With his play, Visions, a Rotarian has turned his addiction into art and provided new roles for former addicts.
In the winter of 1989, Robert Lo Bue experienced an awakening: He wanted to join the theater.
Lo Bue was working on the assembly line at an automotive plant. Nearing 40, he had no acting experience to speak of and a long history of drug and alcohol abuse. No matter. He auditioned for a production of The Passion Play near his home in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, and landed the part of Young James the Apostle.
His Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor was not pleased. "He said, 'No way. You got a wife in recovery and you just came out of rehab and you got a baby daughter. Your son is in counseling from both of you using. Your plate is full,'" Lo Bue recalled in his booming Jersey brogue. "I said, 'What do you mean? I want this. I need this!' He just kept screaming, 'Your plate is full!'"
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