Plays on Tap — a collection of collaborative performances hosted in recognition of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week — will showcase the reality and possibility of recovering from addiction this Friday and Saturday.
“The plays are written about all the things that go along with recovery, whether those be struggles, wins or whatever the case may be,” said Buddy Gerber, director of Texas Tech’s Center for Students in Addiction Recovery.
Plays on Tap is a collaborative set of performances hosted between the CSAR and the School of Theatre and Dance. With such cooperation, Gerber, one of the CSAR’s faculty advisers for the event, said he hopes to showcase the realistic side of recovery as opposed to common stereotypes.
“Addiction is seen in a lot of different ways by a lot of different people: either that rockstar role or the bum that’s living underneath the bridge,” Gerber said. “It can be all of those things to some degree, but that’s not what addiction is.”
Texas Tech masters student studying applied linguistics Kamel Alzaben’s looks at his script for “Plays on Tap” while senior producer studying theatre arts from Andrews C.C Lawrence gives him advice in the School of Theatre and Dance Oct. 15, 2025.
Jake Cooper
To remain as genuine as possible, Plays on Tap will showcase four 10-minute plays whose script prompts have been authored by students in recovery at the CSAR and performed by School of Theatre and Dance students.
By performing scripts based on prompts from students in recovery, C.C. Lawrence, a fourth-year theatre arts and pedagogy major from Andrews and one of the event’s student producers, said Plays on Tap provides an opportunity to physically represent the struggles of addiction.
“If I say, ‘What does three days sober look like?’ I see the words on the page, but what does that actually look like if you get up and act it out?” Lawrence said.
The plays will focus on the realistic obstacles of becoming sober, such as avoiding triggers and realizing the long-term process recovery takes, Lawrence said.
While past Plays on Tap performances have solely focused on addiction alone, this year’s event will instead prioritize the recovery aspect. In doing so, Lawrence said this emphasizes the hopeful side of the process.
“By focusing on recovery, we’re focusing on a way out and focusing on how the community plays a role in that,” Lawrence said.
Cynthia Jefferson, the program director for Counseling and Addiction Recovery Sciences and one of the CSAR’s faculty advisers for Plays on Tap, said the performances also destigmatize the concept that everyday people can be in recovery.
“It’s refreshing to see that recovery is possible, (and) people just like you and me are in recovery,” Jefferson said.
Texas Tech PhD in fine arts and theatre student from Nigeria Monijesu Ebube leads “Plays on Tap” with senior producer studying theatre arts from Andrews C.C Lawrence in the School of Theatre and Dance Oct. 15, 2025.
Jake Cooper
By destigmatizing what addiction is depicted as, Justin Gonzales, one of the School of Theatre and Dance’s student producers, said Plays on Tap empathizes with the reality of what addicts go through.
“You can’t know an addict just by looking at them,” Gonzales said. “I think the audience will come away having a greater appreciation for the humanity of addicts, a better understanding of what being in recovery is like and maybe how they can better interact with other people they know might be struggling with the same thing.”
After each days’ event concludes, a short discussion panel will invite audience members and performers to discuss the plays and their subject matter, said Gonzales, a fourth-year university studies major from East Tawakoni.
He said the panel will give both performers and audience members a chance to discuss ideas they would otherwise be cautious talking about, such as how the CSAR and School of Theatre and Dance translated sensitive subject matter into on-stage performances.
“It gives them an opportunity to ask questions that maybe they are otherwise apprehensive to ask,” Gonzales said. “It gives them an opportunity to clear up misconceptions maybe they had of what recovery is like.”
Rehearsals will continue through the week until 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, when Plays on Tap will be performed in Studio 267 of the School of Theatre and Dance. Admission is free.