Getting Better

Theatre Category: Theatre 68Theatre Tags: addiction recovery Craig Rock featured Getting Better Los Angeles theatre mental health North Hollywood theatre Soaring Solo solo show STARS SERIES Theatre 68 Arts Complex theatre in NoHo trauma

[NoHo Arts District, CA]  – Craig Rock brings his deeply personal solo show Getting Better to Theatre 68 Arts Complex on Friday, December 4 as part of Soaring Solo’s STARS SERIES.

About Getting Better

Old World: A gay, overweight airport worker who drinks too much.

Inciting Incident: He gets arrested for a high-profile DUI. That happens because he accidentally drives his car into a statue of Ronald Reagan.

Fun and Games: Instead of jail, the judge sends him to an inpatient treatment center, and he meets his new best friend, Bob. They cheat the system and have fun doing it

Mid-Point: He finishes treatment and goes home. He finds out that he’s being evicted from his apartment and has lost his job. Then he gets the news that his new best friend, Bob, has died of a drug overdose.

Cave: He decides to kill himself and almost succeeds. By some miracle, he survives.

Elixir: He returns to treatment, this time taking it seriously and reckoning with the damaging past that has held him back. Then he inherits a trip to Israel and journeys to the Wailing Wall, where he has a profound, life-altering experience.

Conclusion: He learns to synthesize these experiences and build a brand-new version of himself. That new version goes back to school, becomes a counselor, and eventually opens a treatment center.

About  Craig Rock

A counselor by day and actor and playwright by night, Craig Rock has been working on this manuscript for over five years.  Beyond those five years, this play has been a lifetime in the making.  Craig has not drunk alcohol for almost 27 years.  Fifteen years ago, he stopped smoking 2 1/2 packs a day.  Eight years ago, he weighed 410 pounds; now he weighs 220 pounds.  After losing a staggering 190 pounds, he has kept the weight off for seven years.

This play is a love letter to everyone who feels locked in a hopeless cycle of despair.  The play focuses on trauma, addiction, and mental health, but mostly focuses on the title, Getting Better.  This play was written to help people reconsider their circumstances and provide hope that everyone can change, no matter how bad their circumstances.

Craig currently lives in Olympia, Washington.  He co-founded North Star Treatment Group 16 years ago with his husband of 24 years, Talal Hattar.  They live one minute from a trailhead and spend time daily walking their dog, riding bikes, and gazing at the clouds from behind the tall trees of the Pacific Northwest.

****

Don’t miss any shows, check out the NoHo Theatre Guide>>