State Theatre Hosts Actor Jack Schultz in One-Man Play

Story posted February 7, 2019 in CommRadio, News by Grace McCarthy

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- This past Tuesday, Feb. 5, Penn State welcomed actor and producer Jack Schultz to perform downtown at the State Theater. Schultz traveled all the way from Chicago to Happy Valley to perform his one-man play, “I’m Falling In Love All The Time.”

Schultz wrote this play as a result of his grief over his late brother’s overdose. This free-admission performance was hosted by “The Collegiate Recovery Community” and “The Jana Marie Foundation,” who work with people recovering from addiction and substance abuse.

Ryan Power, assistant programming coordinator of The Collegiate Recovery Community, had some insight on the performance.

“He’s talking about the intersection of life and love and addiction. Overall, putting on an event to talk about mental health and hopefully enjoy a really cool show,” Power said.

In the production, Schultz addresses the many conflicts that associate with life and addiction. He states that he in fact relied on coffee for his daily dose of dopamine following the death of his brother. Further portraying the overall message of addiction sneaking its way into people's lives in all forms. 

Coordinating president of The Collegiate Recovery Community, Jason Whitney, wanted people to hear Schultz’s message about addiction and loss to stress the importance of this issue in society.

“We’re trying to raise awareness of addiction and recovery so we thought we’d bring him out here and partner with the Jana Marie Foundation to raise awareness of the overdose death epidemic,” Whitney said.

Jack Schultz has produced numerous other plays through the agency in Chicago, “Basement Series." However, “I’m Falling In Love All The Time” emphasizes the importance of addressing addiction in an entertaining yet personal way.

 

 

Grace McCarthy is a Freshman majoring in Broadcast Journalism, to contact her email her at gem5279@psu.edu.