RC.5
Determine an author’s perspective or purpose in a text, and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.
8, ELA, 8.CC.5
Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence, and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
9-10, ELA, 9-10.RC.6
Determine an author’s perspective or purpose in a text, and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that perspective or purpose.
9-10, ELA, 9-10.CC.6
Evaluate a speaker’s perspective, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or distorted evidence.
11-12, ELA, 11-12.CC.5
Evaluate a speaker’s perspective, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, as well as assessing stylistic choices such as word choice, points of emphasis, and tone.
By having a discussion, students will be able to:
6, ELA, 6.CC.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (e.g., one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) on grade appropriate topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing personal ideas clearly.
6, ELA, 6.CC.2
Pose and respond to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic, text, or issue under discussion.
6, ELA, 6.CC.3
Review the key ideas expressed and demonstrate understanding of multiple perspectives through reflection and paraphrasing.
6, ELA, 6.CC.4
Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
7, ELA, 7.CC.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (e.g., one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) on grade-appropriate topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing personal ideas clearly.
7, ELA, 7.CC.2
Pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond to others’ questions and comments with relevant observations and ideas that bring the discussion back on topic as needed.
By seeing a play and participating in a subsequent discussion, students will be able to:
6, ELA, 6.RC.9
Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, verbally) to demonstrate a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
6, ELA, 6.CC.4
Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
7, ELA, 7.CC.4
Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally), and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
8, ELA, 8.CC.4
Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.
One year. Love Over Dose (LOD) is React’s first multi-year production. Auditions happened in early 2019, followed by 3 months of research. The cast and React staff then wrote and rehearsed the play starting in Spring 2019. We had to pause performances of the show during the pandemic, but we have continued updating the script and cast, and started doing performances again in 2021.
Students like you! The LOD cast is made up of 18 middle and high school students that live in the Indianapolis area, though only 6 actors perform at a time.
We use a process called devising to build all of our plays, which means that we work together as an ensemble of actors, directors, playwrights, and designers, to create a story about a topic that we all think is important. The actors created characters, and we explored them and the story together using improvisation exercises and lots of brainstorming.
Get involved at React! If acting (or working behind the scenes) is something you’re interested in, we have classes for K-12th grade students all year long. Visit www.reactclasses.org to learn more!
After a lot of research, we decided that exploring why people start to abuse opioids is one of the most important topics for young audiences. We also thought it was important to address how overdose can happen even if someone is just a “casual user.”
We say in the show that opioids can make you feel good. The trouble is that the body builds a tolerance to opioids extremely quickly. So a “pinch” of heroin last week turns into two pinches next week, and four pinches the week after next, and on and on. After that, the drugs are the only thing that make you feel “normal,” and without them you go into painful withdrawal. What began as a fun way to get a “reward” quickly turns into a struggle to avoid the “punishment,” and things spiral from there.
Say something. If you know an adult who is struggling, connect with a teacher or guidance counselor to discuss getting them some support. If you or one of your peers is struggling, connect with any adult you trust and explain the situation.
Yes. Opioids are dangerous when used incorrectly. So are axes, fireworks,and cookie dough. The trick is to use these things as instructed by a doctor, who can guide you in how to use them correctly and safely. You will probably be prescribed an opioid (like hydrocodone or oxycodone)at some point in your life, and it will be for a legitimate medical reason. If you follow the instructions of your doctor and take medications as prescribed, you have very little chance of developing a dependence or addiction.
Live change! Learn more about what’s being done to tackle the opioid crisis in your community by talking to teachers, guidance counselors, or local organizations. Be the person in your friend group who plans awesome parties where everyone knows that drugs won’t be welcome. Take a training session to learn to administer Narcan, an overdose reversal nasal spray. Make plans for your future that you are excited about, and take action to make them happen.
Short answer: Don’t. It’s unlikely that someone will try to force you to take a pill or try a drug if you decline their offer. We recommend that you get out of that situation, and tell a trusted adult about what happened.