New Opera Shines Spotlight on Opioid Addiction Recovery

Published: 09/10/2026 | Author: Nikki Wisher

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The federal government spent the first full week of September promoting personal stories to shift public attitudes on opioid addiction in ways statistics don’t. An American composer made a version of that argument in a concert hall a month earlier. The piece is on its way to an international tour.

Missy Mazzoli’s opera “The Galloping Cure” premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival on Sunday, August 9, 2026. It reaches San Francisco Opera in California in the fall of 2027.

An American Composer

Mazzoli traced the project to two family deaths in the United States. 

That story mirrors the American opioid crisis in miniature. Prescription opioids including oxycodone and morphine act on the same receptors as heroin. When a prescription supply ended or became unaffordable, many people moved to the illegal street trade, notably fentanyl.

Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, who lives in New York, built the piece around a carnival merry-go-round. A charismatic charlatan named Lucky Mack, sung by baritone Justin Austin, arrives in a faded town called Yourtown and sells residents a ride they can’t get off.

The team spent years looking and finally found success by commissioning a treatment in 2022 from novelist Karen Russell, who drew on Franz Kafka’s “A Country Doctor.”

“It wasn’t until we collaborated with Karen that we found a way that wasn’t preachy or predictable,” Mazzoli observed. “Coming at it via this weird fairy tale allows us to bring in all sorts of compassion and allows us to see it in an unexpected way.”

Storytelling Changes Communities

The opera has a long reach beyond the arts pages. Stigma doesn’t respond to data. But people might respond better when they hear about real experiences.

SAMHSA built the second week of its 2026 National Recovery Month campaign to challenge this paradigm. The theme Reducing Stigma Through Storytelling claims that every recovery story has the power to reduce stigma and remind others that recovery is possible. These stories make their way to policymakers, which can change communities.

Music Builds Up Care

Art reaches people who aren’t looking for information. Someone who never opens a public health report might willingly sit through two hours of theater. A character written with compassion can make the audience care about the realities of addiction and how to best treat it.

Recovery Month is all about acknowledging personal experiences. Walks and rallies team up speakers with live music. Benefit concerts fund naloxone distribution and peer programs. Open mics and choirs give folks a reason to show up somewhere, which is its own form of support.

Theater doesn’t replace treatment. But it changes the environment treatment happens in.

Treatment & Peer Support

Signs of an opioid overdose include slowed or stopped breathing, blue or grayish lips and fingertips, pinpoint pupils, limpness and unresponsiveness. Should an overdose happen, call 911 right away.

Medication-assisted treatment remains a strong approach. Meds substantially lower overdose death risk. It works alongside peer support rather than in competition with it.

Speaking of which, Narcotics Anonymous is one of several peer support options. NA meetings are free, open to anyone with a desire to stop using and available in-person and online. Some people combine NA with medication, and that’s okay too. 

Opioid Addiction Meets NA

Those looking for peer support, our comprehensive meeting directory lets you browse NA meetings by city and filter by format, including open and online groups.

You can also call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) to speak with an expert for free. Confidential guidance is given 24/7.