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Page 2 PHOENIX February 28,1974British Actors Lunch, TourProspect PI. P hoenix HouseBY CORRINE COLEMANA luncheon invitation to the British Actors Company from the residents of the Prospect Place Prospect House brought members of the two cooperative groups together last week. Reversing the usual roles however, the visiting players, in the final week of their four play repertory at BAM, became the listerners and viewers for the afternoon.Members of the two year old %u201c theatrical dem ocracy\the tales of New Yorkers now rising from the depths of drug addiction, from jail terms, and from a Southern chain gang in one case.The English actors were shown the inside of the apartment building in Prospect Heights, on the east side of Flatbush Ave., which was converted for the use of the local therapeutic community, and which is cared for and kept inThe 13th Semi-Annual Brooklyn Heights Promenade Art Show, sponsored by the Brooklyn Arts and Culture Association, Inc. (BACA) and coordinated by Ruth Keating, w ill headline Brooklyn's spring cultural season beginning May 11th. The exhibition, already a city art tradition, will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, May 11-12, 18-19 and 25-26, along the Esplanade from Remsen to Middagh Streets.The large scale, alfresco show will again spotlight theperfect order by the 78 current residents of the house.Phoenix House, according to its members, offers a rebirth%u2014%u201c a new chance at life and art\and provides during the typical two year stay of most of its residents, a way to move from mere concentration on the recent withdrawal from drugs, to an understanding of the original reasons for the addiction, to an eventual return outside, armed with new skills and insight.Staff members like the two young men who were once on drugs (as were most of the people who run the 13 Phoenix Centers) explained the route back, to the actors, whose Brooklyn presentations included %u201c Knots,%u201d the adaptation of R.D. Laing%u2019 s notations on the twisted early messages that can mess up recipients for a lifetime.Believing that forswearing allfinest in oil paintings, w a te rco lo rs, graph ics, a c ry lic s , photography, sculpture and crafts. Framed against the magnificent backdrop of the New York Skyline, the Harbor and the Brooklyn Bridge, the Heights show has proven to be one of the major art attractions in the city. The panoramic walkway is easy to reach by subway, bus or auto.Applications are now available for those wishing to exhibit in this judged show. For information, call BACA at 783-4469 or 783-3077.drugs is the only way out of addiction, the Phoenix centers require that all applicants enter drug free%u2014either by quitting cold, or by undergoing hospital detoxification.Once accepted, the Phoenix House resident is faced with a rigorous program geared to discovery of the reasons for the addiction in the first place. %u201c Growth%u201d the agency feels will come about as the residents learn new ways of viewing themselves and of dealing with the outside world. A communal situation with a variety of people whose backgrounds all include the use of drugs, is the most favorable environment for this relearning, the seven year old center believes. In the sheltered communal environment new residents %u201c serve a kind of emotional apprenticeship under those who have gone the route from street addict to leadership within the Phoenix House community.%u201dThe heart of the long lesson, the residents explain, is the encounter situation, which begins with a rigid three times a week program, and lessens as the months continue. The encounters, in a fixed 12 to 13 person arrangement with a leader at the helm, provide the means for mutual confrontation on behavior and attitudes that were part of the reasons for the drug taking. A rough scene the residents admit, %u201c playing encounters%u201d included shouting, cursing and group indictments. Threats and violence are the only prohibitions.The residents all seem to feel that the encounters work. Anti%u2019social habits, rationalizations, hidings, are uncovered during these experiences, and lead, the residents say, to the insight which will bring about the desired %u201c reentry.%u201dImpressed with the no-holds barred Phoenix house encounterContinued on Page 16 l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l i l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l i l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l M l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l i l l ll l l l l l l l l l l l l l t l l l l l l i 111111111111111111019111111111111111111181111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111Promenade Art Show toUsher in Spring SeasonM.A.M.A. Knows Best,Encourages RecyclingThe young people of More Aware, More Alive (M.A.M.A.) have issued a call to all socially and environmentally conscious area residents to join in supporting and using the recycling center they have been operating for two years.The center, which is located at 700 6th Ave. (at 22nd St.), is open between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturdays and accepts newspapers (tied in 10%u201d bundles), glass (green, clear, brown%u2014no metal attached), aluminum cans (crushed), and tin (remove and save lids and flatten cans.) For home pick-up call 499- 9003.The proceeds from the sale of recyclable materials are used to support the group%u2019s efforts and the Park Slope Youth Center%u2019s %u201c Direction House%u201d , of which M.A.M.A. is a part. In the past, the revenues have enabled the organization to purchase a truckf %u00ab*%u2022 im c o n r l e rvrtnort*' hiA r>bclean-ups. M.A.M.A. is located at 271 Ninth St.Those people who are interested in organizing the collection of m aterials for their building, organization or school are asked to call M.A.M.A. at the number given above and arrange for a regular pick-up.T h n P A n t'n lin rr r'%u00bbr,rvrf r> n, m ic m e t .. . v . J %u2014 *one of the varied activities thatI. 1 llis s isl- 1 m L n\\4R8I '?Some of the members of MAMA (MOre Alive, More Aware) infront of their Recycling Collection Center on Sixth Ave. at 22nd StM.A.M.A. is engaged in. The group tries to make young people in the area aware of the problems of drug abuse and attempts to show them that there is more to life than Shanging out%u201d in the streets. The members, recognizing the lack of recreational activities in the com m unity, have sponsored concerts and dances. They also may %u201c hook up%u201d with variousprograms at Direction House%u2014the full time program or workshops (such as Karate).M.A.M.A. is looking to expand its membership. Anyone 17-22 years old and looking for \better to do%u201d and new friends, are asked to come and sit in on one of the group meetings which are held every Mon. nite at 7 p m at Direction House, 271 Ninth St.Charles Park of the Prospect PI. Phoenix House facility explainsprogram to two members of the Actors Company, who visited thelocal drug free treatment facility during their run as part of theBritish Theater Season at the nearby Brooklyn Academy of MusicFinney in Race for State AssemblySeat of Riccio sLouise Finney, Democratic State Committeewoman and D istrict Leader in the 51st Assem bly District, announced she would seek tiie Democratic nomination for State Assembly in that district for the right to challenge GOP Assemblyman Vincent Riccio.The announcement was made at the Feb. 27 annual meeting of the Central Brooklyn Independent Dem ocrats, who backed Ms. Finney for election to her present post in 1972, and who supported the candidacy of Joseph Ferris, winner in the Democratic primary that year who went down to defeat at the hands of Riccio. Ferris has recently indicated he plans to run for the Democratic nod again this year.The 51st Assembly District includes Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and parts of Borough Park, South Brooklyn and Sunset Park.Ms. Finney declared that the twin themes of her campaign would be that she could provide leadership in the State Legislature, and that she has a strong record of service to the community.%u201c In the aftermath of the Nixon administration scandals,%u201d Ms. Finney said, %u201c I believe the voters will be demanding more from their representatives. They see record inflation, a three-hour wait for gasoline, the continual vetoing and impounding of funds that are vitally uecueu for program s thathelp people get by, and the nation%u2019s foremost politicians exposed as lawbreakers at the highest levels. The voters will no longer be content to know what a candidate promises to do if elected. They will demand to know what you have been doing, week by week, to deserve their support.%u201c T K r t lir t i. r t fVl n f n n TAm m , I.! _a uv.jvic umi cto lycinuudULDistrict Leader I have compiled arecord of service to the people of the 51st Assembly District that will enable me to meet that challenge.%u201dMs. Finney has worked with local tenant organizations in Borough Park and Park Slope, and has been trying to mobilize public opinion in her district for repeal of the vacancy decontrol law. She has been helping John Jay High School parents to fight cutbacks in the school%u2019s highly successful College Bound program, and to protest reductions in the teaching staff.As a member of the Ambulatory Care Services Advisory Committee of Methodist Hospital, Ms. Finney has participated in efforts to develop a community-supported alternative to the hospital%u2019s expansion plans, and to get an outpatient psychiatric clinic for Park Slope. She is active in the Maimonides Community League.A participant in 1971 protests that led to the restoration of addiction treatment funds cut from the state budget that year, Ms. Finney recently helped civic organizations in Park Slope to organize for a community voice in the planning of local addiction treatment programs. She has also participated in the activities of the local precinct community councils.On the theme of leadership in the State Legislature, Ms. Finney said her campaign would focus on the need for a return to full rent coniroi; for property tax reliet, and bank regulation that would make it easier for homeowners to obtain mortgages; for adequate budgets for schools and health services; for effective reform of the criminal justice system ; and for laws that will protect citizens from governmental invasion of their private lives, while making the workings ofContinued on Page 17