Drug Story Theater

Drug Story Theater was created in 2014 as a pilot project by Dr. Joseph Shrand.

It first premiered as “The Price You Pay” at the Plymouth Community Intermediate School (PCIS) in June 2015. As a stake-holder in this program, District Attorney Tim Cruz was invited to attend.

District Attorney Cruz was so impressed with this project, he utilized funds from the MDAA Drug Diversion Fund, the Drug Free Communities Grant, and the Project Safe Neighborhood Grant, to fully fund or partially fund a production of Drug Story Theater in every school district within Plymouth County.

Many of the teens who take part in the production have been through a lot in a short amount of time. Their day-to-day struggles are real as the participants are not actors.

Dr. Joseph Shrand has grown this program and shared the Drug Story Theater message with students and parents throughout our county and around the state.

“Between June of 2015 – June 2016, The pilot Drug Story Theater troupe performed “The Price You Pay” over 20 times, reaching more than 10,000 students, parents, educators and townsfolk throughout the South Shore” – drugstorytheater.org opens in a new window


Performance at Marshfield High School

Performances in Plymouth County

Performances 2017-2019:

Plymouth South High

North Middle School-Brockton

East Middle School- Brockton

Plymouth County Drug Abuse Task Force Annual Conference- 2018

West Middle School-Brockton

PCIS

Abington Middle School

Plymouth South High

Performances 2015-2016:

PCIS

Marshfield High

Duxbury High

Whitman-Hanson Regional High

Wareham High

Brockton Ashfield Middle

Brockton High

Plymouth County Drug Abuse Task Force Annual Conference-2016

Hull High

Carver High

Hingham High

Plymouth South High

Plymouth North High

East Bridgewater High

Brockton Davis Middle

Abington High

Old Rochester Regional High

Pembroke High

Plymouth South High

Brockton Champion High

Plouffe Academy-Brockton

Brockton South Middle


Dr. Shrand, along with two medical students from Yale School of Medicine, and professors from Stanford School of Medicine and Yale School of Medicine, worked together to formulate a study. They analyzed the anonymous surveys completed by students before and after attending a DST performance, and transcripts of focus group interviews conducted with program developers, stakeholders, performers and audience members. Their conclusion, “exposure to a DST performance improved knowledge and risk perceptions about addiction among middle and high school students.”

Included is the full study, objective, methods, and results.