THIS STORY CONTAINS MENTION OF DRUG ADDICTION

After being sober for a little over two years, Steven Strafford, an actor originally from New Jersey, found himself back in Chicago, the city where his addiction to crystal meth started and subsequently took over his life. Strafford was back for an audition and was greatly affected when he did not get the part.

“I lost my mind,” Strafford says. “And I sat down at my laptop in my apartment in Queens, and I typed the four-letter expletive that begins with F, over and over and over and over and over again. And then at the end of typing that, I wrote, ‘Imagine, in one step, every emotional, physical and sexual insecurity you ever had disappears.’ And I pulled back and I looked at that, and I was like, oh, I think maybe I’m supposed to like, I don’t know, write about it.”

Strafford is a current graduate student and teacher at Ohio University’s School of Theater. Before coming to OU, Strafford found success in playwriting with his one-man show, Methtacular! Strafford debated writing a novel exploring these difficult years with an addition, but instead he landed on presenting this story in a hilariously theatrical way, all while keeping the honesty of the narrative intact.

When Methtacular! demanded more of Strafford’s time, he made the tricky decision to step away from a touring production of Peter Pan the musical in 2011.

“Honestly, I had a nice little musical theater career. And telling everyone you are a crystal meth addict who stole from people, is not like, the easiest way to get other work” he says.

Strafford notes that his previous employers were incredibly understanding of his decision to step away. His faith, trust and pixie dust led him to presenting Methtacular! in New York City, under the creative direction of a familiar friend, Adam Fitzgerald.

At the heart of the show is Strafford’s energy, comedic timing and honesty. Being candid and open with those around him is natural for Strafford.

“I lead with vulnerability. Like, as a human being,” Strafford says. “I spent all of my drinking and drug years swinging wildly between trying to cover up any vulnerability and being too vulnerable. And so ever since I got sober, I'm just like generally vulnerable because it's just how I'm built.”

Fitzgerald found working with Strafford incredibly refreshing because there’s no guesswork.

“He is a person who will share exactly where he is and what is going on with him at any moment. Every day of rehearsal you know exactly what you are walking into and Steven's state of mind because he announces it when he comes through the door. It's hilariously refreshing and, as a director, it makes my job easier,” Fitzgerald says.

Strafford found that he would not be able to tell this story without finding comedy in the chaos.

“All of my writing, all of my plays talk about dark, dark, dark spaces, and have elements of high comedy because I think that's kind of how life is,” Strafford says. “Comedy doesn't stop in tragic times. If anything, it shows up, like harder.”

Strafford allegorizes the show’s elements of comedy and camp to a container, overflowing with items.

“For me the container of Methtacular! is like a variety show with jokes, songs, a game show and then that disintegrates when it can no longer hold the material.”

Strafford even admits that in this medium of storytelling he is the most honest when everything disintegrates. When there are no more jokes and bits, Strafford just has to tell what happened during this period of his life.

“It's like the me that I am when it's just me, or when it's just me and my husband. You know, it's the me without the people pleasing,” Strafford says. “And it's the me without the jokes and defense mechanisms. That's the container.”

Letting vulnerability lead the way, Methtacular! has followed Strafford for years after its original performance OffBroadway. Strafford had a professional recording made of a performance from 2019 that can be found on YouTube (@ methtaculartheshow6608).

Just as people do, the way Strafford’s tells his story changes over time. He admits that as he rehearses, he is always editing and adding to the narrative. A constant in this rehearsal process is Fitzgerald’s genius directing. Strafford credits elements of the story’s honesty to Fitzgerald’s advice on writing about trauma.

“One of the things [Fitzgerald] made me edit out of all earlier drafts was anything that smacked of judgment,” Strafford says. “And, you know, it's natural when you're writing down a story that you have opinions about the people and the story and you have opinions about yourself throughout the story. Adam was really adamant about taking the judgment out and just say what happened.”

“We often look at people who are at their worst and think, “How did you get there?" Fitzgerald says. “Methtacular! offers an answer to that question, with the promise that you will laugh, and maybe cry, but you will be okay in the end.”

Strafford admits he is frequently asked if performing the show is therapeutic to him.

“The trick of writing about trauma or performing around trauma is that it can't be therapy. – I went to therapy,” Strafford says. “I am in recovery, like, you can have catharsis. I'm doing this so that someone in the audience who is ashamed of something, who thinks that something about their past is so ugly, that they can't talk about that, that's not true.”

Right before the pandemic, Strafford toured OU and fell in love with Athens and then took the opportunity to teach playwriting to undergraduate students. He encourages students to write plays that give something to their audience.

At one point in Methtacular!, Strafford focuses on his recovery and how lucky he is to have made it out alive.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a new challenge to young people who have addictions. According to the CDC’s State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, the rate of overdose deaths among 14- to 18-year-olds rose 94 percent from 2019 to 2020.

Strafford’s dazzling writing does not end with Methtacular! Strafford has written a plethora of original plays that can be read on his New Play Exchange page. Strafford will also be presenting his thesis play near the end of the spring semester.b