HomeMy Public PortalAbout2017-08-08 Proclamation - Lynn Bratley_201708031209386959Proclamation
Whereas: Improbable Players' Founder and Artistic Director Lynn Bratley will be stepping down from
her position at the end of the Summer 2017, bringing to a close an extraordinary career of leadership with
the company that she launched in Watertown in 1984, at 22 Mt. Auburn Street, in the heart of Watertown
- merging her own recovery with her love of theater to teach people about addiction and the reality of
recovery; and,
Whereas: Lynn has made Watertown her home since 1972. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Drama
and English at the University of Washington in Seattle and her Master’s in Education with emphasis in
Theater at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts; and,
Whereas: For over three decades, over 200 actors, all young actors-in-recovery, have performed with the
Players. More than a million people in audiences from elementary school to senior centers, community
coalitions to national conferences have been educated and entertained by the Players, pioneers in putting
an authentic face on recovery; with acting troupes in Massachusetts and New York, combine live theater
with addiction recovery to educate young audiences with the goal of preventing harm from drinking or
drug use.; and,
Whereas: Lynn genuinely loves her work and has a special gift for working with actors in recovery.
Innately kind and patient, she freely shares her time and experience, encouraging both personal and
artistic development. This effort extends even to those actors who audition for the Players, but may not
yet be fully ready. Her motto at these times is something to the effect of, “I just want them to leave here
with hope.”; and,
Whereas: Lynn is devoted to her beloved husband, Chuck Dickinson and her wonderful family;
daughters, Josephine Schiele and Katy Downey, both Wa tertown High School graduates; and doting
grandm other to Eleanor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Rex and Cid of Brooklyn, New York, and Huck
and Finn of Darien, Connecticut; and,
Now therefore be it resolved: That the Town Council of the City known as the Town of Watertown
hereby honors and recognizes its profound gratitude and appreciation to Lynn Bratley for her many years
of service and dedication to the Improbable Players' of Watertown and wishes her continued health and
happiness upon her retirement and hereby proclaim:
August 8, 2017
Lynn Bratley Day
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have
hereunto set our hand and caused the
Great Seal of the Town of Watertown
to be affixed on this 8th day of August, 2017
________________________
Mark S. Sideris
Town Council President