A small Alabama town in the midst of an opioid crisis is the setting for the locally performed play, “Safety Net.”
The play will be running until Nov. 10 at the Balzer Theater at Herren’s in Atlanta.
“Safety Net” tells the story of a town’s first female fire captain, Chris Dove, as she tries to help her struggling neighborhood and loved ones. The play chronicles the dynamics between Chris, her childhood friend who’s a recovering addict, and her mother.
“City Lights” host Lois Reitzes spoke with “Safety Net” director Karen Robinson, along with the playwright and lead actor Daryl Lisa Fazio. The play won the 2018 Alliance Theatre Reiser Lab award, and now it will have its world premiere through Theatrical Outfit, which is an Atlanta-based professional theater company.
“The play focuses on what makes Chris a leader and what might have made it possible for her to be a captain in this very, very male profession. We take it at face value, and I’ve had some people say that that’s what they like about the play is that it doesn’t make a big statement about feminism or ‘men versus women,’” Fazio said. “It’s just about a town that’s struggling and here’s a woman who has particular gifts of empathy, compassion and leadership, and the town recognizes that and they’ve elevated her so she can do some good.”
