PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
LIGHT,
continued from Page A1
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Jeff Minden and Kevin Crawford act out a scene from Heaven
Can Wait, opening Friday at the Kroc Center.
HEAVEN: Kroc Center
hosts play this time
(Continued from Page A1)
doing a different role this time
and seeing it from a different
prospective,” Minden said.
“Joe's a fantastic character.
He's so honest and earnest and
straight forward but also just so
not right. He also talks a lot so
that's been a challenge, getting
the lines down. But it's also so
much fun, really fi nding him
and channeling him and getting
into character.”
Minden already had a
background in CrossFit but has
added boxing workouts to get
into character.
Craig Will has been cast as
the messenger. Kevin Crawford,
one of the founders of
Aumsville Community Theatre,
is playing Mr. Jordan, who is in
charge of fi nding another body
after Pendleton's manger Max
Levene, played by Sam Tibbits,
cremated his body.
Jordan fi nds the wealthy
Jonathan Farnsworth, who is
about to be murdered by his
wife Julia, played by Allison
Reid. While in Farnsworth's
body, Pendleton falls in love
with Bette Logan, a naïve,
sweet young woman played by
Elizabeth Ming.
“This is the fi rst time she's
played the ingenue,” Baker said
of Ming. “Everybody wants to
play the ingenue until they have
to and they realized they have
the stupidest lines in the whole
play. The fact that Elizabeth is
making them work is pretty
amazing.
“The girl that has frequently
had to play the ingenue and has
played the ingenue her whole
life is now playing the wicked
wife. Allison is stepping outside
of her general norm, which
is fun. Everybody is kind of
playing, not against type, but
against usually what they have
been cast.”
The rest of the cast includes
Dylan Marley (Tony Abbott),
Becky Nielson (Mrs. Ames),
Chantelle Gemmill (Ann),
Kevin Strausbaugh (Inspector
Williams), Linda Cashin (First
Escort), Kiley Smith (Second
Escort), Elijah Rodriguez
(Lefty),
Edward
Stiner
(Workman), Dennis Koho
(Doctor) and Tim and Jordan
Reid as Plainclothesmen.
Strausbaugh, a 2005 McNary
graduate, is also helping Baker
direct the show.
Doors open 30 minutes
prior to the start of the play
and parking is free at the Kroc
Center.
He'd also gone through
treatment before. He knew
the things he was supposed
to say and do, but not how
to apply them to the way he
lived. Part of the problem was
he could never fi nd someone
to connect with at treatment
centers.
Early attempts with treat-
ment also left him feeling cyn-
ical about the process, he met
with one counselor who told
him he understood what Cur-
tis was going through because
the counselor had smoked pot.
“I asked him if he'd ever
stuck a syringe in his neck and
his mind was blown. I told
him to shut the eff up,” Curtis
said.
However, in a strange way,
the encounter set him on the
path he's following now.
“From that day on, I knew
that if I was able to get to the
place I wanted to be, I would
be able to tell people I did un-
derstand,” Curtis said.
After two weeks at Pacifi c
Ridge, Curtis got permission
to transfer to Oregon Trail
Recovery (OTR) in Portland.
His days were fi lled with man-
datory group and individual
therapy meetings at OTR and
he was encouraged to fi nd
others he'd be willing to at-
tend. He earned his fi rst shot
at a job in years. He worked in
construction, then in a paint
shop, then in fast food.
The program required him
to do many things he found
uncomfortable like fi nd a
sponsor he could be open and
honest with, re-establish rela-
tionships with family and even
pray. Custis's hackles went up
at the latter, but he gave in to
that, too.
“I said I didn't come here
to pray and then my sponsor
reminded me I said I was will-
ing to go any lengths to get
this. Once he said that, I knew
Leaf haul
Nov. 18
The Fall Leaf Haul is sched-
uled for Saturday, Nov. 18 and
Saturday, Dec. 2 from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m. at Brown’s Island De-
molition Landfi ll, located at
2895 Faragate St. S in Salem.
Homeowners may drop off
grass clippings and leaves to
turn them into local compost.
Properly disposing of leaves
keeps them out of storm
drains, preventing clogged
storm drains and fl ooding.
Seniors and disabled resi-
dents can call Center 50+ at
503-588-6303 for help trans-
porting bagged leaves to col-
lection sites. You must sign up
in advance.
I would go stand on my head
in the corner for three hours
if that's what they told me to
do,” Curtis said.
He soared in his recovery
and in his responsibilities at
work. Curtis was contem-
plating moving into fast food
management when OTR
hired him as a client support
specialist, house manager and
addiction interventionist. He's
been doing that for almost a
year now and is approaching
his second anniversary clean
and sober.
“I am the front line of the
treatment center. I live with
the clients and have to lead
as an example. I have a level
of accountability that is un-
believable,” Curtis said. “My
clients are either fresh off the
street, fresh out of detox, fresh
out of jail or fresh off of treat-
ment.”
Curtis runs their group
meeting, helps them with
transportation and has even
traveled to Tennessee and
California to guide others
through intervention training.
When his clients relapse,
Curtis is the one to confi scate
their drugs and parapherna-
lia. He is able to dispose of it
without giving into tempta-
tion by keeping his focus on
the needs of the clients.
“I put myself in their shoes
knowing what it would have
been like to have had some-
one step in and take away the
thing that was killing me,”
Curtis said.
Recently, he's found him-
self buying more button-up
shirts than he's ever owned in
his life. He keeps giving them
away to new clients headed to
job interviews.
“The professional part of it
is still a challenge. What was
really diffi cult was transition-
ing between the ways I talk
on the street and how to talk
in meetings,” he said. “When
you put me in a situation with
clinicians, they almost have to
decipher my language.”
He knows the odds are
against most of his clients, but
his favorites are the ones with
long criminal histories and
lots of experience with drugs.
“That stuff fi res me up. I live
for watching these guys who
come in fi lled with hatred and
fear and anger and watching
them turn into people who
are happy and joyous and free.
Living a life they didn't know
was possible,” Curtis said.
His experience with ad-
diction has led to insights he
now shares freely. Curtis la-
ments the current way society
chooses to deal with addicts,
by tossing them in jails and
and prisons.
“You're punishing people
for killing themselves. Why
do you want to kick me when
I'm down? If we could put
people in treatment rather
than prison, prisons wouldn't
be so full,” he said.
For those who encounter
addiction among friends and
loved ones, Curtis cautions
against trying to relate when
there isn't enough common
ground.
“Don't act like you know
what it feels like. If my clients
have gone through something
I haven't gone through, I tell
them that. I tell them I don't
understand that, but tell me
what that is like. Come from
a place of compassion and un-
derstanding and love,” he said.
Of all the changes in Cur-
tis' life over the past two years,
this enthusiasm for other
people and their needs – ones
who arrive in his life as com-
plete strangers – is the most
crossword
Sam Goesih CLU, Agent
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stunning. When I met him in
November 2016, Mary and
his younger sister joined us.
At one point in the conver-
sation, his sister broke down
crying when she talked about
fears of being the one to fi nd
him dead of a heroin overdose.
Unprompted, Curtis said he
felt nothing about his sister's
tears any longer.
He sees more clearly now
how he was able to be so cal-
lous.
“I had learned to discon-
nect myself. I had watched
people die over and over. In
my eyes other people were
a liability. It was my way of
protecting myself. If I showed
emotion, it meant I was weak,”
Curtis said. “When I was
cleaning up my mess – and
I'm still doing that – I was
talking with her she told me
all she wanted was for me to
be there for her children. She
has kids now and I'm there for
them. I am able to be present
in their lives and money can't
buy that.”
Mary said the changes are a
complete 180-degree turn.
“What I know is that this is
where he needs to be and his
life up to now has led to this.
It was hell living through it,
but he's giving back in amaz-
ing ways. His life was so dark
and it's not now,” Mary said.