Layton High hosting play about addiction to meth

The play is about a drug that has become a major focus of Utah's governor.

The actors have been called extremely convincing, possibly because their portrayals of methamphetamine addiction come from personal experience.

On Friday, a play titled "The Life of Crystal" will be presented at Layton High School. The full-length stage production, billed as a "hard-hitting, no-nonsense drama," is being put on by actors from the Las Vegas-based Solid Rock Productions.

"They are portraying the lifestyle of people on (meth) and how they were able to get free from it," said Pastor Brian S. Gougherty of the Potter House Christian Center in Layton, the group responsible for bringing the play to Utah.

The cast includes about a dozen men and women in their mid-20s. Each of them became actors after first overcoming their meth addictions.

"(It started with) several of them getting together and discussing their experience using the drug. They put their heads together and developed a storyline. They did an initial show of it, and it had such good reviews they decided to do a production out of it," Gougherty said.

The play even got an endorsement from Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, he said.

The group added stage lights and props and wrote a full-length production of the struggles of meth addiction and recovery based on what the actors went through themselves. Since then, the actors have been invited to perform the play in California, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona.

The play at the Layton High School auditorium, 440 Wasatch Drive, is free to the public. The goal is to raise awareness of the dangers of the drug to users and non-users alike and to help those who might know a meth user to look for certain behavioral red flags.

"I hope they get hope out of it," Gougherty said. "It's a very difficult drug and addiction to overcome. Many programs don't give much hope to people."

In September, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. unveiled a $2 million anti-meth radio and television campaign called "End Meth Now." The media campaign was just the latest effort from came from the Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force, which was formed in January 2006 by Huntsman.

Meth is the most abused drug among women aged ages 18 to 35 seeking help in Utah treatment centers, according to the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

---

If you go . . .

What: "The Life of Crystal," a live, dramatic production

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Where: Layton High School auditorium, 440 Wasatch Drive

Cost: Free

For information: 309-6727

---

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com